A NORTHWICH headteacher will leave his school preparing for greater success when he heads off for pastures new this summer.

Dr David Kirby has led the way at Hartford High School for the past four years but is leaving his position as headteacher at the end of the summer term to take up a consultancy role in school improvement.

After helping the school to achieve its best GCSE results so far in 2004, Dr Kirby will move on to work with a number of schools in different education authorities under the new national school improvement partnership programme.

He said: "I have enjoyed my time at Hartford and take many fond memories with me.

"I value greatly the support and encouragement that I have received - indeed, such factors made my decision to leave very difficult, but I could not pass up such an exciting opportunity to work in the wider arena of school improvement within a new national initiative."

The recruitment process for a new headteacher has already begun and Dr Kirby's successor will be in place for the start of a new school year in September.

Gill Chitty, chairwoman of the school governors, said: "Dr Kirby has been an outstanding headteacher and we have been extremely fortunate to have had the benefit of his leadership over the past four years.

"He has been responsible for many significant achievements during his time with us and we are all very sorry that he is leaving."