THE headteacher of Brayton College has formally resigned from the school, North Yorkshire Education Authority has announced.

John Kesterton’s resignation will take effect from August 31. He has been on secondment with North Yorkshire County Council’s education department since Easter.

He is developing the curriculum for 14 to 19-year-olds and will continue doing that.

Until a new head teacher is appointed, deputy head Mike Roper is the acting head.

Stuart McFarlane, Brayton’s chairman of governors, thanked Mr Kesterton for all his achievements.

He said: “John served this school very well and we have much to say thank you for. Mike Roper is currently building on this good work and forging ahead with further developments.

“We have begun the recruitment process for the appointment of a new headteacher, and the governors and staff look forward to an exciting future for Brayton and its students.”

Recently Brayton College received a Significant Improvement Award from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, which recognised the steady rise in examination results in the last four years. Last year 75 per cent of students achieved five good GCSE passes A*-C.

But the last Ofsted report rated the school only as “satisfactory” and the school is currently undergoing a period of re-branding.

It will be renamed Brayton High School in September and a new uniform will be introduced.

The re-branding comes as the school tries to stem a falling roll call which has seen the number of students at the school fall from 1,200 to about 600 in six years. There are 81 students expected to join the school in September although there is a capacity of more than 200 in the year.