Edward Yeats-Brown

Edward Yeats-Brown was the school’s sixth Headmaster and led Saint Ronan’s from 1998 to 2002.

Born in 1964, Edward arrived at Saint Ronan’s as a pupil in the September of 1972, unaware of the long and fruitful association that was about to begin. The young Edward excelled in many areas, particularly the Arts, moving through the school to became Head Prefect in 1977 before departing for Stowe. Following his graduation from Edinburgh University, he spent some time in the City before realizing his vocation as a schoolmaster.

Following a time at Yardley Court School, where he met his wife Joanna, he finally returned to Saint Ronan’s in 1993 as Head of French, with Joanna initially teaching English. Immediately this dynamic husband and wife team began to have a great impact on the life of the school and, in a short time, Sir John Vassar-Smith had named them as his successors.

Sir John retired in December 1997 and the following January saw Edward begin the task of building upon the ethos and traditions laid down by the past generations of Headmasters. This he did with great success, without losing the very important social and personal nature of the school.

During this time, the Prep School market place was changing rapidly and Edward had the difficult task of managing the school through this period of change. In common with most other Prep Schools, Saint Ronan’s was evolving from an all boys’ school to a coeducational one; from a mainly boarding school to one attended predominately by children from the surrounding area; from a very small school to a larger one. In response, he put forward a persuasive argument for expanding the Pre-Prep and quickly built up its numbers and sowed the seeds of the Saint Ronan’s of today.

Whilst leading the school forwards, Edward continued to teach Divinity, taking great delight in opening young eyes and minds to the world whilst instilling his caring ideals into the future of our country. It was this love that persuaded him to return to the classroom full time.

He was succeeded in December 2002 by William Trelawny-Vernon.