St Paul's appoints new headmaster

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St Paul’s Collegiate School’s board of trustees have appointed Mr Ben Skeen as the school’s new Headmaster. He will take up his position at the start of term two in 2021 following the retirement of incumbent headmaster, Grant Lander.

Ben is currently the Associate Headmaster at Auckland Grammar School, a position he has held since 2015. He has been a teacher of history and social studies at Auckland Grammar since 2007 and has held a variety of leadership and management positions in the school including Associate Dean, Dean, Assistant Boarding Housemaster and Master in Charge of Student Leadership Programmes.

As Associate Headmaster, Ben has been responsible for the daily management of Auckland Grammar School, assuming the position of Acting Headmaster as required.

St Paul’s board chairman, Andrew Johnson says he and the board were impressed with Ben’s leadership to oversee several key initiatives including significant development and improvements to the provision of student services for pastoral care, boarding house systems and operations, and a comprehensive review of the junior school curriculum. He was awarded a Woolf Fisher Fellowship for excellence in educational leadership.

“We are confident Ben’s appointment will signal the commencement of another positive and exciting phase in the school’s history. We are pleased he has accepted this position and we welcome him and his family into our school community,” says Andrew.

Outside of the classroom Ben has designed and led a month-long biennial service programme for Auckland Grammar students into India since 2009. He was Master in Charge of rugby for five years and assistant coach of Auckland Grammar 1st XV rugby team for eight years. He has also been the junior coach of the distance running squad.

In addition to his career in education, Ben has been a NZ high performance rugby referee and Television Match Official (TMO) since 2005. After officiating in 68 international test matches, he recently retired from his referee and TMO commitments.

Ben is incredibly excited and energised about the opportunity to lead St Paul’s into a new chapter of success and growth.

“I feel very privileged to be joining the St Paul’s community; an outstanding school that blends a rigorous approach to academic excellence, with a vast array of extra-curricular opportunities,” says Ben.

Importantly, I look forward to contributing to the unique special character of the school, renowned for its aspirational environment grounded in faith.”

Ben is married to Hayley, who is a primary school teacher, and they have two daughters Grace (4 years old) and Zara (2 years old), with their third child due in February.