THE headteacher of a Basingstoke secondary school has announced he is leaving.

In a letter sent to parents and carers of The Costello School this morning, Randall Jull said he had informed staff that he will be leaving at the end of the academic year, in what he described as a “difficult” and “personal” decision.

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Mr Jull joined Costello, in Crossborough Hill, in 2018 when it became part of Bohunt Education Trust (BET) to help improve standards.

He said his four years at Costello have been “like no other within my educational career”, adding: “We have faced challenges a-plenty and have come through them all”.

However, Mr Jull said these “pale into the background when thinking about the number of positives that I have seen and the differences that have been made to so many of our young people over these last few years, while having had the privilege of being the custodian of this wonderful school”.

He thanked parents and carers for their support during his time as leader, adding: “While these difficult decisions are always ones made for personal reasons the staff, our community and most importantly our students are what makes this the school that it is, and this decision so hard.”

Mr Jull said he would also be writing to all the students to let them know.

Costello was graded as ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted when Mr Jull started his headship but is now graded as ‘good’ following a visit from the education watchdog in November last year.

Mr Jull said: “I would like to put on record my sincere thanks to the entire school community for what we have together achieved at The Costello School – our hard-working staff, our talented students, and of course you, our supportive parents. Schools can only be successful when everyone is pulling in the same direction.”

The headteacher said that BET will look to appoint a new headteacher for the start of the academic year in September.

Mr Jull, who was deputy headteacher of two secondary schools before joining Costello, was recognised nationally for his work in raising maths standards for young people when he was shortlisted for the Maths Teacher of the Year award by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) in 2017.

Last year, he won the Education Leadership award at the Hampshire Education Awards.

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