STONYHURST College has appointed the deputy headmaster of Downside School as its new Head.
Adrian Aylward will make the move to the 400-year-old Jesuit school in September, when Dr Giles Mercer moves to be Head of the Catholic Prior Park College in Bath.
"I feel very privileged and excited to have been chosen," he told the Catholic Herald this week. "I am very committed to Catholic schools, and Stonyhurst is a tremendous place with a tremendous history."
After being educated at Worth, and reading Greats at Oxford, Mr Aylward spent nine years in the City and in industry before he felt a calling to the teaching life. He took a PGCE at London University in Religious Studies, and trained at RGS Guildford, then moved to Downside School where, in four years, he rose rapidly to his present senior position as housemaster and deputy headmaster.
Mr Aylward is married with two children.