British School of Bahrain executive head John Maguire to take helm at Bishop’s Stortford College

Bishop's Stortford College has appointed a new head to lead the independent school from next August.

John Maguire, who played sports against the college as a student, becomes its 11th head, succeeding Kathy Crewe-Read, who is leaving the Maze Green Road campus at the end of the 2023-24 academic year after just four years to work in Italy.

The college said Mr Maguire was selected “from a strong field of candidates from around the world”.

He was educated at Heath Mount independent prep school, near Watton-at-Stone, and then Felsted School. He graduated in geography and geology from the University of Leicester before beginning a successful career in teaching and leadership at schools including Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School and Aldenham School, both in Elstree.

Mr Maguire joins the college from the British School of Bahrain, where he has been executive head since 2019.

While the college’s pre-prep, prep and senior schools have more than 1,300 pupils, his current co-educational school has a roll of 2,900 students aged three to 18. It has a reputation for combining academic excellence with a holistic education, developing students’ talents in sport and performing arts.

Under Mr Maguire’s leadership, the school has consecutively achieved the best academic results in the country as well as winning a host of international awards for student wellbeing, environmental initiatives and community engagement, including a Daily Telegraph Independent Schools of the Year Award in 2023.

He is also a trained Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) inspector and is currently a lead inspector for the British Schools Overseas Inspectorate. He has previously been a governor of a school in St Albans and regularly speaks at conferences worldwide.

Mr Maguire’s two daughters will be joining the college in September.

Guy Baker, chair of Bishop’s Stortford College’s governing council, said: “We are delighted to announce John Maguire’s appointment and look forward to him leading the college through the next stages of its strategy, to the benefit of all pupils.

“John has significant experience as a head and we are confident that under his leadership the college will go from strength to strength.”

Mr Maguire said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining Bishop’s Stortford College. The school is renowned for having a welcoming, inclusive and happy community, and I look forward to getting to know each child and their family over the first year.

“Having known the college for years, I was immediately attracted to the role and am looking forward to leading the school over the next decade.

“The college’s excellence in academic, sports and performing arts align closely with my belief in what makes an outstanding school. My entire family are very much looking forward to joining the Bishop’s Stortford College community in August.”

Pure maths graduate Ms Crewe-Read was the first woman appointed as head in the college’s 150-year history. The 10th person to hold the role since the college was founded as the Nonconformist Grammar School in 1868, she took up the post on September 1, 2020.

She succeeded Jeremy Gladwin, who had been in charge since 2011, and is the shortest-serving head in the school's history.