WEST Somerset College principal Gaynor Comber has resigned – after more than two years at the helm and six months after Government inspectors branded the Minehead campus as failing and placed it in special measures.

The governing body, which also looks set to be disbanded, announced Mrs Comber's departure yesterday (Thursday), although parents were told the news at an information evening on Wednesday.

Mrs Comber has been on sick leave since the middle of March, shortly after Ofsted inspector Jim Sage's second monitoring report – more damning than the original inspection findings – concluded that neither she nor senior leaders had the capacity to make the rapid improvements needed.

A new leadership team from the Bridgwater College Trust, made up of the Bridgwater College Academy and the Hamp and Brymore academies, was drafted in a month ago to drive improvement.

And it was revealed that not only would it provide immediate interim support but that negotiations were taking place with a view to West Somerset College becoming part of the trust.

Bridgwater College Academy executive headteacher Peter Elliott spoke to a hall packed with parents on Wednesday to outline some of the future plans.

Mother of three Lisa McCaffrey, a member of the campaigning West Somerset College Raising Standards Group which fought to get Ofsted inspectors to visit the college last autumn, said parents were now feeling much more positive.

"When we set up the group, launched the petitions and generally lobbied everyone we could, our aim was to remove both the principal and the governors," she said.

"We felt the college could not move forward under the current leadership and I think everyone is now feeling a huge sense of relief.

"The two main objectives of the campaign group have been achieved.

"I think Ofsted coming in was the catalyst for everything that has happened since and I think we did play a part in making that happen."

Mrs McCaffrey said parents were told by Mr Elliott that a new eight-strong team of governors would be appointed and that the controversial faculty system – introduced by Mrs Comber last September – would go and heads of departments would be reinstated with responsibility for their specialist subjects.

There would also be a crackdown on bad behaviour and poor teaching.

"Everyone came out of the meeting buzzing," said Mrs McCaffrey.

"We know there is a long way to go but it is so encouraging. The new leadership team hasn't been there long but already there is a completely different atmosphere in the college.

"As one parent told Mr Elliott on Wednesday, we are all so thankful that the Bridgwater College Trust has come in.

"Parent power did pay off but we had no choice because we had to do everything we could to improve the situation – our children's and West Somerset's future was at stake."

In their statement, governors said Mrs Comber's resignation would take effect from next Thursday (April 30) and that the college would be led on a day-to-day basis by Steve Moir, head of secondary phase at Bridgwater College Academy, who with his colleague Lisa Toms has been based full-time at the Minehead campus for the past month.

The governors said Bridgwater College Trust would provide strategic leadership and support for staff on an interim basis while arrangements were made for permanent leadership appointments.

"We are confident that these interim arrangements will ensure that the education of all our students will not be adversely affected by leadership changes," they said.

"The governing body wishes Gaynor and her family well."

Mr Moir is understood to have taken on the role of acting principal but, although the hope is that a permanent replacement for Mrs Comber could be appointed by September, it is more likely to be January next year.

Mrs Comber had led the college since September 2012, taking up her post just months after it was rated 'good' by Ofsted.

The Government watchdog carried out an unannounced inspection last October following last summer's poor GCSE results in which initially just 38 per cent of students achieved five A* to C grades, including English and maths.

The drop in standards also brought the college under the scrutiny of Regional Schools Commissioner for the South West Sir David Carter, who has been heavily involved in helping to resolve its difficulties.