New headmaster appointed at Ardingly College

He is Ben Figgis, currently the Deputy Head of Oakham School in Rutland.

He will take up his new post from September 2014.

Mr Figgis is to replace the present head, Peter Green, who is moving on in September to be headmaster of Rugby School, after seven years at the helm of Ardingly,

Mr Figgis joined Oakham in 2005 and was previously at Abingdon in Oxfordshire, where he taught History and held the positions of Housemaster and Head of Boarding.

He was educated at Sherborne School and went on to obtain a BA in History from Cambridge University.

He also holds a MEd in Educational Leadership.

Before his teaching career, Ben worked in media and advertising and was a television news producer for Sky News.

At Oakham, Ben currently teaches History, the IB and A Level sets, as well as Theory of Knowledge.

He is married to Joanna, a part-time primary school teacher, and they have three children.

Among many interests Ben enjoys the theatre, current affairs, road cycling, tennis and fly fishing. 

Ardingly’s Chair of Governors, Jim Sloane, said: “We conducted an extensive recruiting process and attracted an extremely high quality field of which Ben was the stand-out candidate.”

On his appointment Ben said: “Ardingly is a wonderful school, with a national reputation for breadth and excellence. 

“It will be a great privilege to lead the school in the next chapter of its history, to provide the best of independent education in the 21st century.  Joanna and I are greatly looking forward to joining the Ardingly community and working towards its continued success.”