THE Rev Sandra Matthews is set to become the new parish priest in Wootton, East Cowes and Whippingham on the Isle of Wight.

Bishop Jonathan will license her next month as priest-in-charge of Wootton and rector of East Cowes and Whippingham.

Sandra has spent most of her professional career working with children and young people in the education sector. About 10 years ago, this included working on the Isle of Wight as an education adviser.

She gave up her career in education due to her call to ordained ministry, and she was ordained at Winchester Cathedral, serving most of her training and curacy at Ringwood benefice. During that period, she also worked as a voluntary chaplain at her local hospital, was involved with palliative care, and was often in local dementia care homes.

Following her ordination to the priesthood, Sandra felt called to the challenging role of director at the Anglican International School in Jerusalem. In this role she merged her experiences as a headteacher with her pastoral call as priest, and experienced first-hand the suffering and pain caused by the conflict between Israel and Gaza.

“Part of the attraction to working at that school in Jerusalem, was because of my heart for reconciliation ministry," she said. "For me, it is important to help people come together; to focus on what unites them – not what divides them, and if you can, to help them find ways to ‘disagree well'. People can hold their personal beliefs with integrity, but they can and should, still respect the different opinions of others.”