A PENDLE headteacher has pledged to delay his retirement if a suitable replacement is not found.

Paul Wright, who has been in charge of Pendle Community High School and College since 2005, has said that he will step down at the end of the academic year.

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But he has now revealed he will stay on for one more term if a new headteacher has not been appointed.

The 58-year-old, who will be informing parents of his decision this week, was involved in the creation of the school which is the first co-educational special school in Lancashire.

The former headteacher of the now-closed Gibfield School in Colne currently leads a school of 111 children between the ages of 11 and 19 years old who have special educational needs.

The father-of-four and grandfather-of-one is convinced it is “the right time to go” after an increase of “interfering and controlling” government legislation.

He believes it is time for someone new to join the school with fresh ideas.

Mr Wright said: “It’s very important to give the governing body as much time as possible to find a replacement.

“Continuity at a school like this is very important and hopefully a suitable candidate is found who can take over from me in September.

“It has been an honour and a privilege to have worked with the wonderful children and staff at this school.

“It’s the right time for me to go as government legislation is becoming harder to make sense of for students like ours.

“A lot of people don’t realise that the focus of these new laws are not on students with special educational needs, which creates problems.

“The legislation is overwhelmingly intrusive.”

The school moved into a new purpose-built building alongside Pendle Vale in 2008 and was graded ‘good’ when it was last inspected by Ofsted in 2013.

The deadline for applications for the position is Monday, November 11, with interviews expected to be held on Tuesday, November 24, and the following day.

In a letter to applicants, the chair of governors, Trevor Ashton, said: “The governors believe that this is an exciting opportunity for our community to take another leap forward .

“We look forward to welcoming the successful applicant.”