Pembrokeshire County Council has a new head of inclusion.

Nichola Jones will start work at County Hall, Haverfordwest, next month.

She is currently group manager for inclusion within the children's directorate at Bridgend County Borough Council.

Head of inclusion is a new post within Pembrokeshire County Council and it will be Nichola's role to champion children with disabilities and children with additional learning needs (ALN) across the council and within schools.

"I have always been passionate about the entitlement of all children and look forward to working with schools and specialist teams to achieving excellence within the county of Pembrokeshire," she said.

Nichola, who was brought up in Cwmbran, started her career with Cardiff City Council as a primary school teacher, where she progressed to the role of special educational needs co-ordinator and specialist teacher for ALN before taking up a senior management position for ALN with Bridgend County Council.

In recent years, Nichola was appointed as the Welsh president of the National Association for Special Educational Needs and invited to be UK national president.

She has worked extensively with a wide range of UK experts in the field of ALN and led on the development of Welsh Government training materials for the foundation phase and newly-qualified teacher ALN guidance materials.

Nichola trained as a teacher and completed a post-graduate diploma and masters in ALN at the University of Newport, gaining the departmental prize for her research.

She currently lives in the Vale of Glamorgan and is looking forward to moving to Pembrokeshire with her husband Graham, where her great-grandparents and family lived and worked as part of the farming community.

Jake Morgan, director for children and schools, welcomed Nichola to the council.

"This is an important new role. Nichola will be working on an agenda which aims to transform services for these children," he said.

"She will be the first arrival of a new team working to improve education in Pembrokeshire. I am delighted we have someone with her knowledge and experience."