Peter Mitchell obituary

The Guardian

16-04-2025

My father, Peter Mitchell, who has died aged 89, was a teacher and educationist whose career was devoted to providing the best education for all children by championing comprehensive education and community schools.
In 1971 Peter became head teacher at Quinton Kynaston in St John's Wood, London. The school came from a merger of a grammar school and a secondary modern and was changing from all boys to mixed. Intake was dominated by Camden children from local estates and the challenging atmosphere at the time was immortalised in the Madness song Baggy Trousers.
Suggs (Graham McPherson), who wrote the song, and was a pupil, remembers seeing Peter at lunchtime in the nearby streets, leaning out of a car window with a megaphone and telling kids to 'get back in the school'. He was determined not to leave anyone behind.
Peter united the two staff rooms, got parents on board, worked with the unions and recruited a cohort of committed teachers. He opened the school to children in the evenings and at weekends, and shaped a new curriculum.
The school became renowned, as much for its vibrant school fetes and dynamic drama and pottery departments as for its academic success. Peter built people up, giving children and teachers confidence and practical support. He knew pupils' names and his high standards, together with his warmth and humour, set the tone for teachers and pupils alike.
Born in Droylsdon, Manchester, Peter was the first child of Emma (nee Hadfield), a secretary, and Alf, an engineer. He went to Audenshaw grammar school and, after a humanities degree at University College London (UCL), returned to Manchester for teacher training. He met Joan Tetlow at a meeting between boys' and girls' schools and they married in 1959.
Peter's first teaching jobs were in grammar schools – Chatham House in Ramsgate and Sale in Manchester. A keen rugby player, he became captain of Thanet Wanderers and played for Sale. Peter had grown up watching Manchester United's Busby Babes and working in Sale meant he also witnessed the holy trinity of Charlton, Law and Best.
In 1966, he moved to Crawley to be head of humanities at Thomas Bennett school. It was one of the UK's first truly comprehensive schools and had links to Sussex University, where Peter became a research fellow. He made lifelong friends among teachers and educationists excited by the possibilities of comprehensive education.
After leaving Quinton Kynaston in 1982, Peter returned to UCL as visiting professor at the Institute of Education. He stayed on as head tutor in charge of teacher training before a move to Leicestershire, where he became head of the advisory and inspection service.
When, in 1990, the Conservative government abolished the Inner London Education Authority (Ilea), inner London boroughs had to set up their own education authorities. Peter became director for Camden, responsible for establishing the new education authority. Local newspapers and commentators were convinced it would be a failure, but Peter's leadership ensured it was a stunning success.
Joan survives him, as do his children, Andrew and me, and grandchildren, Sylvain, Julie and Tanguy, and his brother, Phil.