The board of governors at the Battle school announced this week that Paul Swatton will take over from long-standing principal Richard Pitts who retires at the end of August.

Mr Swatton, who has been at Claverham for 15 years, arrived as a newly-qualified maths teacher and became head of maths and deputy principal.

Chairman of governors Tina Wakeford said: "The school has enjoyed huge success under the leadership of Mr Pitts and we firmly believe that Mr Swatton will be able to continue that success."

Mr Swatton said: "The ethos of the school is very close to my heart.

"It has been good to work with such inspirational staff and good pupils.

"Although Claverham has 'outstanding' status there is still much work to be done here and I am looking forward to taking the college through its next stage of development."

Senior pupils at the school took part in the interview process.

Tina Wakeford said: "I should like to thank them for the professional way they prepared for this and for the way they conducted themselves during the interviews."

Outgoing principal Richard Pitts said: "It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to work at Claverham College and to serve the local community."

Under Mr Pitts' leadership, Claverham College has gone from strength to strength, regularly achieving high exam grades, and it is now recognised as one of the highest achieving schools in East Sussex.

Claverham Community College was recently rated 'outstanding' in another top Ofsted report.

During his time at the school, Mr Pitts fought a lengthy battle for a sixth form at Claverham, but the plans were turned down two years ago in favour of a new state-of-the-art facility in Hastings.