A SUPER head was earning more than the Prime Minister.

Figures published by the Tax Payers' Alliance, revealed Jonathan Tippett, who was executive head teacher of the Stanway Federation, earned £170,178 for the 2013-14 academic year.

It was his final year in education before he retired in the role which saw him lead Stanway School, Alderman Blaxill School and Thomas Lord Audley School in Colchester.

Mr Tippett was among a list of 68 top earning teaching staff in the country as the Alliance published another instalment of its Public Sector Rich List.

The figures were obtained by a combination of Freedom of Information requests to schools, multi-academy trusts and universities - alongside analysis of annual statements of accounts.

Six other schools or colleges in north and mid-Essex paid a staff member between £100,000 and £150,000, according to the data.

These were: Clacton County High School, Colne Community School in Brightlingsea, Plume School in Maldon, Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form College, Colchester Sixth Form College and Thurstable School, Tiptree.

The data does not specify the employees' name or job title.

A Stanway School spokeswoman said Mr Tippett's salary was between £170,000 and £175,000 but this included employer pension contributions.

She added: "Had we employed head teachers at each for Stanway, Thomas Lord Audley and Alderman Blaxill it would have been in excess of £250,000 based on school group size."

Brian Palmer, chairman of the Stanway Federation, added: "Before he left was executive head teacher of three secondary schools. As executive head teacher he was responsible for taking Thomas Lord Audley School and Alderman Blaxill out of special measures, which he did with considerable success."

The three secondary schools had around 2,000 pupils between them and 200 staff.

Mr Tippett had been head at Stanway since 2001 and executive head at Thomas Lord Audley since 2007.

After he retired, Helena Boast was appointed to be head teacher at Thomas Lord Audley.

Stanway School is now run by co-headteachers Jonathan Bland and Scott Holder, while Alderman Blaxill closed as a secondary school last year.

Prime Minister David Cameron earns £142,500.

Adrian Pritchard, chief executive of Colchester Council, is on a £121,000 salary and is in charge of around 200 staff, while Essex County Council's new boss Gavin Jones, will earn £195,000 when he joins in January and will be responsible for 7,200 employees.

Frank Sims, chief executive of Colchester's hospital trust, earns around £165,000 and is responsible for more than 4,000 staff.

Each of the schools and colleges were invited by the Gazette to comment but only one did before we went to press.

Miles Bacon, headteacher at Thurstable School, said no one at his school earned more than £100,000 during that period or now.

Published accounts for the school for the period which ended August 31 2014 showed that just one employee earned between £90,001 and £100,000.