THE FORMER headteacher of Ryedale School has been appointed as head of education and skills at Durham County Council.

Richard Crane, who is currently head at Joseph Rowntree School in New Earswick, York,has written to parents to let them know he will be leaving at Christmas to start the new job.

He said: “It has been a tremendous privilege to serve as the head teacher of The Joseph Rowntree School and be part of the rapid journey of improvement that has been and continues to be made.

“The governing body of the school will be conducting a recruitment process for the new head during the Autumn term, supported by the Local Authority.

“As a school we will keep you informed as to the outcome of this process.

“I have been very fortunate to work with a very strong senior team and teaching and support staff in my time at the school, and I am confident that this strength will support the new head teacher in the next phase of continued success for the school.

“In the meantime, we continue with business as usual in terms of making sure our students make the most of their potential.”

Mr Crane came to the school in 2013.

He took over from Maggi Wright who had been head for five years after Hugh Porter retired.

The school was inspected by Ofsted last year and rated good.

In 2015 Mr Crane was appointed as executive head teacher at Vale of York Academy, then called Canon Lee, after that school opted out of local authority control and became an academy.

Unlike many of York’s state secondary schools - Fulford, Millthorpe, York High, Vale of York, Manor CE and Archbishop Holgate’s CE - Joseph Rowntree remains under Local Authority control and has not so far opted to become an academy.