Hasmonean High executive head Rabbi David Meyer is leaving the school to become executive director of Partnerships for Jewish Schools next month. The one-time Hasmonean pupil has held a variety of positions at the Hendon school over a 20-year period and has been in his current role since 2009.

Rabbi Meyer departs with the school figuring prominently in educational league tables and being rated "outstanding" by Ofsted and Pikuach. But he believes that "real success can only be judged by an evaluation of the kind of adults students will become 10 or 20 years after they leave the school".

Paying tribute, boys' school head Andrew McClusky, said: "Staff have worked hard for him because they didn't want to let him down. And this is because they know that he would never allow himself to let them down."

For the remainder of the academic year, Mr McClusky and his girls' school counterpart Rachel Fink will share the executive head duties while Rabbi Meyer's successor is sought.