HEADTEACHER Nigel Jepson praised the tremendous efforts of his students for the last time last night - after announcing his departure from Haslingden High School at the annual prize evening.

Mr Jepson, chairman of Lancashire Association of Secondary School Headteachers, told parents, teachers and pupils that he had every confidence in the school's future.

After being head of the Broadway specialist performing arts college for the past seven years, as well as a board member of Lancashire Connexions, he said he is now looking forward to new challenges.

He will be leaving at the end of the term to take up a post at a comprehensive school in Bradford.

Mr Jepson, 55, is being supported by his wife Anna, who hit the headlines herself when she took over the troubled Ridings School in Halifax at its low point in 1996. And the headteacher has had his own share of the limelight throughout the years.

He took part in the New York Marathon in October 2001 for the disabled children's charity, Whizz Kidz. And he used his experience as a qualified OFSTED Inspector when he launched his thriller novel, The Inspector and The Superhead, in 2000.

He said: "Since starting in 1996, I am very proud of the progress the school has made in a variety of ways.

"A major success in recent years has been the achievement of pupils, which shows in the excellent exam results achieved across the whole school and especially our Sixth Form.

"Gaining specialist college status in the performing arts has also been a huge success for the school. It is wonderful too that the school is due to receive capital funding for new sixth form buildings next year."

The governing body has appointed Eve Challinger as acting head for the spring term, with a permanent appointment to be made from the summer term.