Dr RB Malpass Headmaster
About the Headmaster
Dr Malpass commenced as the twelfth headmaster of Sydney Grammar School in April 2017. He holds a First Class Honours degree in English Literature from the University of Sydney. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in 2006, his thesis focusing on the modernist poetry of T.S.Eliot.
He was educated at Sydney Grammar School, entering Year 5 at Edgecliff Preparatory School in 1987. He completed his education at Grammar in 1994.
His professional career in education opened at Newington College in 2000 teaching English and Classics, before a move to England saw him take an English teaching post at Radley College, Oxford. He then moved to Tonbridge School in Kent as Head of English before progressing to Christ's Hospital School in West Sussex as Assistant Headmaster (Academic).
In addition to his duties as Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School, Dr Malpass also serves as the Chairman of the Athletic Association of Great Public Schools (AAGPS). He is on the board of the World Leading Schools Association (WLSA), as well as the AISNSW Educational Research Council. Additionally, he advises the New South Wales Educational Standards Authority on matters of curriculum development.
He is married to Zarith and has three children.
A love of learning
It is very exciting to be leading Grammar at this time, and a genuine privilege to be entrusted with the education of some of the brightest and most impressive young men in the country. Grammar is a thriving, motivating and purposeful place built on an ethos which draws significantly on the enduring values of the Western European Enlightenment. Examination success, whilst an impressively notable feature of the school’s reputation, is really just part of the picture of a boy’s intellectual, physical and social development throughout his time at Grammar. Indeed, a love of learning and a passion for the greatness of the past, the dynamism of the present and the opportunities of the future remain essential to the daily life of the boys. Furthermore, an astonishing range and depth of opportunities exist beyond the classroom, be these in Music, Sport, Debating, Drama and so much more.
Nurturing individual talents
Our nurturing of each individual boy’s talents to his personal fulfilment is such that there really is no typical Grammar boy. What our boys have in common is that they emerge from Grammar as articulate, confident individuals with a strong sense of their places in society, ready for university and the wider world. Interestingly, the minutes from an early Trustees’ meeting asserted that the school’s object would be “that it furnishes a superior general, not a professional education; its object is not to prepare its scholars for any determinate occupation, but to communicate such information, and such intellectual training, as may best assist them in the subsequent acquisition of special knowledge, and in the efficient discharge of their social and public duties”. Given the inevitably changing nature of what will be considered professions in the years to come, it will be very important for our young men to have a pure academic grounding in order to be in a position to choose their path in the future. Thus, we remain true to our Trustees’ historical vision, and indeed with practical, contemporary purpose.
“Ultimately we are proud of our tradition of producing independent, often pioneering young men with the drive and confidence to make the most of opportunities and to make a difference in the world.”
You will, I hope, come and see this for yourself at one of our Open Days, or separately by appointment. Either way, you’ll have a chance to experience the energetic atmosphere of the boys, their teachers, and collective purpose that is Grammar.
Dr RB Malpass
Headmaster
