THE new director of Stoke-on-Trent's children's services will be swapping one of England's most rural counties for the challenges of inner-city life.

Sharon Menghini is to take up the post after private company Serco's contract for running education and children's social care expires in April. She replaces outgoing director Ged Rowney.

Dr Menghini is currently head of Herefordshire's children and young people's services directorate, which was recently described by Ofsted as "performing well".

The former teacher, who has worked in primary, secondary and special schools, will be responsible for bringing Stoke-on-Trent's senior management team back under local authority control.

One of her first tasks will be implementing the £250 million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which will see five new academies created and the number of high schools cut from 17 to 14.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council said the director's job, which was advertised with a salary of £140,000-a-year, attracted a "strong" field of candidates.

Dr Menghini said: "I am pleased and excited I am going to be working in Stoke-on-Trent. Serco has given the city a good platform to build on and I look forward to continuing that good work."

In Herefordshire, she has overseen an education system where schools consistently outperform the national average and achieve good results.

The county also has some trailblazing schools, including the first publicly-funded Steiner school in the UK, where pupils study the natural environment and woodcrafts alongside traditional subjects.

But she is no stranger to protests over school closures.

After Herefordshire Council announced plans to shut or merge 37 schools because of falling rolls, there was a public outcry and the proposals were later withdrawn.

She and other officers were the subject of a vote of no confidence by the county's branch of the National Association of Head Teachers, who claimed the school plans showed "lack of forethought".

Councillor Ian Mitchell, Stoke-on-Trent's cabinet member for children and young people's services, welcomed her appointment.

He said: "Sharon brings a wealth of experience to this challenging role."

Since Serco took over the strategic management of children's services in 2007, there have been rapid improvements in children's social care.

And in schools, there are now significantly more five-year-olds and GCSE pupils reaching national standards, but overall improvements in primaries have been patchy.

Serco has also become synonymous with the controversy surrounding BSF.

Soon after arriving, it proposed shutting all 22 of the city's secondary and special schools, to be replaced with a smaller number of new ones.

The almost universally-opposed plans were later changed, but Serco struggled to regain people's trust.