Ms Du Quesnay doesn't just have a cautionary tale for students. As the ESF's long-awaited new chief executive, helping to set and then play by the rules is her game-plan for the foundation as a whole to ensure it has a future as a core part of Hong Kong education.

The ESF may face many struggles as it embarks on reforms in response to the stinging public censure it received over the past year. But on one issue there seems to be no dissent: it has finally got the leader who has what it takes to rescue it from its troubles, in contrast to the fiascos surrounding the two previous appointments. Ms Du Quesnay arrived in February with the kind of track record that qualifies her to overhaul much larger education bodies.

Until a few months ago she was operating at national level, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair and his former education secretary Estelle Morris. The latter was the speaker at her farewell do from the pioneering National College for School Leadership that she set up and led for five years. Prior to that, she had shaken up education in the inner London borough of Lambeth.

Her style is turning heads in an organisation that had grown too used to the privileges of the colonial era. 'I like to travel to work by bus,' she said. She frequently bumps into teachers on her journey between the ESF's Stubbs Road headquarters and her small flat in Central - not the large 'ostentatious' house in Stanley that she rejected as being part of the old ESF, and has now been sold for $28 million, a $9.5 million profit.

It is not just her image that has struck a fresh note but the energy with which she is setting about reforms. This will touch on everything from student admissions and special needs provision to staff remuneration and professional development, and governance.

Ms Du Quesnay has an unlikely background for high-powered leadership. She grew up in Manchester, attending an all-girls' grammar school before studying Latin at Birmingham University. The 1st century Roman poet Lucan was the subject of a PhD, which gave up for teacher training.

Se realised that she was better suited to working with people than pursuing solitary academic research. However, giving up her PhD is something she regrets. 'I feel angry with myself,' she said. 'I hate leaving jobs undone and by and large don't.'

Her first job was as a classics teacher in a small convent school where she was frustrated by its lack of management and professional development support. 'I was pretty much on my own. It was not a healthy environment.'

She moved on to the state sector, teaching in a Birmingham school with many difficult children. Within two years she was its deputy principal. Yet it was as a teacher she faced her worst experiences in education. 'The children treated me appallingly,' she said. 'It is very salutary to know how that feels. If you are not careful you lose your self-confidence.'

She then did something that seems ironic given that she has left her family in England in order to work in Hong Kong. She gave up her job to follow her husband, a fellow classicist, when he secured an academic post at Cambridge.

She applied for many jobs and the first she was offered was with the local education authority, which set her on a much bigger career path. 'Sometimes you do the traditional thing and doors open in ways you would never guess,' said Ms Du Quesnay, who describes herself as family-oriented and has one daughter preparing for A-levels and another already teaching.

Her career in local English education culminated in being hired to deal with the 'chaos and confusion' in disadvantaged Lambeth, an area with racial conflict and the legacy of 'loony left' politics.

When she arrived, 13 of its 90 schools were in 'special measures', where standards were so bad national inspectors had moved in to take control. By the time she left there were none. Scores in national tests were improving. But she had also had to slash over-spending by millions of pounds, bring in new people and move on those who were failing. She does not overstate her successes. 'Lambeth will always be a tough place,' she said. Her experiences at the national college and in local education authorities good and bad had equipped her to think strategically and work with very different groups of people. This was what she was ready to do for the ESF.

She praises the achievements of ESF schools for their 'more than respectable' exam results, as well as the vibrancy of the teaching and learning both in and outside the formal curriculum and the confidence of their students.

But she has made it clear that weaknesses will no longer be covered up. 'Many of our policies are based on UK models which are out of date,' she wrote this week in an open letter to stakeholders. 'It is as if we have not noticed that in the 21st century our customers and stakeholders expect us to be accountable, transparent, to offer value for money and to be more responsive to their individual needs.'

One of her biggest challenges would be reforming how staff are rewarded, with pay linked to performance and actual duties, she said - a response to the Audit Commission criticisms of comparatively high salaries and the fact that 66 per cent of its teachers received responsibility allowances.

'This is the most difficult issue of all, even more difficult than governance and the subvention,' she said. This was because the foundation could not afford to jeopardise excellence in teaching. 'It will be very tough. But I don't think the ESF can shy away from any of the tough questions any more.'

Consultants have completed their study on new benchmarks and will put their findings to the executive committee early next month. Ms Du Quesnay expects consultations to begin at the start of the new term.

She wants the issue dealt with speedily, implementing changes in the next round of contracts, for the 2006 academic year. Her hope is the majority will accept reform. 'But I don't think for a minute we will satisfy everyone,' she said.

More immediately, her attention is focused on governance. The 137 members of the foundation - the ultimate decision-making body - have received their invitations to the extraordinary meeting this month to discuss their response for plans for the body's demise.

'We recognise governance is enormously important,' she said. 'You need good governance to get good decisions that have involved proper consultation and can stick. You need it to ensure transparency and to keep everyone on their toes.

'It isn't good enough any longer to say: 'Trust me, I am a teacher'.'