Headmaster
Mr Peter Lane
I don’t suppose I have much in common with Ashton Kutcher. His chiselled good looks and immense talent set him apart from us mere mortals…me more than most. However, I felt some affinity with the Hollywood icon when he was recently reported describing his new role in an American sit-com as “the best job in the world”. I beg to differ!
When you go to work every day and do something you truly believe in it is difficult to see it as a job. Whenever I complain at home my wife likes to tease me with “it could be worse – you could be working for a living” and, given my passion for what I do, there is more than an element of truth to this comment. Obviously, there are long hours and stressful times but I can’t imagine any other profession where the rewards are so tangible, meaningful and frequent.
It was Mrs. Warren (I wonder what became of her) who gave me my passion for both Mathematics and for Education. Through a combination of enthusiasm, belief in a disaffected thirteen year old, and ghost stories (don’t ask) she set me on course to a B.Sc. (Loughborough) in a subject I had previously detested. I even ended up co-authoring the Longman’s ‘Active Mathematics’ Textbook series. However, the real power of Mrs. Warren’s intervention in my life goes way beyond my somewhat perverse affection for differential equations and queuing theory. She taught me that really good teachers can change lives.
As the Head of Sackville I want my students to experience just what I did, not just in Maths but in every subject at the school. We have what must be one of the most outstanding student bodies in any school and they deserve nothing less than the very best teaching; a Mrs. Warren in every classroom.
Good education is about motivating students, it really is that simple. And I mean motivating them to be the best they can be, not just in academics but in areas such as sports, arts and, most importantly, character. Alongside teaching my early career, spent predominantly in top English boarding schools, gave me two wonderful opportunities to learn how to motivate students; running a large boarding house and coaching rugby. In rugby I had the good fortune to coach a number of pupils who went on to play for England, but it is the less able players, who fought so hard to be part of the team and would give heart and soul for the cause, that I remember with the most fondness.
I hail from Guernsey in the Channel Islands although I grew up in the Portsmouth area. I retain my family’s love of sailing although the frantic energy of dingy racing has long since been replaced by the more sedate cruising derivations of the sport. I also enjoy walking and cycling, spend far too much time watching football and rugby on TV and am madly in love with my Kindle! My two daughters, of whom I am immensely proud, are still in education one in 6th form and the other reading Medicine at Sheffield.
Immediately prior to taking up the post at Sackville I had the unique opportunity to lead some large independent schools in Florida. An anticipated year’s sabbatical morphed into a decade in an immensely different educational system and gave me the perspective to question my educational philosophy at a core level. My time in the US did reinforce my belief in English education but I will never forget my time there … doing the second-best job in the world!
