BSB Leadership Team

Richard Thornhill

I regard it as a privilege to be the Principal of The British School of Beijing (BSB), Shunyi. To have the opportunity to lead such a great school in one of the great cities of the world is something I cherish every day.

BSB benefits greatly from being part of the Nord Anglia family of schools. With Nord Anglia’s “Be Ambitious” philosophy and our collaborations with both The Julliard School and MIT, the school is best placed to provide the highest quality of education for every student , no matter what their interests and abilities. At BSB, we couple high academic outcomes with the development of the whole student. The development of character, resilience, self-confidence and the desire to be the best they can be sit alongside high quality teaching and learning; to allow all our students to develop their talents and abilities and go on to be successful in their chosen field of endeavour.

At BSB, we see home and school as a strong partnership working to ensure all of our students are successful. To this end we encourage parents to become involved in our school and there are many opportunities to do so. We have a warm and friendly atmosphere which we hope makes our students and their families feel welcome.

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Nonie Adams

Joining BSB Shunyi in August 2016 marked my fourth international posting, having been a teacher and leader in international education for many years now. Having qualified as a teacher in Australia, I soon moved to Bangkok to teach at Bangkok Patana school for ten years. I then spent six wonderful years living in Tokyo and working as the Director of Studies at the British School in Tokyo. After ten years as the Head of Primary at Regents International School, Pattaya (a FOBISIA and NAE school), I am now delighted to be living and working in Beijing, China. As a Head of Primary I feel very privileged to be leading a school such as this Primary school where the students are delightful, staff hard-working and committed educationalists and parents supportive and engaged.

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Clare Cannon

I joined BSB in August 2015 as a Year 3 Teacher and Lower Key Stage Phase Leader. Prior to this I taught at the British School of Nanjing in my first international post. Back home in Australia, I have over 20 years experience teaching Kindergarten to Year 6 in various schools in Australia.

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Deborah Spencer

I initially studied Law at Leeds Metropolitan University and I then had the opportunity to travel overseas. My first introduction to teaching was working at a British school in Malawi, Africa. I enjoyed this so much that I returned to the UK to complete a PGCE and then worked in the UK for 3 years. I then moved to Egypt, where I worked for 2 years. Saudi Arabia beckoned next, and I spent 8 years in Jeddah. During this time, I became a Head of Year and developed my leadership skills further.

For the last 6 years I have been teaching at BIS HCMC, Vietnam (an NAE School) as  a Year 5 and then Year 6 leader. This has been a fantastic opportunity to be part of a large school going through a variety of exciting and positive changes that has seen it grow to 8 form entry.  I have also had many opportunities to develop professionally through NAU. I am now very excited to be joining BSB Shunyi as the Assistant Head of Primary.

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Rob Khan

I was delighted to have joined The British School of Beijing, Shunyi in August 2017 initially as the Deputy Head of Secondary and currently as Head of Secondary.

In total I have 24 years’ experience as an educator both in the UK and overseas. I graduated from the University of Sussex with a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Medicinal Chemistry. Having being offered the opportunity to pursue a Phd, I turned this down in favour  of a career that allowed me to work more directly with people. Teaching seemed to be the profession that seemed to best align itself with this inclination.

I obtained my PGCE in Chemistry and Secondary Science from the University of Wolverhampton and then taught Science and Chemistry in addition to holding Middle Management positions in both the curricular and pastoral realms, at a Secondary School in my home town of Dudley for 6 years before accepting a post with VSO in the Maldives for two years as a Teacher Trainer.  My role in the Maldives involved carrying out a needs-anlaysis, developing  INSET programmes and training teachers both in paedogogy and curriculum content. I returned to the UK for one year and then moved to the New Cairo British International School in Egypt where I was based for 15 years.

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Darren Mumford

I am delighted to be joining The British School of Beijing, Shunyi as Assistant Headteacher – Curriculum and Operations. This will be my second role overseas after spending a year in Australia in 2007 and I am very much looking forward to immersing myself in the varied culture of China.

I have almost 20 years experience as a teacher and a leader. I graduated from the University of Wolverhampton with a BEd in Business Studies and ICT and began my teaching career in 2000 and I have worked mainly in the East and West Midlands. As well as teaching Business and ICT at GCSE and A Level, I have also held Middle Management positions both academically and pastorally.

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Jim Hartland

I have been teaching in China for over 15 years at various different levels, from kindergarten, through middle school to university and business level English.  I joined BSB in 2008 and spent my first two years teaching English as an Additional Language – a course designed to help those students with weaker English to improve and access the curriculum. From this, I moved into mainstream English before setting up and running our Psychology department which is now well established.

I completed my Honours degree in Psychology and English at Worcester University and went on to take my PGCE here in Beijing. I completed my MA in Psychology last year after conducting my research project on examining the effects of culture on risky behaviour. I continue to develop my psychological knowledge through the development of our GCSE and IB programmes and I am an examiner for both programmes.

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Sarah Donnelly

I am excited to be joining the British School of Beijing, Shunyi as Assistant Headteacher – IB Coordinator. This will be my third overseas role and second time in China.

I have almost 15 years experience as a teacher and leader. I graduated from the University of Hull with a BA Joint Honours in English and American Studies, and then completed a PGCE in Secondary English in 2004. I began my teaching career in Devon state schools. Passionate about English, I quickly moved into middle management, first as Deputy Head of Department, and then Head of Department. I was also fortunate to be given the opportunity to work for the publisher Heinemann: I contributed to a KS3 English textbook and wrote two GCSE English teacher guides.

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