A NEW man has been appointed to lead one of the leading states schools in the country.

The governors of Ripon Grammar School have announced that Jonathan Webb will succeed Martin Pearman, who has led the school for the past 12 years and will retire next summer.

Mr Webb, who lives near Ripon, is moving from his role as Deputy Headmaster (Academic) at Durham School.

He will take over the leadership of Ripon after it confirmed its status as the top state school in the north for the fourth consecutive year in The Sunday Times Parent Power survey - putting it into the top 75 state schools nationally out of more than 3,000 surveyed.

One of fewer than 40 state boarding schools, Ripon Grammar has 920 pupils including 81 boarders. It is also the top school in Yorkshire in a measure of the university destinations of its leavers.

On the challenge of leading an already outstanding school, Mr Webb said: “We should always cherish the things that work and preserve the processes which function smoothly. However, we can and should believe in school improvement, if only to prevent ‘status quoism’ from drifting into complacency.

“I believe that we can continue to improve pupil mastery of their subjects and their intellectual curiosity to do better.

“We have to believe in ensuring that a pupil’s life experience in, and crucially beyond, the classroom develops growth mind-set, inner confidence, a sense of spiritual worth and a deep and lasting care for others.

“In short, we have to believe that a school can continue to nurture decent human beings who want to make a positive difference.

“This is why the extra-curricular life of a school is so important and why personal self-development and confidence is as much the marker of human flourishing as academic results.”

Married with two sons and a graduate in history from Christ’s College, Cambridge, his career in education has included spells at Pocklington School, Manchester Grammar School and Giggleswick School.

“Selective grammar schools can deliver progress if, and only if, they maximise the talents of those successful in the entrance test,” he said.

“They have to deliver academic excellence through outstanding teaching and learning both in terms of raw results and crucially value-added measures.

“They also need to deliver a co-curricular programme which develops not just the intellectual but also the personal skills of their charges.”