New chairman for HMC

1 September 2007

HMC's new Chairman takes up his role this week.

HMC's new Chairman, Dr Bernard Trafford, is Head of Wolverhampton Grammar School. He was educated at Downside School in Somerset and then read Music at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.  He started teaching music at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe in 1978 and in 1981 became a head of department at Wolverhampton Grammar School, having just married his wife Katherine.  In 1987 he became head of the Sixth Form at WGS and, in 1990, became its Head.  In September 2008 he will leave Wolverhampton to take up the Headship of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne. 

Bernard's writing and speaking on education (of which he does quite a lot: see his website for details) are rooted in his firm belief that the way in which students and teachers are treated is indivisible from their intellectual, academic and pastoral development. He is a passionate advocate of participative ways of running schools and researches and writes extensively on school/student councils as well as on broader aspects of school leadership and creativity.  Until recently he was advising government on Citizenship and Participation (on the Citizenship Working Group set up by former minister Stephen Twigg). In 2006/7 he co-wrote a manual on the democratic governance of schools for the 46 member states of the Council of Europe.

Already a Head, in 1991 Bernard gained a MEd in Educational Management and Policy from Birmingham University. His doctoral thesis, completed in 1996, won Birmingham University School of Education's George Cadbury Prize for that year, and the narrative section was published in 1997 as Participation, power-sharing and school improvement. 

Bernard is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Commerce and Manufactures (FRSA) and Chair of Trustees of School Councils UK. Until 2006, when HMC work obliged him to reduce other commitments, he was an elected representative for independent schools on the Council of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), Chair of youngchoirs, and a Trustee of the National Schools Symphony Orchestra.

Music remains a favoured occupation for his spare time: he composes, sings, plays the trumpet and enjoys playing jazz with a group of old friends.  He tries to keep fit by running (slowly) and loves walking in the hills of Northumberland where he and Katherine have a cottage.  Their two daughters have both just graduated from university.

HMC

The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) represents the Heads of some 250 leading independent schools in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.  HMC has a further 60 or so international members, up to 30 additional members (Heads of maintained schools in the UK), and 40 Honorary Associate members (retired members). HMC exists to serve and support its members, to represent their views and to exemplify excellence in education.

The theme of Bernard's October HMC Conference in Bournemouth is Inspiration, aspiration, perspiration: doing, enjoying and surviving the job. This reflects his belief that school leadership should be reflective - introspective, even - and self-critical, as well as visionary, inclusive and efficient. But he recognises that this is also the time for a major debate about what independence really means in education in 2007:

‘Independent schools in general and HMC in particular have a powerful voice and a great deal to add to current educational debates. The independent sector is recognised as comprising the finest schools in the world, and our independence is the central factor in sustaining that unassailable kite-mark of quality. Yet creeping regulation and, indeed, even the kidnapping of the term independence do represent a threat to our schools.'

 

Contacts:

HMC

Website:           http://www.hmc.org.uk/

Email:               hmc@hmc.org.uk

Phone:              01858 469059/465260

 

Wolverhampton Grammar School

Website:           http://www.wgs.org.uk/

Phone:              01902 421326

 

Bernard Trafford

Website:           http://www.bernardtrafford.com/

Email:               head@wgs.org.uk

Mobile: 07866 604266

Press enquiries: Alexandra Caish, Head of Press, ISC
Telephone: (office) 020 7766 7060 (mobile) 0788 5620713
Email: alex.caish@isc.co.uk