Great Yarmouth Charter Academy Head Barry Smith to step down

Barry Smith's leadership provoked mixed opinions on a Facebook site set up by a parent

A head teacher whose "army-like" strictness was criticised by parents is to leave his job.

Barry Smith introduced a 22-page rules guide for pupils when he took over at Great Yarmouth Charter Academy in Norfolk in 2017.

He said the rules, which included setting a 21:30 GMT bedtime and banning mobile phones, would improve standards.

The Inspiration Trust academy chain said Mr Smith would leave on 31 January.

A spokesman said Mr Smith had been "working centrally on the curriculum project this term" but did not offer further details on reasons for his departure.

Great Yarmouth Charter Academy is the former Great Yarmouth High School

A letter sent to parents on Monday said he had "played a significant part in leading the changes to the culture and ethos of the academy".

The school will be run by the deputy principal and executive principal while a replacement was recruited, it added.

The former Great Yarmouth High School was taken over by the Inspiration Trust in 2017 after it achieved some of the worst GCSE results in the county.

It had been rated "inadequate" by Ofsted in April 2016, but was judged to be "good" in July 2019, with inspectors noting the "high expectations of behaviour" contribute to "a calm, purposeful learning environment".

Within a fortnight of the introduction of the new behaviour rules in 2017 - which forbade slouching and talking in corridors - parents claimed 20 pupils had been withdrawn from the school.