Eve Jardine Young is the Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College, an independent boarding school in Gloucestershire named South West Independent Secondary School of the Decade by the Sunday Times Schools Guide in November 2020. Eve grew up in Malawi and won a scholarship to attend CLC in the sixth form. She previously worked at various independent secondaries including Radley College and Epsom College. What brought you back to CLC? I did think quite carefully about the wisdom of applying to work at a school I had attended, and where I had been inspirationally taught. I had a healthy scepticism and was prepared to say: this is not a good idea. But what felt powerful and visceral on both occasions — coming to the college on a tour aged 16 and walking back through the door to be interviewed 25 years later– was the sense of observing a community of people who were energised and...