GOVERNORS at a Southampton school have sought to reassure parents after the shock resignation of its headteacher.

Brian Pain is leaving Millbrook Community School after guiding it out of the nightmare of a damning Ofsted report.

As reported in the Daily Echo, he has blamed work pressure and stress as factors in his decision, which follows a punishing three years at the helm.

Governors' chairman Maureen Tremayne said everything possible would be done to ensure the school continued its progress.

She said an acting head would be appointed before the start of the autumn term with a permanent successor taking over by next January.

"The new head will be an extremely competent person, and will build on what has been done," she added.

Mrs Tremayne praised Mr Pain's work in reversing the climate of failure which inspectors found at the school in 1996.

She said: "He arrived at a crucial time in the school's history just after the Ofsted report. It was horrendous as we were also in the middle of a major building project. We are grateful to him. What he has done since then represents a huge achievement."

Schools minister Charles Clarke hinted at the stresses on Mr Pain when he officially opened a £3.4 million community sports hall and teaching block last September.

He said: "Millbrook has a hard history to deal with.

"A bad Ofsted is harrowing and distressing in the extreme. It makes everyone feel they've failed."

Mr Pain's resignation comes less than a week after a Southampton science teacher used a national teaching conference to announce publicly he was quitting.

Wilf Matos, who teaches chemistry at Redbridge Community School, stunned education secretary David Blunkett in a face-to-face encounter, saying he was fed-up with stress and impossible workloads.

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