Roy Pike FRSA
Roy Pike FRSA (LLD)
Monday 14 July 3:00pm
Roy started teaching in 1970 and went on to become one of the longest-serving head teachers by leading Torquay Boys’ Grammar School for 27 years. He steered the school through Grant Maintained Status in 1993, Specialist Status 1996, Foundation Status 1997, Beacon Status, Trust Status, and Academy Status.
When he took up the headship, the school had 730 students and was perceived as coasting. Three outstanding Ofsted inspections later with some £10 million investment, the school has over 1,100 students and is consistently in the top twenty nationally.
He worked with a small ministerial team on the recent Education Bill – the “Importance of Teaching” – and has served on the Foundation and Aided Schools Association and the UCAS Advisory Board. As Chair of the Grammar School Heads’ Association he worked with different teams advising ministers on funding reform, examination modification and social mobility.
As part of the team pioneering academy status, Roy has implemented the principle of sponsoring the neighbouring non-selective school, Torquay Academy, and is currently Chief Executive of the Multi-Academy Trust.
Roy also chairs the advisory board of a local independent school.
A Fellow of the RSA with degrees from Exeter and London, he has six children – his two sons went through his own school believing: “only if a school is good enough for my children is it good enough for anyone else’s”. Three of his children have followed him to become alumni from the University of Exeter.
He is a Trustee of the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust where he shares in the stewardship of 2,000 acres of one of the most beautiful parts of the world, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the Torbay Geopark.
