Surpass head of English in south, somehow (8)
I believe the answer is:
outshine
'surpass' is the definition.
(I know that outshine is a more specific form of the action surpass)
'head of english in south somehow' is the wordplay.
'head of' suggests taking the first letters.
'somehow' indicates an anagram.
The initial letter of 'english' is 'e'.
'e'+'in'+'south'='einsouth'
'einsouth' with letters rearranged gives 'OUTSHINE'.
(Other definitions for outshine that I've seen before include "Excel - dazzle" , "Surpass in splendour like the sun" , "Display area for goods" , "Eclipse" , "give more light, paradoxically" .)