A former Hertfordshire head teacher has been honoured with an OBE for services to education in the 2019 New Year's Honours list.

Josephine Valentine, headteacher of St Clement Danes, in Chorleywood, from 1998 to 2018, became a National Leader of Education in 2008.

She currently leads the Danes Educational Trust and the Herts & Bucks Teaching School Alliance, where, in her six years in the role, hundreds of teachers have been trained.

Ms Valentine was asked by the county council to be the lead proposer of Croxley Danes School, which opened in 2017.

She said: "In receiving this honour, I recognise and am thankful for the significant support I have received from family, colleagues and friends.

"Teaching young people is exciting and fulfilling and has been a source of constant joy to me. Leading a school has been a privilege – and, probably, the best job in the world."

The Manchester-born recipient has a PhD in Oral Histopathology and holds a number of regional and national roles advising school policy.