GAZETTE & HERALD: SHELDON School's new headteacher Gerard MacMahon could bag a promotion double if the Bristol football team he captains wins its next two matches.

It is Mr MacMahon's first headship and at the age of 38 he is one of the youngest secondary school headteachers in Wiltshire.

The former deputy head of Cheltenham's Balcarras School, who started his new job last week, said he is delighted with the result and now hopes his team, Cotham Old Boys can clinch promotion from the Down's League third division to top off a memorable season.

"I think it's fair to say that a school like Sheldon would normally give the headship to someone on their second headteacher's job.

"So I take their trust in me as a real vote of confidence,'' he said.

Mr MacMahon lives in Bristol with his fiance Stephanie and plays in central defence for Cotham Old Boys.

He completed a degree in economics at the London School of Economics before training to be a teacher at London University's Institute of Education.

He started his teaching career at Stokesley School in Yorkshire before moving to Corsham School.

In 1997 he was appointed deputy head of Balcarras School and helped lead the new sixth form, which opened in 1998.

It now has 250 students and the best comprehensive school A-level results in South-West England.

Mr MacMahon said Sheldon's strengths lie in the quality of its staff, the school environment and the enthusiasm of its pupils.

But he said he hopes to improve the school's already impressive GCSE results by heightening students expectations.

He said he hoped this would encourage more pupils to join the school's sixth form.

"The school is so strong that they are not looking for someone to manage the latest problems,'' he said.

"The school needs someone to build on its strengths."

Mr MacMahon took over the headship last week from Tony Cleaver.

The former head teacher was in charge of the Chippenham school for seven-and-a-half years and sterred it through many changes.