Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury School headmaster to move on

The headmaster of Shrewsbury School has been praised after he announced he will be leaving after eight years in the post.

Published
Mark Turner, headmaster of Shrewsbury School

Mark Turner, who became head at the leading independent school in 2010, has given more than year's notice of his departure as he plans to relocate abroad.

He has announced that he is to leave Shrewsbury at the end of the summer term 2018, to take up a new role as head of St Michaels University School in Canada.

Shrewsbury School's chairman of governors, Matthew Collins, said Mr Turner had been an "outstanding" headmaster and had been instrumental in realising the school's transition from a boys-only private school to a mixed, or co-educational, school.

He said it meant a new chapter for Shrewsbury School.

“Under Mark Turner's outstanding leadership since 2010, Shrewsbury has evolved, grown, and flourished," Mr Collins said.

“The move to co-education, which began in 2008, has been fully and successfully realised during this time.

"With more pupils on the school roll than at any time in its history, and a fourth girls’ house set to open in September, the school is in excellent heart.

"It is proud of the strength of its boarding community and pastoral care, the academic, sporting and artistic achievements of its pupils, and the beauty of its campus.

"There is further testament to this in the recent ISI inspection report, in which the school's education quality was classed as ‘excellent’ in all respects.

“Governors will be seeking a successor with the vision and credentials to lead Shrewsbury through the next stage of its development.

"We are looking for experienced candidates from a wide range of backgrounds and expect to make an appointment later this year.”

Founded in 1552, he said Shrewsbury School is one of the "great scholarly foundations in England".

The school provides boarding and day pupil education for over 780 boys and girls aged 13 to 18 and is one of the country's leading co-educational independent schools attracting pupils from all over the country.

The school occupies a 105-acre site, bordering the River Severn in the heart of the Shrewsbury.