A grammar school head teacher is to step down after revealing one of his children has been diagnosed with severe autism.

Ian Macaulay, who leads Barton Court in Canterbury, has written to parents of the school's 970 pupils to inform them of his decision to resign.

The letter followed an announcement on the first day of the new term that he was leaving the position for "personal reasons".

After thanking people for their best wishes, he wrote: "For sake of clarity, I also wanted to provide a little further detail regarding my decision to resign from my position.

"Recently one of my children has been diagnosed with severe, complex and profound autism.

"As you can imagine the challenges that this places on a family can be overwhelming and for this reason I have made the decision to step down."

The academy has agreed to Mr Macaulay's request to work part-time until his planned departure in December.

After his replacement is appointed, he will continue in a leadership support role within the school.

"As you can imagine the challenges that this places on a family can be overwhelming and for this reason I have made the decision to step down..." - Ian Macaulay

The circumstances were first notified to parents by executive head Kim Cardus, who described the news as "life-changing" for Mr Macaulay.

She added: "To provide stability for the school during this period, I will be sharing the role of head teacher of Barton Court as well as executive head teacher of the trust, until a suitable replacement is found.

"As head teacher of Barton Court for nine years before Mr Macaulay’s appointment it makes perfect sense for this interim solution and I hope that this reassures you during this time of transition."

Mr Macaulay came to Barton Court in 2017 after more than seven years in the senior leadership team of Rochester Grammar School.

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