Students at Gordonstoun, Scotland’s most expensive independent school, go on term-time voyages aboard the school’s 80ft yacht, Ocean Spirit of Moray.

And from Year 11 (the equivalent of S4), pupils at the world-famous boarding school dedicate at least three hours a week to one of the school’s 12 services, including the coast guard and fire service.

This broad curriculum is what the newly appointed principal, Lisa Kerr - the first non-teacher to be appointed to lead a Scottish independent school and the first woman to lead Gordonstoun - most values about the school.

The education that Gordonstoun offers has never been more important, says Ms Kerr, who runs her own consultancy business, and who will take over from the current principal next year. But too often the skills these kinds of experiences engender - skills like teamwork and leadership - are left to employers to nurture, when they should be developed by schools, she says.

“What strikes me about the Gordonstoun curriculum is that it starts to teach young people these skills from an early age,” Ms Kerr explains.

“Corporate organisations pay thousands of pounds in training programmes designed to enable their employees to acquire some of these skills. However, I believe that there is no reason to wait until you are in the workplace to learn them. The earlier you start, the better, and where better to start than at school?”

Gordonstoun - which its most famous alumnus, the Prince of Wales, once referred to as “Colditz in kilts” - has entered uncharted waters by becoming the country’s first private school to put a non-teacher at the helm.

‘Substantial business’

As well as being a school, Gordonstoun is “a substantial business”, says chair of the board of governors, Dr Eve Poole. Therefore, a leadership team with educational and business skills was deemed “ideal”.

Thus, when the current principal, Simon Reid, leaves to become head of Christ’s Hospital in Sussex in September, Ms Kerr will lead the school, and the current head of the senior school, history teacher Titus Edge, will become headmaster. Mr Edge was himself educated at Gordonstoun and his family has attended the school now for three generations (see box, below).

Dr Poole explains: “As headmaster, day-to-day school life will fall within Titus’ remit; teaching staff will report to him and he will be the school’s main link with parents and with outside educational bodies.”

Ms Kerr (pictured below) believes that the skills she has, after working for 20 years in commercial media and running her own business for five, can be applied to virtually any sector; skills “such as the ability to think strategically, to inspire and motivate staff, to innovate and to respond to a rapidly changing world”.

She dismisses the idea that it will take time for pupils and staff at Gordonstoun to get used to a woman being in charge.

“After all, all three Scottish political parties have female leaders and the UK prime minister is a woman. Why should Gordonstoun be any different?” she asks.

Education is in her blood, says Ms Kerr. And it is her love of education and Gordonstoun’s openness to innovation that attracted her to the job.

Ms Kerr’s mother, Jennifer Kerr, was headteacher of Cousland Primary in Midlothian, which is now closed, and Prestonfield Primary in Edinburgh. Her father, Andrew Kerr, meanwhile, was a music adviser for Lothian region. Ms Kerr says: “Both of them showed me how education is the key which unlocks opportunity and self-discovery.”

Ms Kerr’s 11-year -old daughter is currently a pupil at Gordonstoun, but she herself attended first Pencaitland Primary in East Lothian, and then the City of Edinburgh Music School at Broughton High.

A growing trend?

A number of Scottish independent schools are beginning to differentiate between the person who leads learning and teaching and the person who is in charge of the overall operation, according to John Edward, director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools. Despite this, he says that he believes Gordonstoun is the first in Scotland to hire a non-teacher as its leader.

However, the idea that there is a growing trend towards appointing non-teachers to lead private schools is refuted by Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council.

“There is no reason why there should be an increase in non-teachers being heads. It is simply that non-teachers sometimes apply and sometimes they are the best candidates,” he said.

“We welcome them applying. They may be at a disadvantage in not knowing much about the curriculum or about trends in teaching but equally they may have much experience in marketing, managing people, finance and other areas that are important to school management.”