people moves

financial officer for a large multi-academy trust in Wiltshire and will take up her new post in May.

Reynolds, who originally trained as an accountant, will be moving to Somerset from Wiltshire with her husband and two daughters.

Founded in 1847, Taunton is located on a 56-acre site which is home to five separate schools: a nursery, a pre-preparatory school, a prep school, senior school and an international school.

St John’s School appoints Alex Tate as new head

The governing council of St John’s School in Leatherhead, Surrey has appointed Alex Tate as the school’s 15th head effective from August. St John’s is a co-educational independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 11 to 18.

After studying modern history at Oxford University, Tate began his career in the shipping industry. He spent 11 years working in the UK and overseas, with placements in New York, Taiwan and Hong Kong with his final position as general manager for the business in China, based in Shanghai. In 2006, he decided to become a teacher and returned to Oxford to study for his PGCE.

He became head of politics at Dulwich College and ran a day and boarding house at Abingdon School. He was later deputy head of St John’s School from 2014 to 2017, leaving to take up the headship of Bedford Modern School, a co-educational independent day school for pupils aged seven to 18, which he has led for the past six years.

Tate is a keen sportsman who previously coached rugby, cricket and hockey. He has also travelled widely in the Arctic, including spending a winter in Northeast Greenland as part of a scientific expedition and participating in a race to the Magnetic North Pole raising £30,000 for charity.