The successor to Marlborough College head Nicholas Sampson, who leaves in August after nine years, has been named as Jonathan Leigh, the current headmaster of Ridley College in Ontario, Canada.
He will take over at the end of the summer term from Mr Sampson who is to become head of Cranbrook School in Sydney, returning to Australia where he was head teacher at what is probably the country’s best known school, Geelong Grammar.
The Prince of Wales spent two terms at Geelong’s remote outpost Timbertop as part of what was reported to be part of a “toughening up” process when he was a teenager.
The news that Mr Leigh is moving to Marlborough, one of the UK’s top public schools, has come as a surprise in Ontario because it was widely reported in 2011 that he would be retiring at the end of the current academic year in August.
In the Ripley College’s own newsletter it refers to him “retiring” in August.
Mr Leigh is described as a progressive head teacher who has introduced green initiatives like a garden for the students to use and progressive enough to appear on You Tube describing his aspirations for the Ontario school.
Mr Sampson joined Marlborough College in 2004 succeeding Edward Gould who had been its Master for ten years.
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