Hove Park School will have a new head teacher from Easter.
Derek Trimmer will join the school, with sites in Nevill Road and Hangleton Way in Hove, from Mayfield School in Portsmouth.
Mr Trimmer has won praise for the improvement in exam results at Mayfield since he took over as head in 2004 when the school was in “special measures” – that is, subject to extra scrutiny from the independent watchdog Ofsted.
He succeeds Tim Barclay, who stepped down last June having been off work through ill health since November 2009.
Mr Barclay became head in September 2002, taking over from Peter Bratton, who held the post for 18 years until his retirement.
The summer 2009 exam results were even poorer than the previous four years, giving rise to concerns among parents.
Deputy head teacher Huxley Knox-Macaulay has been acting head since Mr Barclay was signed off with ill health over a year ago.
During Mr Knox-Macaulay’s temporary tenure, 40.3 per cent of pupils achieved A* to C grades, including English and maths.
The performance – last summer – is believed to be the school’s best so far and comfortably exceeded the 26 per cent achieving A* to C a year earlier.
Those summer 2009 results placed the school in the bottom 200 in the country.
