Senior Management Group

As one of the most diverse and inclusive independent schools in the UK, St Clare’s, Oxford is led and managed by a team committed to creating an academically aspirational and supportive international community, and an inspiring co-curricular programme. We aim to nurture well-rounded adults ready for whatever the future may bring.

Principal – Duncan Reith MA (Oxford) MA (Open) PGCE (Roehampton) MBA (Durham)

Duncan joins St Clare’s as Principal in September 2022. He has over twenty years’ experience of education management in international, independent and state schools. Headteacher of Charterhouse in Shenzhen before joining St Clare’s, and Vice Principal of Shrewsbury in Guangzhou before that, he worked in pastoral leadership as Senior Housemaster at Durham School for seven years and in academic leadership as Head of Teaching and Learning at the British School in Muscat, as Head of English at Culford School and on the Sixth Form team at the Thomas Hardye School. He has also been actively involved on school governing bodies, including as Chair of Governors of Ixworth School in Suffolk.

Duncan read Classics at Exeter College, Oxford, and English Literature at the Open University. He took his PGCE at Roehampton and his MBA at Durham University. His first teaching experience after university was in teaching English as a Second Language, first in summer schools in Oxford and then in Greece, after which he moved to the independent sector, taking on his first boarding housemaster role at Walhampton.

Coming from a diplomatic family, he has held a long-lasting belief in the importance of working internationally to promote understanding and co-operation. Throughout his career in schools, he has always believed in holistic education, in the need for students to develop a full range of life skills and the ability to lead change if they are to enjoy the most fulfilling lives and make a difference. He was married for 23 years, and has two sons, now grown up. He enjoys travelling, reading, hill walking, sport and going to the theatre.

Vice Principal (Pastoral) — Elena Hesse MSc (Banská Bystrica), PaedDr (Nitra), Assoc C.I.P.D (MOL), CELTA

Ellen holds an MSc degree from the University of Matej Bel, Banska Bystrica in Biology and English, and a pedagogical doctorate from Konstantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Her early teaching career started in her native Slovakia as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language and early on she became Head of English as a Foreign Language Department. Her desire to widen her teaching and management experience in an international setting and having an exposure to a multi-cultural environment brought her to the United Kingdom as well as her fascination with British history and literature. Her first appointment in the UK was a participant in the HMC Projects Eastern European Teachers scheme at King’s School, Ely. She also worked at Cobham Hall in Kent for nine years where she taught Science and was Head of Boarding. She worked towards launching the IB Programme and from its implementation in 2009, taught IB History and oversaw the CAS programme. From 2014 to 2018, she was Head of Pastoral Care, Director of Boarding and Designated Safeguarding Lead at the Royal School in Haslemere, Surrey.

In her school years, Ellen was awarded a place at Sports Grammar School in Banska Bystrica, the school for young top sportspeople preparing for a professional sports career. She competed in a high jump at a national level but she later decided to follow an academic route rather than the one of a professional sportswoman.  She now runs full marathons, half-marathons and does trail running and her highly competitive streak shows these days when she is competing against her husband. She is also a regular at the gym. Ellen is also fascinated by different cultural perspectives and travels extensively as a result.

Vice-Principal (Academic)- Alastair Summers BSc, PGCE (Edinburgh)

Alastair has always had a strong sense of international identity having spent his formative years studying for a European Baccalaureate at The European School, Culham. He graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from Edinburgh, but quickly realised he lacked the patience to be a research scientist. He subsequently worked for several years in London recruiting finance staff for a range of clients in the oil industry before returning to Edinburgh University to retrain as a teacher. Subsequently, as well as successfully producing two offspring, he taught in a state school in London before moving to Abingdon School where he taught biology and ran the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme. This allowed him to indulge his love of hill-walking, whilst attempting to persuade the students to love it too. He moved to St. Edward’s, Oxford in 2008 and held various posts including Head of Year and Head of Biology before being promoted to lead the IB Diploma programme. Five years of effort saw IB numbers eventually eclipse the numbers studying A levels.

Alastair joined St Clare’s in November 2018 and is looking forward to continuing the development of the highly successful IB diploma programme at the college. Thanks to his schooling he is able to discuss topics such as US agriculture in the 1930s in German to some extent, but wishes his everyday speaking and writing skills had not suffered 25 years of neglect. He still enjoys hill-walking, cooking (particularly Lebanese dishes), occasional triathlons, playing the piano and watching Oxford United draw 0-0 in the pouring rain with his son

Director of Marketing, Admissions and Development – Suzanne Mowat BA (Glamorgan) CIM

Suzanne joined St Clare’s in July 2018 and is responsible for providing strategic leadership with regards to all the core marketing activities undertaken across the college.

After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Communication, Media and Culture, Suzanne undertook several marketing qualifications with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and then became an International Marketing Manager for a publishing company based in Boston. She now has over 14 years international marketing, admissions and recruitment experience from the Higher Education sector and was until recently Head of International Student Recruitment, Marketing and Development at Oxford Brookes University. She has spent a lot of time working with international students, their families, schools and universities overseas and has visited over 50 countries.

Suzanne works closely with Kings Sutton Primary Academy and is Secretary for the Charity ‘It’s for the Kids’. In 2017 she helped raise over £16k to provide IT equipment for the benefit of the children. This year she is embarking on a project to modernise their library. Suzanne has two young children at primary school, and in her spare time, enjoys a sporting challenge – from half marathons to 100km cycle rides through the night.

Bursar and Clerk to The Governors – Justin Moore LLB MSc ACMA

Justin Joined St Clare’s in June 2019 assuming responsibility for the full gamut of the College’s non-academic activities. Justin has a law degree from the Open University, an MSc in Defence Management from Cranfield University and is also a Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA). He was commissioned into the Army after training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and spent over 24 years in postings on the UK mainland and Northern Ireland, as well as various tours and operational deployments overseas, often within multinational command structures. Latterly, Justin led a team of finance professionals within the strategic apex of the Army, costing the Army’s manpower, equipment, training activity, and infrastructure. However an earlier and highly enjoyable tour at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom had sparked his interest in effective resource management in education, so when he left the Army in 2013 he took up the post of Bursar of Bishop Wordsworth’s School, in Salisbury.

Justin was drawn to St Clare’s because of its international outlook but readily acknowledges his linguistic shortcomings. When not taxi driving daughters, his interests include paragliding, hill walking, history, travel, cycling and all things outdoors. Having handed in his membership card of rugby’s Front Row Union he now enjoys time in the middle with a referee’s whistle.