We are delighted to announce the appointment of the new Head of Boarding for the Prep School to succeed Mrs Michelle Coleman. Following a very rigorous appointment process with over 50 applicants, Mrs Katherine Wells has been appointed to lead Thone Boarding House in the next exciting stage of its development. Katherine was the outstanding candidate and received unanimous approval from the members of the recruitment panel.
Katherine will be moving into Thone with her husband, Christian, and her three children, Bella, Monty and JJ. Christian is a serving police officer who will also be a Houseparent for our pupils, playing a very active part in the supervision and care of the boarders. The house will be run by ‘Mr and Mrs Wells’, thus continuing the family feel which our boarders have always enjoyed in Thone.
Katherine and Christian will be joining us from a leading Prep School in Salisbury called Chafyn Grove. At Chafyn, they are currently running a very successful boarding house which is similar to Thone. As well as being an experienced Head of Boarding and Houseparent, Katherine is a highly successful Games coach with experience of coaching the major team sports from U8 to U18 level, recently taking teams to IAPS National Finals, whilst specialising in motivating and inspiring younger games players. As a girl, Katherine loved her time as a boarder whilst her parents were posted abroad, working for the Navy.
Prior to applying for the post at TPS, Katherine and Christian were already committed to sending Bella to board at Taunton School for the start of Year 9 because they had been so impressed by the ethos of our school, the strength of the extra-curricular provision and the pastoral care. When they then saw our advert, Katherine and Christian were inspired by the opportunity to lead Thone Boarding House and to build on the first class ‘home-from-home’ experience and happy environment already enjoyed by our boarders. They are very much looking forward to meeting parents, pupils and staff over the coming months, before taking up their posts in September 2018.
Andrew Edwards
Head of Taunton Preparatory School
Katherine and Christian said:
‘We are absolutely delighted to be joining the team at Taunton Prep School. During our visit to the school we thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Thone House and it was a joy to meet a number of the boarders. We look forward to building upon the hard work of Michelle and Chris Coleman from September.
As Boarding House parents it is a true privilege to be entrusted with the care of your children and a responsibility that we will shoulder with kindness, compassion and commitment.
Our family, including Bella, Monty, JJ and Rocco (our faithful Boarding House trained mutt!), are very much looking forward to immersing ourselves in every aspect of life at TPS. We look forward to meeting you all soon.’
