A headmaster paid more than £275,000 last year has been defended by parents at his school.
Parents claim Mark Elms is 'worth every penny'. But union leaders have called the salary 'extraordinary' and 'exorbitant'.
Governors and parents at Tidemill Primary in Lewisham claim his pay packet is justified given the fact that he's turned the school around from failing to 'outstanding' in less than a decade. He's also helped other local schools improve.
The chairman of governors, Keith Geary, said: 'He has done this predominantly by working additional hours during his evenings, weekends and holidays.'
One parent, Rebecca Dennis, who has a son attending the school, said: 'To be honest he deserves every penny.
'It's an unbelievably brilliant school.
'My son moved from another school and he is doing so much better. He has learned to read and write and now he is above average.'
Whilst his salary last year was under the new capped suggestion of £142,500 at £82,714, the combination of out-of-hours work, his work for the Government's City Challenge programme and his pension contributions pushed it up to £276,523.
Do you think a great headteacher is worth this sort of money?
Source: Daily Mail