A head teacher who steered a school through a devastating fire and vastly improved exam results is moving on to work with schools in South Bradford.

Simon Willis, who joined Carlton Bolling School as its head almost nine years ago, left the school for the last time at the end of term declaring he had "loved every minute of it".

When he arrived at the Undercliffe school in 1994, nine per cent of students gained five GCSEs or more at grades A to C and ten pupils went on to higher education. Now, 20 per cent achieve grades A to C and about 90 become sixth formers.

He said: "It has been an absolute privilege and a pleasure to work with the students, their parents, the staff and the whole community.

"The academic achievements must be the highlights - that is what it is all about. The down side was the fire, when overnight we lost more than a third of the school and were without it for two and a half years."

Fifteen classrooms in the technology block, including the canteen and sports hall, were destroyed in the fire in January, 2000. Lessons were doubled up and lunch served in the assembly hall. Some pupils used the old Pollard Park Middle School premises while rebuilding was carried out.

Mr Willis said: "There was a lot of disruption and it was very hard. During that period, we became a secondary school and suddenly had 800 extra students with another 40 teachers. But we all want the best for everybody, so we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in."

Pembrokeshire-born Mr Willis, 54, studied at the University of Kent and worked in inner-city schools in West Bromwich and London before moving to Bradford.

He is married to Keretha, 44, a care assistant for social services whom he met while on a teacher exchange in Jamaica.

He will become a consultant for the South Bradford Federation of Schools, working with Wyke Manor, Buttershaw and Tong high schools, helping management teams address a range of issues to do with monitoring and managing the schools and improving the quality of teaching and leadership.

Tony Thornley, Education Bradford's strategy director said: "I am sure he will make his mark felt in the same way in the South Bradford Federation as he has done as head of Carlton Bolling."

The Bradford South Federation of Schools involves all the schools and training providers in the area, including Bradford College.

Carlton Bolling's two deputy heads Paul Wright and Janet Conroy will be acting heads from next term.