Ampleforth College has announced the appointment of a new head teacher, Robin Dyer.
The appointment of Mr Dyer, who is contracted to the role until December 2020, comes after the departure of the school's acting head, Deidre Rowe, who decided to step aside in March. The announcement of her departure earlier this month followed a highly critical Independent Schools Inspectorate report that found the school did not meet standards for safeguarding, leadership, behaviour, bullying and complaints handling.
In today's announcement, the school and trustees of the St. Laurence Education Trust, said Mr Dyer, previously Second Master and Operational Head at Wellington College: “will bring three decades of strategic and operational independent boarding school leadership expertise to the role”.
The statement highlights Mr Dyer’s previous experience including in raising academic standards, student and staff well-being and in safeguarding and school discipline.
“While in post, Mr Dyer will work closely with Ampleforth’s new Director of Safeguarding and with the Independent Schools Inspectorate, the Department for Education, and other statutory partners, to ensure that all standards are consistently met,” the statement continues.
It also states that Mr Dyer, who is contracted to the role until December 2020, will work in collaboration with newly appointed Dean, Fr Ambrose Henley, “to ensure that the school’s Benedictine ethos remains central to the senior leadership team”.
Mr Dyer, who will begin the role in September 2019, said: “Ampleforth College is a world-class school with incredible students, a devoted teaching staff and outstanding facilities. I’m looking forward to playing my part in building its future.”
Mr Dyer will become the independent Catholic school’s third head teacher in under a year.
In a letter to members of the Ampleforth Society seen by The Tablet earlier this month, Claire Smith, the Chair of the St Laurence Education Trust, apologised for Ampleforth failing to meet the standards of the ISI report.
“Each incident has been, or is being, investigated and addressed with the authorities and the students and parents involved. An internal action plan addressing all issues raised in the report is already underway and being reviewed by external bodies,” she said.
She added that the trust were seeking to appoint an interim head “who is a change management specialist and will focus on everything which is needed to fulfil the needs of the inspection and strengthen the current leadership team”.
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