Mr Sutton was appointed as Head Teacher at Maltby Comprehensive School in September 2007. In this leadership role he quickly established himself as an advocate for the children and young people in Maltby and established a school culture of 'high expectations and achievement'. As a result of this work the school saw a significant increase in attainment and progress with the 5A*-C (including English and Mathematics) headline moving from 29% in 2007 to 71% in 2013.

Mr Sutton successfully led and managed the planning and consultation of the first Academy in Rotherham in January 2010 and then more recently was instrumental in establishing the Maltby Learning Trust. Under his leadership the Academy secured a 'Good' judgement for overall effectiveness and 'Outstanding' for leadership and management in the 2012 OFSTED inspection. In the subsequent subject inspection for Mathematics the Academy secured an 'outstanding' judgement in all categories. These external reviews are further affirmation of the transformation that has taken place at Maltby Academy over recent years.

Following the improvement journey at Maltby Academy the school was accredited as a National Support School and Mr Sutton was awarded National Leader of Education status. In this role he is charged with the responsibility of supporting schools facing challenging circumstances and providing leadership capacity in schools to address identified underperformance