Simon says, yes!

Dr Simon Watson will be flying in from Malaysia to take over as principal of St Christopher’s School, replacing veteran educationist Ed Goodwin.

The board of governors of the British curriculum school, which has lengthy waiting lists for some of its class years, made the announcement this week.

Brit Dr Watson will start next August, succeeding Mr Goodwin who will be stepping down after serving the school for 23 years, as revealed exclusively by GulfWeekly, along with his wife, junior school head, Wendy.

“It is a tremendous honour to have been appointed as the next principal to St Christopher’s School,” said Dr Watson. “I’m very keen to work with all members of the community to continue to build upon the strong reputation of St Christopher’s as one of the leading international schools both regionally and globally.

“My family is very much looking forward to moving to Bahrain, and I look forward to working with the St Christopher’s community and meeting the parents, students and staff members.”

The school says Dr Watson was appointed following a global recruitment process that attracted interest from ‘some of the best principals in the world’. Throughout the process, the board was supported by Perrett Laver, an international executive search firm.  

Dr Watson has been principal of Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar (KTJ) since August 2011, one of Malaysia’s leading international schools. St Christopher’s will be his third leadership role, after Copenhagen International School and KTJ. He is also chairman of the Federation of British International Schools in Asia, the Asian equivalent of the British Schools in the Middle East. 

He holds a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics from the University of Warwick, a PGCE from the University of Keele and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Bristol.

Dr Watson, from the Devon town of Totnes, began his career in 1993 as a maths teacher at Gravesend Grammar School for Boys and has worked in international education since 1999, with a brief spell back in the UK. His career has taken him from Britain to the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Denmark, Malaysia and now Bahrain.

Dr Watson has considerable strength as a leader of learning and in providing the academic and pastoral framework that allows children to thrive, which he believes should be complemented by a rich array of extra-curricular activities. Outside of school, he enjoys playing squash, swimming, reading and spending time with his family.

He is married to Dr Lucy Bailey who is currently an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham’s, Malaysia Campus. They have four daughters, Pietta, nine, Katiyah, 12, Miranne,14, and Analysia ,17, who is currently in her first year at Harvard.

Tim Murray, chairman of the board of governors, said they were ‘delighted’, adding: “The board and I are confident that Dr Watson will maintain St Christopher’s as a global leader among international schools, as well as embrace the coming challenges in the fast-changing world of education, I would also like to thank Ed Goodwin for his many years of exceptional service and relentless push for excellence to make St Christopher’s one of the leading international schools in the world.”

To reward his work on behalf of British education in Bahrain and the region, Mr Goodwin, was recognised with an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 New Year’s Honours List from Her Majesty, The Queen.