Heads of School

Frederik Kottler and Eva Stuart, Marlborough College

Frederick Kottler, 18, and Eva Stuart, 17, have been the joint heads of school of Marlborough College, a co-educational independent boarding senior school in Wiltshire, with the dubious honour of steering just over 1,000 pupils through a pandemic. ‘We tried to lead from within the pack,’ said Freddie, whose personal goal was ‘to encourage the younger years to be leaders themselves and make the most out of their time at Marlborough’. He hopes he and Eva have been able to bring a sense of normality and stability in these extraordinary times.

Freddie is a talented linguist who is studying Latin, Greek and French for A-level and holds three scholarships: an academic scholarship, a sports scholarship and the George Cannon Scholarship, awarded to an ‘outstanding pupil in either classical or oriental languages’. Sport is a big part of Freddie’s life. He is passionate about cricket and has captained the college cricket XI. He is captain of fives and goalkeeper for the hockey XI. If not on a sports field, he can be found treading the boards. He has played several lead parts at Marlborough, and sings tenor in the college chapel choir. He hopes to read classics at either Jesus College, Oxford or St Chad’s College, Durham and then go on to Australia to play cricket, before following a career either in journalism, law or education.

Eva, who is an academic and art scholar, is taking a Pre-U in history, philosophy and history of art and an A-level in art, and also hopes to go to Oxford. She plans to defer a gap year until after university, which will give her time to work out what she wants to do. Although she has lots of ideas, becoming a barrister is top of her list. At school she never stops: she is in the Combined Cadet Force which, she says, has taught her so much about independence and co-operation. When she is not writing and directing her own plays – she loves the fact that she directed Freddie – she can be found in the art block, or talking to the younger pupils. ‘It feels important to maintain a sense of a whole pupil body despite the inevitable year group segregation,’ she says.

Portrait by Hugo Burnand.