Maida Vale School Announces New Head

Theo Brehony, Managing Director at Maida Vale School announces the appointment of a new head.

Mr Brehony announced: ‘Mr Magnus Bashaarat will commence his role as the new Head Teacher at Maida Vale School as of 24^th April 2023. We would like to express our gratitude to our current head Mr Steven Winter for his hard work and dedication in helping found MVS. 

‘Mr Bashaarat is highly experienced and joins us having been Headmaster of Milton Abbey School and, most recently, Bedales. He has also worked at Stowe as Deputy Head, Eton as a Housemaster and Sherbourne as a Teacher of English and Drama. We are confident, working with our teaching staff, that he will effectively oversee the GCSE Term for our Year 11s this summer. 

‘During the spring term, parents, staff and pupils will have the opportunity to meet Mr Bashaarat as part of the transition process. This will enable him to take up the role of headmaster with greater insight and preparedness in the summer term. He will also attend our school Open Events during the spring term.

‘We are confident we have appointed a dynamic, experienced and empathetic leader to take our growing school on to its next stage.’

Mr Magnus Bashaarat said: ‘I am greatly looking forward to starting in April as the next head of Maida Vale School, and to building on Steven’s founding legacy. The time I have already spent at the school has been consistently exciting and illuminating. The parents, staff and pupils I have met all have such a strong sense of pride in their school and obviously feel part of a thriving school community; the prospect of joining that community was a significant part of my motivation to accept the role when it was offered to me.

‘I happily anticipate being able to meet many of you over the next few months, and to spending time at the school with the pupils and staff. I strongly support and believe in the ethos of Maida Vale School school, where each pupil can feel valued and understood, and one where parent involvement is an integral part of their learning experience. This ethos was very much alive and apparent during my recent visits to the school, and I enjoyed seeing it in action in the classrooms, dining room and parent café.

‘I have been fortunate to work at some very successful schools in my career so far, and striving for excellence in the classroom, the science lab, the design and technology suite and on the stage, and helping the pupils fulfil their potential, will be my all-consuming mission.’

Magnus Bashaarat’s Bibliography

‘I read English at Edinburgh University and worked as a journalist before completing my teacher training at King’s College, London. I began my career at Sherborne School in Dorset and then moved to Eton College where I spent fifteen years, seven of them as a house master. I moved as deputy head to Stowe School, Buckinghamshire, and on to Milton Abbey School, Dorset, as head in 2013, and then from there to Bedales School, Hampshire, as head in 2018. Alongside my Headship role I am a Governor at The University of Winchester.

I am married to Camilla, and we have three children. I enjoy cycling and rowing, and still compete in events in both. In the summer I enjoy playing cricket for a team I founded whilst at university; I do not play football anymore but enjoy watching football of all levels. I am passionate about theatre and the creative arts. I acted at school and university and have directed plays often in the past and was a Trustee at The Royal and Derngate Theatre in Northampton. I read widely, especially historical fiction, American fiction, military history and poetry. I have championed contemporary poetry in the classroom and introduce pupils to new poets and their work whenever possible.’

See Maida Vale’s online listing here.