The Head of Latymer Upper School, Peter Winter, is to retire this week. A Chiswick resident, he became head in 2002, and under his leadership the former boys’ school has become fully co-educational, with equal numbers of boys and girls in every year.

Born and bred in Croydon, Peter attended Trinity School in Croydon as a scholarship boy, and holds an MA in French from Wadham College, Oxford. He began his teaching career in 1973 at Latymer, and was head of Modern Languages at Magdalen College School, Oxford (1979-86) and at Sevenoaks School (1986-93) where he became Housemaster of the International Centre.

Prior to Latymer he was Headmaster of King Edward’s School, Bath ( 1993-2002).

He is widely known in the field for his views on co-education.

During his time at Latymer Peter has overseen over £30 million worth of improvements to the School’s facilities with the complete refurbishment of the School’s sports facilities at Wood Lane, the addition to the new Arts Centre of a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Centre, and a dedicated Science and Library building. The academic performance of the West London School has also greatly improved. The school boasts one of the largest Sixth Forms in London (370 students) offering over 40 academic courses.

He has been instrumental in building on the philanthropic aims of Edward Latymer, who made provision in his will in 1624 for the education of “eight poore boyes of Hammersmith”.

He established a Development Office which has, to date, raised over £10 million, allowing the School to offer places to gifted local children whose families would otherwise not be able to find the fees. In September 2012, some 100 children in the School will be in receipt of means-tested scholarships, the majority being 100% awards. It is the School’s intention to increase that number in the coming years. The Good Schools Guide commented in 2011 "we approve - a serious, professional head with a job well done. "

The School staff and students will be wishing him a happy and relaxing retirement as term ends this week. The new Head, David Goodhew, will take up his position in September.

July 2, 2012