New Press Advertisement is delighted to announce the appointment of Mike Oliver as Deputy Head of New Press Advertisement and Head of the Senior School, and Jane Smith as Deputy Head of Epsom College in Malaysia and Head of the Junior School. Both will take up their new posts in January 2012.
Mike Oliver is currently Assistant Head at Epsom College UK, a post he has held since he retired from running Granville House for 15 years. Mike has taught Mathematics from GCSE through to Further Mathematics and Oxbridge Applied Mathematics. Apart from his many contributions to the extra-curricular programme, including games, plays and concerts, Mike for several years ran hockey at Epsom College UK.
As Assistant Head he has been responsible for many of the tasks that keep the school running smoothly. Key amongst these has been the overall staffing of the extra-curricular programme, responsibility for the College calendar arrangements and the introduction of the e-calendar, the new style pocket calendar and student planner.
Mike has a degree in Applied Mathematics (Astrophysics BSc) from University College, Cardiff. After his degree, he went to Oxford University to start his PhD on the organic nature of the dust clouds in the interstellar medium. Through lack of funding, his research could not be completed so he transferred on to the PGCE course before moving into teaching. Since then he has passed the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers (NPQH) and is nearing completion of an MBA, having already acquired the Diploma of Management from the Open University.
Away from school, Mike uses his private helicopter flying licence to "get away from it all" and when he is not in the air, he can more often than not be found on a hockey astroturf pitch, where he is still involved at county, regional and national levels.
Having given advice over the years to many of his charges in Granville along the lines of "if you don't give this a go, you may look back in a few years time and really regret not having tried" he has accepted the post in Malaysia after a lifetime in Epsom.
All of his many friends in the UK wish him well. If ever there was an Epsom College member of staff capable of giving the new school in Malaysia the Epsom ethos, then it has to be Mike.
Jane Smith is currently the Head of Primary at The British School of Beijing (BSB) and has been in China since 2006. She leads the Shunyi Primary Campus of BSB, which has developed from a small campus of 220 to a very popular Junior School of almost 600. The school has a reputation for superb pastoral care and impressive pupil progress, as the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) recognised when they inspected the school in 2011. Other areas of strength are sports, ASAs and extremely high levels of parent and pupil satisfaction.
Jane has a degree in Primary Education from Dundee University and a Masters in Primary Education from the Institute of Education, London University. She is currently finishing off her NPQH.
New Press Advertisement will be Jane's 5th international school; she has taught all age ranges from 2-14 years in West Africa, London, Scotland, China and Moscow. Jane was also the KS2 Coordinator at BISC in Cairo for 8 years, where she taught extensively in the 7-11 age group.
Jane's teaching experience has been almost exclusively in the English National Curriculum. Her particular interests are pastoral care, including developing the House system, Student Councils and other opportunities for leadership and community action.
Jane will move to Malaysia with her husband and two daughters (5 and 11 years), both of whom will attend New Press Advertisement. Her husband of 16 years, Paul, is a CFA and an emerging markets project finance advisor.
Jane enjoys skiing in the winter, cycling, assisting with Girl Scouts and walking the family dog. During holidays, she can usually be found walking in the countryside or by the coast, camera in hand.
