Oakham School, led by two-times England women’s cricketer of the year Lucy Pearson, is on the hunt for Bermuda talent.

Based in Rutland in England, representatives from Oakham are on island to participate this weekend in the Bridgeway school fair, which features 11 of the best educational and sporting establishments selling themselves to potential students and their families.

Oakham, a co-educational boarding and day school for 11 to 18-year-olds, embraces cultural differences and diversity, with students from 33 different countries and for head Pearson, that is something to be proud of.

“We’ve always had an international outlook and in recent years we have been building a relationship, a presence in Bermuda and are returning to build on that really and to showcase what Oakham education is all about,” Pearson said.

“What we want to ensure is that there is a richness to the community and that culture and differences are celebrated and seen as a strength of the school, but I’m also conscious that families will choose a boarding school experience in the UK to give them a quintessentially English education ― parents don’t want the same thing they can get at home.

“There is a richness in the interchange between different cultures that you get at a school like Oakham with its boarding community shrouded in the English education system, the English culture and the English weather.”

Oakham have about 800 students, including a number from Bermuda and offer A-Levels, the International Baccalaureate and BTECs (Business and Technology Education Council qualifications). But as you would expect from a school being led by a former international cricketer, sport plays a huge part in its ethos.

“There’s no doubt that sport is an important part of Oakham and it’s a really important part of our identity, whether it is in our traditional sports of rugby, cricket or hockey, or whether it’s swimming, football and lacrosse.

“Increasingly, we’re also finding students wanting to do wall climbing and sailing but we absolutely want young people who are willing to give team sport a go.

“Sport is really important because it's a great connector and a test of our own mettle. It’s about what can you bring to a group, how you can best play your part and support others.

“For those who want to push themselves along a sporting pathway, our job is to stretch them and to give them personalised support, whether it is mentoring and opportunities to play in clubs alongside the school.

“But it isn’t just about what's happening on the pitch as sport is an industry, so there are opportunities to get into coaching, physiotherapy and the business of sport. Oakham is a great place for those who for whom sport is a really important part of their identity or their imagined future.”

Pearson is perhaps more invested in the success of her school than others in the same position. The 54-year-old is an Oakham alumni and gave up a role as director of education at the English Football Association with the lure of her alma mater proving too difficult to resist.

“I was in charge of all of the coaching qualifications in football in England and medicine and talent ID and technical directors,” Pearson said.

“The challenge was how to effectively educate 180,000 people remotely and it was a challenge. After nearly seven years I needed change because I’d done the bit that I’d come to do.

“I stepped away and I was training to be an executive coach for senior leaders when I saw the Oakham job. This place holds such an important part and precious place in my heart and in my head. I have credited it throughout my lifetime for the career that I have gone on to have and the opportunity to lead it at this point just resonated with me. I wouldn’t have done it for any other school.”

Pearson cuts an inspirational figure and has been in charge at Oakham for just a couple of months but there is one key message that she hopes Bermuda students and families at the education fair take away with them.

“Oakham is a place that enables young people to love school, to fall in love with being at school and I think that’s a gift,” Pearson said.

“If you enjoy being here and you are prepared to roll up your sleeves, step up and be counted and want to be part of something, Oakham is the place.

“Oakham is as much about heart as head. When I talk about education, I mean it in the complete sense of the intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual development of a young person.

“What we will never do for as long as I’m here, is think that a set of grades at the age of 18 is our job done.

“I’m more interested in the development of young people and who they’re going to be when they’re 25 and 30 and whether they've got the skills, the friendships, the network and the experiences that allow them to flourish as adults.”

• Oakham, joins top sports school Repton, all-girls school Benenden, King’s College Taunton, Sidcot School, Stonyhurst College, Ipswich High School, Abbey DLD (London), Dallam School and Dollar Academy at the education, fair, which takes place at Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday