A LEADING senior teacher with a strong track record in educating and caring for young people of all abilities and backgrounds has been appointed as the new Principal of Perthshire’s Kilgraston School.
Frank Thompson, currently Deputy Head of Mount St Mary’s College in Derbyshire, succeeds Mike Farmer who has been appointed Head of St Teresa’s School in Effingham, Surrey.
Both will take up their respective posts in September.
Mr Thompson, 45, has spent two decades working in Catholic schools around the country after leaving a career in accountancy to pursue his passion for teaching.
Educated at Ampleforth College near York, he holds two masters degrees from Cambridge University where he read Philosophy and Land Economy followed by the Economics and Politics of Development.
Mr Thompson began his career at St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College in London where he taught Economics and Business Studies. He subsequently moved to teaching posts in Manchester and Wigan before becoming Assistant Head at All Saints Catholic College in Cheshire.
Since 2006, Mr Thompson has been Deputy Head of Mount St Mary’s, an independent Jesuit day and boarding school where he lives on-site with his wife and two school-age daughters.
His main role has been in leading the pastoral team and overseeing the care of 390 day and boarding pupils. He is also Acting Head of Boarding and works closely with the Academic Deputy in developing the curriculum. He currently teaches Economics and Business to sixth formers and Physics to pupils in the lower school. He is also a qualified Religious Studies teacher and has been the school’s Safeguarding Officer for six years.
“Kilgraston is committed both to academic excellence and the broader education that parents value so highly,” said Mr Thompson.
“I’m very much looking forward to working with a highly-successful team of staff in leading the school forward and rising to new challenges whilst strengthening all that is so good about a Kilgraston education.”
Tim Hall, Chairman of Kilgraston’s Governors, added: “Following a rigorous selection process, Mr Thompson was selected as the outstanding candidate among a list of strong contenders. He brings the extensive leadership qualities needed to guide Kilgraston into the next stage of its development.”
Kilgraston is the current UK Independent School of the Year.
