Winchester House School in Brackley is celebrating the arrival of new Head, Antonia Lee.
Antonia joins Winchester House from St Helen’s School, where she was Head of the Prep School and sat on the Executive Team for the Prep and Senior Schools. Having read Geography at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, Antonia completed her teacher training at Homerton College, Cambridge, and has since gone on to teach three to 18-year-olds in all-boys, all-girls and co-educational schools across her career. Antonia is a huge sports fan – particularly cricket, rugby and netball – is passionate about the performing arts and is a keen hiker:
For me, teaching isn’t just a job, it’s a vocation, I am utterly obsessed about education. In fact, if you were to ask my mum, she would say she knew that I was going to be a teacher when she saw me at five years old desperately trying to teach my two-year-old sister to read.
Throughout my career in teaching, working with children has given me so much energy and enthusiasm, a real joie de vivre, and it is always the deepest honour to help a young person find out who they are and help them on their journey to become the very best version of themselves.
Many will already know Winchester House as having a well-deserved reputation as a very happy, high-achieving, all-round Prep School. I fell in love with Winchester House the moment I arrived on a cold, blustery day last year. I was standing under the facade, the rain was pouring down around me, and all I could hear was a group of small children singing a rather brilliant interpretation of ‘What shall we do with a drunken sailor’. Having followed the singing, I found this dedicated group of Winchester House pupils who were completely committed to their performance, singing the song to their own actions and dance. They were finding such joy and pride in performing to an audience of one (their teacher!), and that was the moment I realised how wonderful the school community at Winchester House truly is.
Since starting in January, I’ve already discovered that there is no such thing as a typical ‘Winchester House child’. I see how pupils here develop as individuals with their own passions, strong opinions and interests in learning. It’s a privilege now to lead this dedicated teaching team, and support them in helping every child grow through the school and develop as creative, robust individual learners.
Children need to be at the edge of their ability to continuously develop and, in my short time at the school, I’ve already been incredibly impressed and assured by the academic offering at Winchester House.
Co-curricular learning is rightly regarded as an important part of the Prep School sector, and I see this as a vital component of the complex picture that makes up a successful education for a child.
The facilities at Winchester House and Stowe offer an extraordinary platform for the programme and I’m already in awe of the variety of activities on offer. I’m excited to be working with the Winchester House team on the ongoing development of this programme, creating space in the day where our pupils can develop and discover their passions and joys in life, as well as learning soft skills and a confidence that can be taken into the classroom and, as they grow, into the workplace.
As an exceptionally keen sports fan, I also very much look forward to supporting the continued growth of the sports offering at the school. However, I’m afraid I’m rather hopeless as a polite Head during fixtures, and will be supporting Winchester House from the sidelines with absolute gusto!
I’m well aware that families will be trusting us with their most precious possession for a number of years. My message to those families is that as Head of Winchester House, I will work tirelessly to ensure that their child will be known personally at the school and be given every opportunity to thrive in all areas of school life, via an exciting and dynamic co-curricular programme and a cutting-edge, creative curriculum.
Winchester House School is co-educational nursery, pre-prep and preparatory school offering outstanding education to children aged three to 13 with day, occasional and weekly-boarding available, and feeds to some of the top senior schools in the UK
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Antonia joins Winchester House at an exciting time for the school, with 2021’s formation of The Stowe Group. To book on the next Open Day Winchester House or to arrange a private tour to discuss admissions, email admissions@winchester-house.org or call 01280 702483
Antonia Lee
Head
