The new headteacher of Epsom College has vowed to honour the legacy of his predecessor Emma Pattison who is believed to have been killed with her daughter by her husband.
Sir Anthony Seldon, a former vice-chancellor of Buckingham University and a former master of Wellington College, is to take up the role from March 1 until September 2024, when a permanent head will be installed.
Mrs Pattison and her seven-year-old daughter Lettie are believed to have been murdered by husband and father George Pattison before he took his own life on February 5.
The three were found dead at their home in the grounds of Epsom College in Surrey after Mrs Pattison, 45, made a distressed call to her sister.
Sir Anthony, 69, said: “I am committed to ensuring that Emma’s legacy is honoured and that Epsom College moves forward in the manner she intended.
“This is what Emma would have wanted for all the pupils and staff she had worked with, supported, and for whom she had such high hopes.
“Emma was driven, ambitious and courageous – there is no better way to respect her memory than for Epsom College to forge ahead and embody the values that guided her life.”
Surrey Police have still not revealed details of how the family died but a firearm that was legally registered to 39-year-old Mr Pattison was found at the scene.
He was in contact with police days before the killing about changing the address on his licence after the family moved on to school grounds, but no concerns appear to have been raised about a gun and ammunition being kept at his home.
Sir Anthony, who is known as an author, political commentator and contemporary historian, added: “My role as head of Epsom College will be to provide the confidence, stability and maturity to see it through the aftershocks of the deaths of Emma and Lettie Pattison.
“I will also focus everybody on outstanding teaching and learning in the classroom, and outside, giving pride, purpose, and meaning to the whole community.
“The members of the current senior leadership team have several decades of experience and will be running the school.
“I will be right alongside them, moving the school on in preparation for the incoming head in September 2024.”
Epsom College president Lord Alex Carlile stated that executives at the school wished “this appointment had never been necessary.”
He said: “Emma was a wonderful person, an educator of distinction and someone who was set to take the college on an exciting journey.
“That her time was so cruelly cut short is devastating to all that knew her, and all those who were yet to know her but would have benefited immeasurably from her talents.
“In these circumstances, I can think of no one better to lead the college than Sir Anthony.
“I am confident that his strong vision, leadership and experience, with the stellar support of the senior leadership team that earned Epsom the title of Independent School of the Year, is the very finest way to honour Emma Pattison’s legacy.”
The appointment comes days after relatives of Mrs Pattison and Lettie released a tribute through Surrey Police that said: “To see the esteem in which Emma is held by all who knew her is an enormous comfort.”
It added: “The two of them were inseparable and we take comfort in that they will remain so.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has decided not to investigate the force’s handling of the matter.
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