His departure comes alongside news that the mould-breaking school, launched in 2015 with an earn as you learn model for Part 2 architecture students, has been dropped by its academic validation partner the University of Liverpool.The AJ understands the university told the LSA in November that it would not be renewing the five-year partnership between them when the current agreement expires in July 2026.As a result, the LSA said it was pausing applications for the 2025/2026 academic cohort for a short period.AdvertisementDegree courses already underway will be accredited by the university until July 2026.The exact reason for Shasores decision to step down has not been made public. The school said the search for a new head of school would start immediately and it hoped his replacement would have taken up the post by the start of the 2025/26 academic year at the latest.The 35-year-old originally joined the LSA as a tutor in design history in 2019. He was appointed to his current role two years later in June 2021.Shasore led to the schools move to its current premises at 4 Beechwood Road, Dalston, a former church hall and parish institute building, and developed the schools collection of books and periodicals through generous donations from LSA supporters.Previously an art history lecturer at the University of Oxford, Shasore has never worked in an architecture practice. Interviewed by the AJ in 2022, he conceded the job had taken a degree of naivety and foolhardiness to enter into and that he had had an intense first year.AdvertisementShasore launched the schools Part 0 outreach programme for underserved young people, which recently won the Thornton Education Trust - Inspire Generations Award for Further Education/Higher Education.Chair of the LSAs board of trustees Lucy Carmichael said: The trustees thank Neal for his service to the LSA. He has grown the school in both scale and ambition.Neals tenure will be defined by his radical vision for the future of architectural education, working in partnership with supportive practices and partners.'Carmichael will oversee an interim leadership team made up of registrar Ben Adofo, Part 2 course leader Ruth Lang and operations manager Lily Wilkinson.LSA trustees John Oliver, Nick Bliss, Del Hossain and Robert Mull will continue to give oversight on financial, legal, people and academic matters respectively.LSA trustee Simon Allford will lead the schools development of the Practice Network, which plays a key role in the schools earn and learn model.In terms of future validation, the LSA said it had entered negotiations with a new strategically aligned academic partner, which it anticipates announcing in early spring when the student recruitment process will resume.The school currently has 66 first-year students on its MArch (Part 2) course and 57 second years who will be graduating this year.LSA chair of trustees, Lucy Carmichael