St Edward’s School MORE FROM STAFF AND GOVERNORS MORE FROM ABOUT Senior Management Alastair Chirnside, Warden Alastair was brought up near Oxford and attended the Dragon, winning a King’s Scholarship to Eton. He took a Congratulatory First in Classics and French at Merton College, Oxford, where he also won a half-blue for lightweight rowing. Alastair started his career as a fund manager with Schroders in London before going into teaching in 2004. His first teaching job was at Eton, where he also coached J16 rowing before going on to be Head of Year 11, Head of Classics and House Master of Walpole House. He left Eton in 2016 to become Director of Studies at Harrow, where he was then appointed Deputy Head Master in April 2019. He became Warden of St Edward’s in September 2021. Alastair is married to Zannah, and they have two children, Mary and Lizzie. Beyond Teddies, he is a governor at Summer Fields and at Ashfold. During the holidays, Alastair and his family enjoy travel in their VW camper, spending time at their home in Normandy, walking with their two black Labradors, Sandie and Pixie, and camping on the Thames in their double-sculling skiff. Edward Hayter, Bursar Edward was educated at RGS Guildford, where he was a Music Scholar. He joined the Royal Navy as a University Cadet and read Politics and Economics at Southampton University where he was Captain of the University Boat Club. After graduating he qualified as a Navigating Officer and saw service worldwide in the surface fleet. He was appointed aide-de-camp to HRH The Princess Royal in 1996. Edward left the Royal Navy in 1998 and joined strategy consultants Monitor Company. He went on to perform Corporate Strategy Director roles at BT and Lloyds Bank. He then joined Lloyds Bank’s Private Equity Fund as an Operating Partner and after 10 years, moved to become Managing Director of another private equity fund. Edward joined St Edward’s as Bursar in January 2020. He is a keen sailor and cyclist and occasionally plays the bagpipes. Edward’s wife Victoria (who prefers him not to play the bagpipes) is a teacher at New College School and they have four children. Tony Darby, Sub-Warden After graduating with a degree in Politics and Economics from the University of Durham, Tony completed a hugely enjoyable year teaching English in the Czech Republic. A brief period as an accountant with PWC was followed by him completing a PGCE at Staffordshire University, and then on to heading up the Politics and Economics Departments at Queen’s College, Taunton. This was subsequently followed by a move to Rugby School, where he became the Head of Economics & Business and helped to set up the EPQ qualification. In more recent years he was a Housemaster and then Senior Housemaster at the school. Throughout his career he has been an enthusiastic sportsman, having coached a large number of school teams in football, cricket and hockey, and he continues to enjoy playing fives and golf. Tony is married to Leah, and they have two young children, Bella and Lewis. Rachel Bellamy, Deputy Head Pastoral Rachel was educated at Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College in Leicester before going on to study English and Sports Science at Loughborough University. The early years of Rachel’s teaching career were spent at Worksop College, where alongside completing a Masters Degree in Education, she was an Assistant HM, Head of PE and Coach of the 1st Hockey team. She also taught international cricketer and current captain of the England Test team, Joe Root. Rachel joined St Edward’s in 2009 to take up the role of HM in Avenue, and to teach English, Sports Science and Psychology. Throughout her Teddies career, Rachel has coached hockey and cricket, usually leading the coaching for the U14A girls’ and the 2nd XI boys’ hockey teams. She has always coached boys’ cricket teams and is now part of the coaching squad for the new girls’ team. Rachel was HM in Avenue until 2018, spending several years as a Senior HM, before taking up her current role of Deputy Head Pastoral. Rachel is one of the School’s Designated Safeguarding Leads. In her spare time, Rachel is a keen sportswoman – she plays cricket for the MCC, has run marathons in London, Paris and Berlin, completed 10 Ironman triathlons, and is an experienced trekker, having reached Everest Base Camp and scaled Mount Kilimanjaro. David Flower, Deputy Head Academic David was educated at Chatham House Grammar School in Ramsgate and at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he studied History. An early participant in the Teach First programme, David began his career teaching History at a co-ed, non-selective state school in Croydon, where two of his pupils became the first in their families to go to university, and where he led the girls’ football team to victory in the local cup. At Dulwich, alongside management of all aspects of the academic life of the school, David created A Level Plus, a programme of 20 bespoke, multi-disciplinary courses designed to promote deep learning. Outside his academic work, David is a keen sportsman, having played county and regional representative hockey. He coaches hockey, cricket, rugby and football, and enjoys cooking Japanese food. Lawrence Tao, Assistant Head Academic Lawrence studied Maths, Music and Latin at the University of Durham, where he was also organ scholar of St John’s College. Following this he spent a year as organ scholar at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, before becoming school organist at Gresham’s School in 2010. There he rose through the ranks, completing his PGCE through the University of Buckingham and becoming Head of Academic Music in 2014, as well as being an Assistant HM and spending two terms as Acting Director of Music in 2016. Since joining St Edward’s in 2017 as Head of Academic Music and AHM in Field House, Lawrence has also taught Theory of Knowledge, and took up his current role as Assistant Head Academic in January 2020. Lawrence’s musical interests include playing the organ, piano and violin, choral and orchestral conducting, and making and directing chamber music, and he has a particular interest in the music of J S Bach, Maurice Duruflé and Madeleine Dring. Aside from music, Lawrence enjoys board games, crosswords and travel. James Cope, Assistant Head Pastoral James was educated at St John’s, Leatherhead, and won an Exhibition to Keble College, Oxford, where he studied Geography. He went on to complete a PGCE at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, and, via the Open University, an MA in Education and an Advanced Diploma in Educational Management. His early career was spent in Africa where he undertook teaching roles — some of them voluntary — in a number of organisations including the University of Khartoum in the Sudan, and at schools in Namibia, Kenya and Togo; in the UK, James has worked principally in state schools. During his 4 years at the British School of Lomé in Togo, James held the post of Deputy Head Pastoral alongside his teaching role, before joining St Edward’s in 2001. At St Edward’s, James has held the posts of Head of Geography, Head of Shells, IB Coordinator, Acting Academic Director, Kendall HM and Master i/c Cricket. James and his wife Charlotta have two children, both of whom attended St Edward’s. James earned two cricket blues from Oxford, is an enthusiastic triathlete and golfer, and retains a keen interest in Africa. His claim to fame, at one time, was to be the tallest wicket-keeper in first class cricket. Nick Coram-Wright, Assistant Head Co-Curricular and Contingent Commander of the CCF Nick went to Lancing College in Sussex and then studied French and German at the University of St Andrews, including part of the third year in Vienna and Neuchâtel, Switzerland. After graduating, he worked in London for a computer research company expanding their business into mainland Europe. He did his PGCE at Girton College, Cambridge, and his first post was at St John’s Leatherhead where he held various positions including resident Assistant Housemaster, officer in the RAF Section, ran the sailing and windsurfing club and coached U14 football. He joined St Edward’s in 2000 as Head of German and for two years was Modern Languages Coordinator, leading a number of school trips to Berlin, the Alps and to Malawi in support of the charity ‘Malawi Dream’. In 2004 he became Housemaster of Cowell’s, a post he held until 2015. Amongst many of the highlights of running a boarding house Nick particularly recalls two sponsored parachute jumps from 13,000ft with members of the Sixth Form. Nick enjoys travelling, visiting the theatre and opera as well as photography. Judy Young, Assistant Head Curricular Judy was born, brought up and went to school in Oxford. She read Engineering Science at Warwick University and did a PGCE at Oxford, including a stimulating term at a pilot school for the Nuffield Science Project, then at the cutting edge of changes in the teaching of science. From there she went on to teach at St Helen’s and St Katharine’s in Abingdon, followed by Wycombe Abbey School and then as Housemistress at Lancing College. 1986 saw the arrival of an adopted family, a sibling group of three children, and three years later, she and her family moved to the north-east. Here she ran a seven acre small-holding and bred pedigree Tamworth pigs. Teaching called again, and she spent four very happy years at Westfield School in Newcastle, coming back south again in 1999 to take up the post of Housemistress and Physics teacher at St Edward’s. She was also a tutor, for more than a decade, on the Boarding Schools’ Association Certificate of Professional Practice, and a former Boarding Inspector. Rachael Henshilwood, Development and Partnerships Director Following her Business degree, Rachael began her career in international sales and marketing with leading IT and BPO service providers, whilst also building up a portfolio of charitable voluntary roles. Following the birth of her son Bligh, who is being educated at St Edward’s, she moved into fundraising in the independent schools’ sector where she has spent the past 14 years working with leading schools in the UK and Australia, including Melbourne Grammar School and Eton College, where her husband Alex is a House Master. Rachael leads on our growing community engagement, partnership and charitable initiatives alongside fundraising. In her spare time she is also a Governor of Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, a Trustee of the Windsor Learning Partnership (a Multi Academy State School Trust) and a Trustee of the Fulham Reach Boat Club which enables deprived young people in London to achieve their potential through rowing. Rowing has been a major part of both Alex and Rachael’s lives over the years with Rachael competing at Junior International level and Alex with the GB team for eight years. They have now moved into Crossfit and compete together at local competitions. Tracy van der Heiden, Head of Communications Tracy was educated at Shutz American School in Alexandria, Egypt, and at Devonport High School for Girls, a state school in Plymouth. She was the first person in her family to go to university, reading Modern Languages at St Hugh’s College, Oxford. Having thoroughly enjoyed producing a number of Edinburgh Festival productions during her student days, she looked to arts administration for her career, finding her first role as Assistant Editor of the members’ magazine of the charity, The Art Fund, then based in what is now Tate Britain. She went on to spend a decade at the Victoria and Albert Museum, first as Press Officer and then Head of Media Relations, followed by three years as Head of Media Relations and Marketing at the Royal College of Art. Having moved to the Cotswolds to find more space for her growing family, Tracy worked in part-time roles while the children were young, as PA to the writer and comedian Rory Bremner and as media adviser to an architecture practice. She joined St Edward’s in 2010 to develop the then fledgling Marketing Department. Tracy and her husband Jan have four children, two of whom are OSE and one of whom is in the Sixth Form. Nicola Jones, Registrar Discover more Co-Education Arrange A Visit Teddies TV USEFUL LINKS Arrange a visit Contact Privacy Policies Legal Vacancies COMMUNITY OSE Friends Parents Staff Pupils CONTACT St Edward's School Woodstock Rd Oxford, OX2 7NN 01865 319 204 © St Edward's School Oxford 2021 School web design by TWK St Edward's School is registered in England and Wales as a charitable company limited by guarantee. Registered No: 116784. Registered Office: St Edward's School, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 7NN. Registered Charity No: 309681. 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