After 30 years in Gulf, BSAK head teacher Mark Leppard to leave Abu Dhabi for Singapore role

Mark Leppard, the head teacher of The British School Al Khubairat (BSAK) in Abu Dhabi, will leave the United Arab Emirates in August after 30 years in the region and 12 years at the helm of the school. He has been appointed chief executive of Tanglin Trust School in Singapore, an institution founded in 1925.

Leppard, 57, will be succeeded by Robin Macpherson, currently head of college at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen, Scotland. Macpherson previously worked at Repton School Dubai between 2008 and 2011, giving him experience of the UAE’s education sector.

A difficult decision

Leppard told The National that leaving the UAE was not an easy choice. “I’ve been here for 12 years, in the region for 30 years. I consider this as home for me. My children have grown up here. I’ve had a fantastic life,” he said. “It wasn’t an easy decision, leaving the UAE, but an opportunity to test myself in another environment [arose].”

He began his teaching career in the Gulf in 1996 at Doha College in Qatar, where he worked as a physical education teacher and head of year, later becoming assistant principal and then principal for nine years. Like BSAK, Doha College is a non-profit institution.

Education in the region

Leppard said the Gulf region, and the UAE in particular, have always been “very ambitious for education”. He noted significant positive changes, with more focus on education, artificial intelligence, and physical literacy. He expects AI to have a greater impact on education in the coming year. He also commented on the many well-known British schools opening branches in the UAE, describing them as “providing very good service” and noting that the sector is well regulated and offers quality education.

However, he highlighted that non-profit schools like BSAK have a “unique selling point” because they reinvest “every single dirham” in the school, including staff training. “We retain quality staff, and they want to come here and stay here,” he said, adding that the school’s staff retention rate of between 92 and 96 per cent was “incredible”.

Growth and achievements at BSAK

Under Leppard’s leadership, BSAK grew from about 1,600 pupils when he arrived to around 2,030 today. The school serves children aged 3 to 18. “We’ve worked hard on academic results, which have improved year-on-year,” he said. He described BSAK as “a community school” with up to 100 co-curricular or extra-curricular activities per week.

His contributions were recognised in 2015 when he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). BSAK was established in 1968 on land donated by the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Leppard said he hoped to be a positive part of the school’s history. “I generally think I’m just a cog, hopefully a positive cog, in its history,” he said.

His move to Singapore reflects a desire for a fresh challenge in a different culture. “If you’re in an institution for a period of time, you need a fresh challenge. I’ve been challenged every day at BSAK. It would be good to stretch myself and try it in a different context,” he said.

New leadership

Robin Macpherson will take over as BSAK head teacher in August, shortly before the start of the 2027-28 academic year. He has led Robert Gordon’s College since 2020, an independent school with more than 1,400 pupils aged three to 18. He has written books on educational theory and practice, including co-authoring The Teaching Life: Professional Learning and Career Progression, as well as history textbooks.

In a statement, BSAK said Macpherson “brings valuable regional experience and an understanding of the cultural context and relationships that underpin a thriving international school community”. Faisal Raja, chairman of BSAK’s board of governors, said the board was particularly impressed by Macpherson’s educational vision, values-led leadership and commitment to academic excellence, inclusion and community. “His belief in creating an environment where pupils and staff are supported, challenged and inspired to thrive aligns closely with BSAK’s ethos,” Raja said.