THE new head of a failing Burnley school said he "relishes the challenge" of turning it around.

But Martin Burgess said he is not the "hero head" of Shuttleworth College, but the person who is there to help the staff do their job.

Mr Burgess takes up his post at Shuttleworth on Monday, after Andrew Mackenzie resigned last term, weeks after Ofsted placed the Kiddrow Lane school in special measures.

It was the second of eight schools created in September 2006 under Lancashire County Council's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme to be deemed failing.

Mr Burgess is returning to East Lancashire after three years as head at Skerton Community High School in Lancaster, which he has led out of special measures.

For 13 years before that he was head of Edge End High School in Nelson, which merged with Mansfield High School under BSF to create Marsden Heights Community College.

When Mansfield head Mike Tull was appointed to lead the school, Mr Burgess moved to Skerton.

The 58-year-old, who lives in Keighley, said: "I'm happy to be returning to the area, not least because the commute is much more manageable; it took me over an hour to get to Skerton."

The Lancaster school came out of special measures earlier than expected and was recently judged the 17th best school in the whole country for value added, but Mr Burgess says much of the credit lies with his predecessor George Lloyd's groundwork.

He said his experience there would be of help in getting Shuttleworth back on track but added: "I do not believe in hero heads' - you are only as good as the staff you work with, and you work together to create a really good school.

"I cannot say a great deal about Shuttleworth yet because I do not know the school, but I do know that it has a damn good staff ready to look forward. I am there to help them do their jobs properly and go from strength to strength."

He supports the controversial BSF scheme, in which he was involved at the initial stages.

"I think it was right to embark on BSF, I'm a great supporter of it and the council was right to take the opportunity offered," he said.

Hameldon Community College, in Burnley, was the first BSF school deemed to be failing by Government inspectors.