Warwick Academy has appointed a female head teacher for the first time in its 350 year history. Maggie McCorkell will take over in September from outgoing principal Bob Lennox, who is leaving the Island for a job as headmaster of a school in Turkey.

Mrs. McCorkell told The Royal Gazette: "All my former students tell me that it (becoming Warwick's first female principal) is very important but I think it's not so important to me necessarily as a female. I think it's just important to be a great principal, a good head.

"I don't think whether you are male or female is very important. I try not to see gender or race in my dealings with all the students."

The 56-year-old, who is originally from Northern Ireland, came to Bermuda in 1979 and was deputy principal at St. George's Secondary School for ten years before joining Warwick Academy. Previously, she taught English in Belfast, Tehran and Iran and did a brief stint in market research in London.

Mrs. McCorkell, who will still teach English to International Baccalaureate students once principal, said her plan for the new term was "continuing with what we have started because I have been a part of that for the last 18 years".

"I will be making some changes but gradually so that staff and students don't feel overwhelmed," she said. "We are successful and we have to make sure that the systems that we have in place are working well and tweak them and change them as necessary.

"I think the strength of the school really is the students. I have never met students anywhere that compared to the students at Warwick."

Mr. Lennox, 59, is leaving the private school after more than a decade in charge after being headhunted to lead the Koç School in Istanbul (see separate interview). And he is not the only staff member departing for distant climes.

Deputy head Harry Patchett is retiring after 31 years at Warwick Academy to spend his winters in Thailand, where he has built a house. The 59-year-old English teacher, a former Bermuda rugby player and long-distance runner, has only ever taken two sick days off while at the school.

"I'm just lucky; I'm a healthy fellow," he laughed. "I very much have mixed emotions about retiring. It's just another chapter but I have very much enjoyed my time at the school.

"I'm definitely going to miss the school and especially the children.

"The children are the life of any school and the kids here, it sounds cliched, but they are great kids and very cooperative and very supportive."

Mr. Patchett, of Sandys, who previously taught at Robert Crawford School and in Kenya, will spend his summers as a jet ski tour guide in Somerset and the rest of the year in Ko Samui.

Primary school head Jane Dyer is also leaving Warwick to head east. She has been offered a primary head teacher post at a small international school in Tianjin, China.

"I have been travelling to China off and on for quite a few years," said the mother-of-two. "I was asked to apply for the job and was offered it. It's the last thing I expected. It's a real challenge and I'm really looking forward to it."

Ms Dyer, who is now learning Mandarin, said she felt she had accomplished at lot in her 16 years at Warwick, especially seeing the primary school grow from having 23 to 320 students and two to 23 staff members.

"I think I have accomplished what I set out to do. The primary school has blossomed.

"I have a love of children and my whole philosophy is that I like to see children learn and grow in a healthy, safe environment."