THE headmaster of one of the region’s leading independent schools is leaving to run a new school in Malaysia.

Martin George will have served five-and-a-half years at the helm of the 600-year-old Durham School, where he studied as a boy in the late 1970s, when he leaves this summer.

His new post is as headteacher of Epsom College Malaysia, a spin-off of the Surrey boarding school and the brainchild of British-Malaysian millionaire Tony Fernandes, owner of Queens Park Rangers.

It is a state-of-the-art new-build facility 45 minutes south of Kuala Lumpur and will eventually have around 1,200 pupils, offering high-quality British boarding school education.

Mr George said: “I’m fantastically excited. It’s a great opportunity.

“Part of me is absolutely devastated to be leaving ‘my school’ but if I was ever going to leave Durham it was going to be for as far away as possible. The challenges will be totally different.”

The 51-year-old former Army officer’s wife Vivienne and daughter Claudia will remain in Durham, where they are a staff member and pupil at Durham School, respectively, while his son Max is about to start university.

He leaves Durham School as it is celebrating its 600th anniversary and looking to start international schools based on the Durham model across the globe.

Mr George said the school had a growing reputation, rapidly improving results, outstanding pastoral care, a happy environment, outstanding teachers and displayed excellence in extra-curricular activities including music and sport.

Boarding numbers have doubled in five years and the school has enjoyed record overall rolls.

A foundation has also been established to offer bursaries.

Looking ahead, Mr George said: “I expect to see it flourish. It will undoubtedly have a different flavour but it is on a strategic trajectory.”

Mr George said he loved Malaysia and had spent time in Borneo both as a soldier and teacher.

“I love that part of the world. I love the jungle, the culture and the vitality. I’ll always be a North-Easterner but I do love a bit of adventure and broadening my horizons.”

Durham School has begun the process of recruiting a new head for September or as soon as possible afterwards. The deadline for applications is Monday, February 24.