What’s your earliest memory from the classroom?

Playing Joseph in a nativity play. I still have a photograph of me in costume looking very excited to be meeting Father Christmas.

Which aspects of school life do you look back upon fondly?

The huge range of opportunities alongside the classroom such as sport, music and the CCF. I boarded for ten years so the friendships and camaraderie were also very important.

Did you have a favourite teacher?

My A Level RS teachers at Sherborne, Paul Carling and Chris Huxtable, who fostered my love of the subject and led to me going to Oxford. Also Andrew Yorke, who got me through Maths GCSE, was wonderful, patient and kind.

What was your favourite lesson?

I loved RS, History and English but the lesson that stands out was an A Level Art lesson I attended by mistake. They were learning about Jackson Pollock and it sparked an interest in art which I still have today.

Is there anything you wish you’d studied at secondary school?

wish I had taken Art at least to GCSE. I see the work done by pupils at King’s and am always so impressed and interested in what they create.

How has your own experience of school sculpted you into the head teacher you are today?

It has had a huge impact. I was fortunate to go to two amazing schools and my belief in the balance of the academic and wider curriculum was shaped by that – I always say that exam results get you job interviews but it’s the person who walks through the door that gets the job. I’ve also worked with some outstanding people in my career and that continues to inspire and influence my vision of the changing landscape of education and the modern world.

King’s Rochester is a co-educational day and boarding school in Kent for pupils aged three to eighteen. www.kings-rochester.co.uk (01634 888590).

You may also like

Thinking of 2026

There’s much to be gleaned from the Harry Potter book series when it comes to language and emotional intelligence, explains former headteacher Mike Piercy How many of us watched a Harry Potter film over the Christmas period? Our children grew...

Myth Busters

We hear from ACS International School Cobham as the school celebrates its 50th anniversary, reflecting on how far it has come and setting the record straight on a few common misconceptions along the way From its origins as a school...

Added Value

Some vital aspects of education are not easy to measure, says former headteacher Mike Piercy Are we stumbling, blundering – even thundering – into a Wildean world? Oscar Wilde defined a cynic as someone ‘who knows the price of everything...