Anxious parents feared for their children’s education after the headteacher of Highbury Grove School quit.

Lawrie Norcross, fed up with “interference” and “militant teachers”, took an early retirement.

Parents were concerned that standards would fall at the school, known for academic achievement and discipline under Mr Norcross.

“He has run a very tight ship,” one told the Gazette. “It’s a great shame he had to stand down because of the pressures.

But Mr Norcross said: “Provided the Inner London Education Authority doesn’t make a disastrous appointment, I have every confidence the school will continue to be effective and popular.”

But he added that infighting behind the scenes had “diminished” the influence of the headteacher role.

Mr Norcross, 60, had been at the school since 1975, when predecessor Rhodes Boyson quit to become a Conservative MP.