As The TES reported last week, Mr Fann (below) faced budgetary problems at his school, Sherwood Primary in Preston, so he took on a second school, Broughton Primary, a 10-minute drive away.

Dividing his time between the two schools has left Mr Fann exhausted, so we are delighted to report some happy news: he has become the first person to successfully propose marriage during the National Association of Head Teachers’ conference dinner.

The location does not appear to have been a deliberate choice. Mr Fann is not the type to place his prospective bride under pressure in front of an audience. Instead he was bounced into it by fellow headteachers at his table, who teased him by asking when he was going to make an honest woman of his girlfriend, Julie Hewitt.

He said he did not think she would want to marry him, and the whole table was surprised when she retorted: “You’ve never asked me.” Mr Fann replied: “All right, will you marry me?” The answer was affirmative. A huge cheer went up, and the news was announced to the 500 other school leaders in attendance.

We can see only one downside: given the cost of weddings these days, Mr Fann is going to have to start running a third school.