A newly-created academy trust based at a city high school is waiting to hear if it has won government approval to sponsor another Norfolk secondary school.
Hellesdon High School has told parents it is going ahead with plans to form the new organisation, the Wensum Trust, which will initially be allowed to sponsor one primary school and another secondary school.
Hellesdon's headteacher Gerard Batty has stepped back from the day-to-day running of the school to concentrate on the new trust, and governors have appointed two acting heads of school until the end of the academic year.
In a letter to parents, the school's joint chairs of governors said: 'It was initially thought that the changes in the leadership structure here at Hellesdon High School could wait until the [multi-academy trust] was formed and other schools had joined. It has become clear that this approach is not workable, and to maintain the efficient and successful running of the school, it needs to change.'
They added that the temporary leadership structure would 'maintain the current high standards of the school'.
The first high school to join the Wensum Trust could be Acle Academy, whose governors told parents in June they were looking to join a multi-academy trust to help raise standards.
Mr Batty was head at Acle before he took over at Hellesdon, and Acle has held discussions about joining the Wensum Trust. A formal government decision is expected this week.
Firside Junior School in Hellesdon, where Mr Batty is already executive headteacher, is expected to be the first primary to join the trust.
Speaking about the formation of the trust, Mr Batty said: 'There is a benefit of finance, because you have got the economies of scale. You can't over-estimate how much money can be saved by groups of schools working together.
'You have then got the wonderful opportunities of almost built-in shared continued professional development (CPD). If you have primary and secondary schools, you have built-in cross-phase CPD.'
He said the trust could eventually grow to up to 10 schools, including two or three high schools, concentrated mainly in the Hellesdon area.
He added: 'One of the things you do as a head is you get wonderful staff come in. You invest and develop them, and then they leave. Hopefully, if you have a trust, you will be able to put these people, when they train and develop, into other places in the trust, rather than losing all the investment you have put in.'
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