Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2006/January 2007 | Page 26

“the worst
thing I have
done in life is
hand my essay
in a day late”

Keeping up appearances
Ryde School’s headmaster
Dr Nicholas England feels
it’s important to live up to
his role – which is why he’s
unlikely ever to be caught
out wearing anything other
than a collar and tie.
And also why he felt such acute
embarrassment on the one occasion

26

when he thought he would be
safe, and left the Island on an early
morning ferry wearing bright red
shorts and sandals. He says he was
mortified to bump into a large group
of pupils on the boat – and vowed
never to get caught out again.
Few people would regard being
caught out in red shorts as much of
a cause for angst – but Dr England,
head of the independent co-ed
school for pupils aged 3-18 says:
“The very nature of being the head

of a community puts you in a certain
position, and my pupils do expect
me to look a certain way.”
If that sounds rather staid and
old-fashioned, then Dr England
is certainly not apologising for it.
He admits to having always been
something of a “square” – and even
the term he uses sounds oddly
outdated.
“Obviously I enjoyed my days at
university just as much as the next
person” he says, “but I think I was

always very civilised as a young
chap. As an undergraduate I had
slightly longer hair and tried a
moustache in an attempt to move
with the times, but really, I was
never a “hip” teacher – in fact I was
always fairly old-fashioned”.
Indeed, the reason he gravitated
towards teaching was that as a
brilliant student of maths, chemistry
and physics he always had plenty of
friends asking for help with their
homework.

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