Headteacher who took the Hewett School in Norwich from special measures to “good” announces his departure

The head of one of Norwich's most prominent schools has announced his departure, ending its innovative 'three heads is better than one' shared leadership system.

Tom Samain will leave the Hewett School in August after 11 years, the last four of which saw him share responsibilities with senior associate head Rob Anthony and associate head Sue Raywood.

In February, it was revealed the school had a £430,000 budget deficit caused by falling pupil numbers, but Mr Samain said it was under control, partly due to energy and cleaning contract changes, without staff cuts.

He said his departure, and the return to a single, full-time headteacher, was not due to finances.

Mr Samain's leadership has seen the school recover from an Ofsted report which put it in special measures in 2004 - but praised his 'strong and highly effective leadership' - to being judged 'good' in 2013.

He said: 'Recently, we have received our best ever examination results, high praise for our youth and family support activities and all our school leavers have progressed to further or higher education, work or training.'

The school's population halved from over 1,500 since 2004, but Mr Samain said a sharp rise in pupils forecast from 2017 meant the Hewett would need to expand.

He said he was proud of the school's specialism in the arts, and its leading role in founding OpenOppportunity, a partnership between secondary schools and colleges to offer more opportunities for 14 to 19 year olds.

What do you think of the Hewett School? Email martin.george@archant.co.uk