Retired York head teacher Jonathan Green's Copmanthorpe job

As The Press reported at the time, Jonathan Green retired from Naburn Primary last month having previously retired from Archbishop of York Junior School in Bishopthorpe.

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Now he's back, and this time he's been made interim head at Copmanthorpe where head Jenny Rogers is off to pastures new.

Mr Green has been given the new job by the governing body until a new permanent head teacher is appointed and Jeanette France and Ashley Wilkinson, who are both assistant head teachers at the school, will also be teachers in charge during the week, when Mr Green is not in school.

“I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to take on the interim role of head teacher at Copmanthorpe Primary School and can’t wait to start," said Mr Green.

Jenny Rogers and Jonathan Green sitting with some of the youngest and oldest members of the school. They are holding the school log book which was started 155 years ago when the original school opened in what is now Copmanthorpe Old School Medical practice (Image: Supplied)

Earlier this month he was one of several education champions from around the country congratulated at No 10 by school standards minister Damian Hinds on March 12.

He had been nominated for the honour by York Outer MP Julian Sturdy.

It capped an eventful 12 months for Mr Green and his former school which saw Naburn Primary first saved from closure and then win recognition as ‘School of the Year’ in the Press Community Pride Awards last year.

When Mr Green eventually retired last month, children sang ‘Oh he really is our hero!’ at a farewell assembly.

Mr Green joined Naburn Primary in September 2021 following a career as head of Archbishop of York Primary in Bishopthorpe.

His appointment was part-time only – and was meant to last for only one term.

Instead, following a shock ‘disappointing’ Ofsted inspection just weeks after he joined the school, and in the face of falling pupil numbers, he faced a battle to save Naburn Primary from closure.

The school was told by City of York Council that it must become part of an academy chain within months or risk being closed.

Mr Green pledged to save it – issuing a rallying call in which he said: “I am blessed with a superb staff and a highly motivated, intelligent governing body.

"Our parents are with us. We will fight to save our village school. Come on Naburn.”

Mr Green, worked at Archbishop of York CE Junior School for 28 years and retired in Summer 2021. While there, in 2008, he launched an ambitious project to raise £100,000 to develop a new music room, classroom and school entrance.

More than 140 people turned up to watch the teachers bravely perform anything from The Beatles to Shania Twain in a concert held at Askham Bryan College - funds hit £1,700.

Jonathan Green with pupils at Naburn Primary School in York ahead of an open event (Image: Supplied)