Reigate Grammar School (RGS) Headteacher Shaun Fenton has been named Chair of the HMC (Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference) for 2018-19.
Mr Fenton has been Head of RGS since 2012 and was previously Head of Pate’s Grammar School, a state sector academy, and Sir John Lawes School, in Hertfordshire, a comprehensive school, both rated Outstanding by schools inspectorate Ofsted under his headship. When at Pate’s, he was Chair of the Grammar School Headteachers’ Association (GSHA).
He is the only person in the country to have been head of a comprehensive, a state grammar, an academy and now a top independent school.
Mr Fenton says: “I’m delighted that the headteachers of some of the best schools in the country have seen fit to entrust me with this important role. I have 18 months before I become Chairman and will keenly support the current officers in the meantime but I am eager to play my part.
“My daily enthusiasm for my work at RGS is fuelled by a strong belief in the power of education to open doors of opportunity.
“I see the excellence and diversity of HMC schools as having a distinct and valuable role for our pupils, and for society at large, in the UK and internationally. Having been Headmaster in two maintained schools and now an HMC school, I also see independent schools as collaborators in a moral purpose we share with state schools, of providing education for young people in our communities.
“This will be the first time that the Headmaster of Reigate Grammar School has been Chair of HMC in the 148-year history of the HMC, and I believe it may be the first time that any school in Surrey has held the chair of HMC.”
