A headteacher from Cromer will take over the reigns at Dereham's Northgate High School, it was announced yesterday.

The school has been without a permanent headteacher since the departure of Alex Reed, who returned to New Zealand at the end of last year.

Glyn Hambling, currently headteacher at Cromer High School, will start work at the school in September and said he was 'honoured' to have been appointed.

'I am very aware of the many areas of success associated with the school and, in partnership with you all, I wish to continue to build on these,' he said.

'I am looking forward to working closely with staff, students, governors, parents and the community.'

Mr Hambling, who is married with three children, began his career at Smithton High School in Hunstanton where he rose to become rising a head of department, head of year and director of community education.

He was appointed as deputy headteacher at Cromer in 2003 and became headteacher there four years ago.

Northgate's chairman of governors, Alan Jones, said Mr Hambling had a strong track record of leading school improvement.

'The governors were looking for a headteacher to build on Northgate's many strengths and bring innovative ideas for the future, to be accessible and have a consultative style of leadership and to bring a rigorous approach to school improvement. In Mr Hambling we believe we have found such a headteacher,' he said.

Ofsted inspectors rated Cromer High School as 'good' in May 2010 and highlighted several outstanding areas, including the effectiveness of leadership and management.

Mr Hambling said he had not taken the decision to leave lightly, but having taken the school on 'a journey of significant improvement,' he felt the time was right to move on.

In a letter home to parents, he said: 'The eight and half years that I have been at the school have been some of the happiest in my career to date. I will have very fond memories of the staff who have worked tirelessly to take on new ideas and strive to continue to further improve the quality of provision and learning for the pupils and build what is a vibrant school.

'I shall miss the support of the governors, parents and of course most importantly the children. I would like to thank you for your support, friendship and the trust that you have placed in me whilst I have had the privilege of being your headteacher.

'I certainly do not intend to reduce any of my commitments in ensuring Cromer continues to develop. I will be here for examination results in August when I look forward to meeting with our current Year 11 students.

Governors at the Cromer school will meet tomorrow to begin the process of recruiting a replacement headteacher.

Dereham's interim headteacher, Paul Mitchell, will continue in his post until September.