Heads’ Conference (HMC) chair Jaideep Barot clearly has an adrenaline-loving side.
Not content with the rollercoaster of leading a UK independent school under a seemingly hostile new government, his next big personal goal is to learn aerobatic flying in .
He already has his pilot鈥檚 licence and it鈥檚 only a matter of time before he will be loop-the-looping across the South West, his wife and two children looking on.
It will be the 鈥渦ltimate fulfilment鈥 of a childhood dream to be an RAF pilot 鈥 something that was stymied early on by defective eyesight.
But the military鈥檚 loss was the classroom鈥檚 gain, as he followed a career in education instead, progressing through a string of roles at big-name independent schools. He landed his current role of headmaster at Bristol Grammar School, which he has led since 2018.
I thought leaders were born, but I realised at about 30, you can learn this.
As a young Cambridge physics graduate with a Masters from Durham, his love of the subject swiftly led him to his first job at Westminster School, where he progressed to head of physics.
There, his first career lesson was the extent to which teaching is about caring for and supporting students as well as imparting knowledge 鈥 something that came as a pleasing revelation.
The journey to leadership has also been a learning curve for Barot 鈥 one he is not afraid to admit to.
He says: 鈥淚 thought leaders were born, but I realised at about 30, you can learn this.鈥
鈥淵ou can emulate the best, you can avoid the worst of what you see, you can go on training and really reflect on what鈥檚 worked and what hasn鈥檛.鈥
This, he said, really hit hard when he went from head of physics at Westminster to the bigger job of head of the science department at Godolphin and Latymer school, in London.
His first three-year strategic plan, handed to staff at the last minute as he took off to a conference, did not go down well.
His error? Not consulting his teachers properly and listening to their expertise. He decided to apologise and start over, eventually building up a really successful department with buy-in from everyone and grades rising.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I realised you can learn this stuff鈥, he says.
After Godolphin and Latymer, he spent nearly five years as deputy head (academic) at Marlborough College, before joining BGS.
What we鈥檝e done really well is told the story of a really progressive urban school.
The school, he said, was 鈥渁 well-oiled machine鈥 when he arrived, already on the road to introducing the IB alongside A-levels.
Covid, the economy and local markets meant the IB offer has had to be discontinued, so the focus now, he says, is on going from “good” to “great”.
He says: 鈥淚 think what we鈥檝e done really well is told the story of a really progressive urban school鈥t鈥檚 not a no-frills education, but if you want us to be a posh enclave of privilege, the school up on the hill, the traditional independent school, we鈥檝e really broken those shackles.鈥
He says he wants the school to become 鈥渁 force for good in our community, for the city not simply in the city.鈥
An award-winning campaign has also injected more impetus into the school鈥檚 bursary offering.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a mission that talks about wanting to be a centre of exceptional and broad education for anyone regardless of background and financial means,鈥 he says.
One of the school鈥檚 aims is to be diverse: 鈥淲hen parents and kids look around they say 鈥榯his looks like Bristol鈥…It doesn鈥檛 look like an old-fashioned enclave of privilege,” he says.
Barot is perhaps more qualified than most to lead this charge: proudly the first non-white chair of , he was born in India to Indian parents who moved to the UK in 1975, when he was aged just one.
His dad worked as a doctor and his mother 鈥 a commerce and economics graduate 鈥 worked in an Umbro and Adidas factory as she didn鈥檛 speak much English, moving later into an office job.
He grew up near Alderley Edge in Cheshire, attending a prep school then Manchester Grammar School. At home, he says, he was immersed in Indian language and culture, and school was distinctly white and western.
Quite rightly, the relevance of independent education is being questioned and tested.
He recalls: 鈥淚 think I was the only brown kid in my prep school until recently I saw a photo of the whole school and I saw one other brown kid in it.鈥
He said that although his parents were not 鈥渙n the breadline鈥, he could not have attended Manchester Grammar School and everything if offered without fee assistance.
His broad range of experiences there, he says, formed the basis of why he works in education now.
But what would he like his legacy at BGS to be? 鈥淢aking sure it’s the modern dynamic school that turns out really well-balanced children who want to make a difference in the community鈥nd we do that by being a school that is well connected to the community around it,鈥 he says.
He says he is proud of his election to chair of the HMC, which he says is a 鈥渧alidation鈥 of the kind of outward-looking school he runs. And he says he is proud of his trailblazing status 鈥 even though initially he had been tentative about 鈥渕aking a big deal of it鈥 in his HMC conference speech last year.
鈥淧eople see that you鈥檙e brown and think that鈥檚 all that you care about 鈥 that鈥檚 why I nearly didn鈥檛 say anything,鈥 he adds.
Barot鈥檚 passion for the good that BGS and other independent schools can do is clear, but how 鈥 as the chair of HMC 鈥 does he feel about the current government鈥檚 approach?
What is the purpose of independent education鈥hat part does it play in the landscape?
He says: 鈥淭he desire to be here for the greater good gives us relevance at a time when, quite rightly, in many ways, the relevance of independent education is being questioned and tested.
鈥淎nd I say quite rightly, not because I think we’re irrelevant, but because I think we are expensive.
“We have been exclusive, so people are right to ask as we democratize society further and further – what is the purpose of independent education鈥hat part does it play in the landscape?鈥
He adds: 鈥淚 think those are absolutely valid questions to be asked. I just think those who are at the very top of decision making, who should be asking those questions, should be asking them openly and listening for answers.鈥
Barot believes 鈥渇irst and foremost鈥 that the Government should fund state education better and then also 鈥減ut its weight behind鈥 well-thought-out independent/state school partnerships.
He says: 鈥淭hey could do so much more and affect so much more if they spent a little bit of time and resources on that, rather than the divide and conquer.鈥
As a man who grew up shifting between cultures, Barot can clearly see that the independent and state sectors have far more in common than divides them.
Could it only be a matter of time before the Government sees that too?
