Alan Davies took over the reins at Bishop Rawstorne CE Language College last month, after a year without a head.

He joined the Croston school from Westleigh High School in Leigh, where he had been deputy head.

He lives in Cheshire with his wife of 24 years, Gill, who is also a teacher. They have two sons, Andrew, 21, who has just graduated from Cambridge and John, 18, who is set to join the police.

A strong Christian and active in his local Methodist church, Alan gave up a successful career in industry to follow his 'calling' to teach.

He said: "Having taught now for 14 years, I suppose I am classed as a 'late entrant' into the profession. In my previous career, I was sales and marketing director with a multinational company.

"Even though we had a young family, I had Gill's full support and I gave up the job to train as a teacher. It was hard at times but I genuinely felt I was being called. I certainly have no regrets, it's a real privilege to be in this position. My faith is my bedrock, it underpins everything."

At his previous school Alan was particularly noted for his success in motivating the most challenging of pupils and set up a set up a catering company, there for pupils to run. He said: "Through this we encompassed numeracy, literacy and all kinds of life skills. Every child is valuable, I aspire to stretch the most gifted, embrace the educationally challenged and cater for everyone in-between."

Bishop Rawstorne has been without an 'official' headteacher since George Lloyd, was head-hunted in May 2007 to set up a new multi-million pound flagship academy in Manchester.