Michael comes to us from Glenalmond College in Scotland where he ran the English Department for eight years.
Michael is a keen scholar of Shakespeare and Chaucer as well as American authors and female writers. His favourite poets would include Emily Dickinson, Robert Lowell and Carol Ann Duffy while his preferred novelists span from Thomas Hardy to Ian McEwan but he also has a deep love of The Canterbury Tales. As a military history fanatic, Michael revels in the teaching of literature of the Great War and has visited the battlefields on France and Belgium on many occasions.
Michael is a devotee of current and up-to-date teaching and Learning practices where he works to impart the skills of reflection and independent study in his pupils and team as they promote a life-long love of literature, language and learning. This led him to complete his MEd and to use this learning to formulate a successful literacy strategy and an on-going teacher learning community at his previous school.
Michael feels that the study of literature is one of the most important academic disciplines as it involves knowledge-building, analysis, problem-solving and the ability to evaluate and make decisions. However, it is in the cross-disciplinary field where the study of Literature really finds itself in that literature is also the study of history, philosophy, language, sociology, psychology and a host of other subjects; it really does pay to read.
Beyond the classroom, Michael supports the Global Young Leaders and the Model United Nations, promoting an interest is topical issues and debate. He is a keen rugby fan and coach and a cross country runner.