Leon Clarke — Academic director

After training and teaching in the UK for two years, I left to travel across Europe and Asia for a year. Upon my return to the UK, I knew I wanted to continue to explore the world and was fortunate to be recruited to set up a primary school in Moscow in 2012. The experience of starting a school was the most enthralling and rewarding of my teaching career. 

As the Deputy Head of the school that hadn’t existed before I arrived, it was fantastic to watch it evolve. There was such a warm, close environment created between the pupils, staff and parents. First assemblies, concerts, sport’s days, took place with a group who knew they were laying the foundations for others to follow. 

Post Moscow, I taught at larger schools in Beijing, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Each of these schools, cities and countries has its own merits, yet none of them meant as much to me as my time in Russia.

I arrived in St Petersburg with my wife and two sons Theodore and Oscar in 2019 to set up the British School of St Petersburg. The success of this allowed us to tackle some turbulent times and now, thanks to the support and belief of our parents, students and staff, here I am leading The International School of St Petersburg.