The assistant director of education at Norfolk County Council will leave his post this summer to join a school in Edinburgh.

Gordon Boyd, who also served as head of City of Norwich School for eight years, will become head of the senior school at George Watson's College from August 2016.

It marks a return to Mr Boyd's roots, having been born and raised in Edinburgh, and attended the Edinburgh Academy and Aberdeen University, before qualifying as a teacher at the University of Cambridge.

Education in Norfolk has had a turbulent time during his period at the council, with the schools inspectorate Ofsted criticising the council's support for school improvement in 2013, before saying it was 'effective' a year later.

The county has been moving up the national GCSE league table, from a low base, but the government raised concerns about last year's end-of-primary-school test results.

Mr Boyd said: 'In Norfolk I am privileged to work with so many talented and determined education leaders and to have played a part in the county's educational improvements. I will leave with a strong sense of the ambitions that the local authority, teachers, education leaders, governors and parents share for Norfolk's young people.

'My decision to seek fresh horizons is not a reflection of any lack of stimulus here in Norfolk, rather the opposite, having hugely enjoyed my current broad responsibilities.

'The next few months will clarify some of the government's intentions for the role of local authorities in the education system. I look forward to working with the council and educationalists in Norfolk on our response to these before I leave my current post.'