Work in Progress - New Heads and a Principal

St James Junior Schools in London have a new Head. Catherine Thomlinson has taken over from Paul Moss, who moves up to become Principal.

Catherine has been a teacher at St James since 1997 and was a pupil herself at our earlier St Vedast School.

Also starting as a head teacher is Peter Crompton, who takes over from Mark Broadwith at Ficino School, Auckland. Peter, who is from New Zealand, has been teaching at St James Senior Boys School in London.

Meanwhile Mark has been recruited by the Commissioner of Schools in New Zealand, to take over as Principal of an ailing independent school, Hill Top.

Catherine, Peter and Mark all attended a conference for the St James family Heads, in New York last April.

Paul Moss’s new role as Principal of the St James Junior Schools in London reflects the governors’ intention to open a new junior school for boys, either at the Pope’s Villa, Twickenham, site or at the newly- acquired St David’s building in Ashford.

Paul’s appointment also starts a new phase in the Education Renaissance Trust’s plans for teacher-training. We have long wanted to make use of the unique knowledge of experienced St James teachers in order to train and develop the next generation of teachers – for the St James family of schools and beyond. The ERT will be paying a grant to St James London, to allow Paul to work on these plans.

As a first step, Paul is visiting South Africa, where the need for trained teachers is pressing. He will help St James, Durban, with its plans for development and run a training programme for the teachers there. Next, Paul visits Masibambane College in Johannesburg, whose new head Pieter Steyn has asked him to speak to parents and governors about ‘what makes good education’ and also to train and inspire the teachers about good teaching material.