Crossword Genius

Excited school head leaves discreetly, taking off at the end of June without delay (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

directly

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'without delay' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'excited school head leaves discreetly taking off at the end of june' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'head' could be 'direct' (synonyms) and 'direct' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for directly that I've seen before include "As the crow flies" , "following the shortest route possible?" , "In a straightforward manner, no delay" , "in a trice!" , "Straight away" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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