Leadership Team

Miles Chester grew up in Richmond – he was educated at Grey Court School and Richmond College. He graduated from Edinburgh University with an Honours degree in Biological Sciences and completed his PGCE at Roehampton Institute, specialising in Primary Education.

Miles taught for nine years in a number of inner-London primary schools, before being appointed as a Deputy Head in 2004. Miles was appointed as Head of New King’s Primary School in Parsons Green in 2008; he led the school to become an academy in partnership with Thomas’s London Day Schools.

He continued to lead the school as Head of Thomas’s Academy from 2015, later moving into an Executive Head role working across the group of schools as Director of Community Outreach. Miles was awarded an MBA in Educational Leadership from the London Institute of Education in 2013.

Miles is married to Shabana, a London GP. They have three boys who are at various stages of secondary and tertiary education.

Tony grew up in London. He was a pupil at St Paul’s School before reading History at Cambridge. He then studied for his PGCE before entering teaching, spending 11 years in a variety of roles at a large North London comprehensive.

He has published extensively about history and history education, with particular interests in American political culture and different scales of curriculum planning. He is one of the editorial team of Teaching History and is a Fellow of the Historical Association.

He joined the then Northwood Prep in 2014 as Head of History, becoming operational Deputy Head of Merchant Taylors’ Prep in September 2018.

Colette grew up in London and was educated locally, in Rickmansworth. After leaving school she worked at Harrow School in the sports department, where her interest in teaching began.

Looking to widen her experiences before committing to teaching, she then worked in London and America for various businesses to broaden her skill set before graduating with an Honours degree in Primary Education, specialising in computing and geography, from St Mary’s University College, Twickenham.

Colette started her teaching career working in London schools, beginning in Early Years and progressing to Assistant and Deputy Head roles. Her interests lie in progression in literacy and phonics across all ages to create lifelong readers, born from her passion for high quality texts, stories, and literature.

Colette has served on senior leadership teams for over ten years and has completed her National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership (NPQSL) at the Institute of Education at University College London. Colette is Head of Pre-Prep and is the School’s Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Lisa grew up and was educated in London and on The Wirral. She read History at Oxford where she developed a particular love of the Medieval period.

After completing a P.G.C.E at Swansea, Lisa worked in girls’ prep schools in London and on The Wirral as Head of History, School Librarian and English teacher, preparing candidates for 11+ examinations.

She has two sons and juggled motherhood with being a School Governor and tutoring extensively for 11+, GCSE and A-levels, before returning to teaching in Southampton and then Hertfordshire.

She joined MTP in 2018 as Head of History and has relished the chance to work with older children, teaching them to construct effective arguments. As Assistant Head (Academic), from September 2023, Lisa is focused on curricular planning, and the role that feedback and assessment play in pupils’ progress throughout their school career.

Richard was educated at Eastbourne College, where he won the Duke of Devonshire Classics Prize. He read English Literature and Classical Studies at Reading University, where he became an Army Bursar.

Richard opted for teaching, gaining his PGCE (Classics) at St. Mary’s University College, London. Working in preparatory schools since the 1990s, Richard has successfully taught English, Greek, History, Latin and Religious Studies to 13+.

He was Head of Classics at Northwood Prep between 1999 and 2021, during which period he has also been, at different times, Head of History and Head of Religious Studies. Richard has written several textbooks for the School, and is an ISEB 13+ Examination Setter. He now leads the Theology, Philosophy, Religion and Ethics Department.

As Assistant Head Pastoral & Wellbeing, he is responsible for ensuring that pupil and staff wellbeing are integral to the School.

Colleen joined in 2018, supporting our Administration and Site Team. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in English in 2008.

Throughout her career, she has worked in various business roles including: retail management, operations management and customer service.

In her capacity as SBM, she now leads HR, procurement and all site operations functioning at the school.

In 2019 she completed a diploma in HR and completed the diploma in School Business Manager (via ISBL) in 2021.