JOHN Saunders, 60, is the headteacher of Highworth Warneford School, which has just been awarded £1.8m by the Education Funding Agency for a new sports centre. He lives in Aldbourne with wife Denni, a retired medical secretary. The couple have three grown-up children.

IF ever a person’s background was a blueprint for their future life, it was that of John Saunders.

“My father was a headteacher and my mother was also a headteacher, so to an extent it’s in the blood.”

Even now, as head of a large secondary school, John insists on doing as much frontline teaching as possible.

“I’ve always taught. I don’t teach as many as I used to but – for example – this year I’ve taught three different groups.”

John’s father spent much of his career in charge of a junior school near St Helens in what was then Lancashire but is now Merseyside.

His mother, on starting a family, moved into part-time teaching of young patients at nearby Whiston Hospital. John grew up in Prescot, near Liverpool.

As a pupil of the local grammar school he discovered a fascination for geography, especially the aspects of it which focus on people.

He said: “I find it really interesting, learning about different parts of the world, different people and how things interact.”

Graduating from Bristol with a geography degree in 1975, he took a one-year teaching course and entered the career he’s loved and been fascinated by ever since.

There could only be one subject for him to specialise in. “I started off as a geography teacher, and I think having a real interest in the subject you’re going to be teaching is clearly an advantage.”

John has difficulty pinning down any individual events that have made him glad with his career choice, but only because there are too many.

“It almost happens all the time,” he said. “Year after year what you see in teaching is young people growing, developing and maturing.

“They join us in Year Seven as 11 or12-year-olds, and really they’re still children. They leave us at 16 in Year 11 as young adults. It’s that whole process of feeling that you’ve made some sort of contribution to their development.”

John began his teaching career at Gray Court School in Richmond, Surrey, where he spent about nine years and rose to become head of geography and later head of humanities.

He remembers his earliest days at the chalkface. “I think I was reasonably confident, but it’s the sort of job where you learn a tremendous amount in the first few weeks – and I realised that I had an awful lot to learn.

“To be honest, I’ve never stopped learning, which I think is a really good thing.”

John moved to another school to be head of department before coming to Highworth Warneford as headteacher in 1995.

He says of the role he’s enjoyed for the best part of two decades: “It’s very much a team effort – I’m privileged to be the leader of a very strong team of people.

“There are about 100 adults in the school – teaching and support staff – and it really is a privilege and an honour to lead them.”

He is delighted by the £1.8m award for the sports centre, which will serve not just Highworth Warneford pupils but also be open to the public at certain times.

“Obviously it will make a huge difference to pupils. They do use facilities at the recreation centre but to get there they have to walk along a busy road.

“Having a facility on site will mean that from the pupils’ point of view they’ll have access to more facilities that they’ll be able to use five days a week.

“Our sport is getting better and better, and this will give us a chance to make it better still.”

The school’s motto is Putting Excellence First, and the headteacher says he applies the principle to everybody there, from a newly-arrived pupil to John himself.

“We’re trying to make sure every pupil and member of staff is doing their best.

“We have expectations of everybody, and irrespective of pupils’ ability we like them to work hard and do well.”

There have been changes over the years, and not just in terms of the way schools are run and inspected.

There is a far greater emphasis on technology, for example.

John can remember a time when the school boasted perhaps half a dozen computers; now there are 450 in use every day.

John has no plans to leave Highworth Warneford and thinks he’ll spend the remainder of his career there.

He has no hesitation in recommending teaching as a career option for young people who think they might have what it takes..

“Go into teaching,” he said. “Provided you like your subject provided you like young people and provided you’re prepared to work had, it’s one of the best professions there is.

“I have to say that some of the young teachers we get are absolutely brilliant.”