Woodhouse Grove School has announced the appointment of former pupil James Lockwood as headmaster from January 2016. James attended Hoyle Court Primary School and Ladderbanks Middle School (now closed), both in Baildon, before joining Woodhouse Grove aged 13 in 1986. He went on to be head prefect and rugby captain at the school before leaving for University in 1992. Having completed an honours degree at Manchester, he went on to gain an MA with distinction in education management at the University of Surrey.
His teaching career began at Exeter School in 1996. He then spent ten years at St John’s School, Leatherhead, where he was a housemaster of a boys’ boarding house, master in charge of rugby and, latterly, a member of the school’s senior management team, with specific responsibility for the co-curricular life of the school. Following this he moved to be deputy head at the Royal Hospital School, near Ipswich, and was promoted to headmaster in 2012.
James is delighted to be moving back to the area with his wife Sarah and their young family;
“It is a great privilege to have the opportunity to return to Woodhouse Grove as its 18th headmaster. I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead and to working closely with the whole Grove community.”
The current headmaster David Humphreys, who has been in the post for 19 years, is taking up the role of general secretary of the Methodist Independent Schools Trust (MIST) and will offer continued support for the team at Woodhouse Grove, along with all the other schools within the MIST group.
“My fellow governors and I are excited at the prospect of the new and dynamic leadership James Lockwood will bring to the whole school community. He has all the experience, ambition and vision to take the school forward,” said Alan Wintersgill, chairman of governors.
