Educated at Merchant Taylors’ School Crosby and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he
read Modern and Medieval Languages, Simon Corns began his career at Merchant Taylors’ School,
Northwood. Having been promoted there to Assistant Master of Lower School, he went to Arnold
School, Blackpool (now AKS) as Head of Languages and from there to St Albans School as Head of a
larger faculty and subsequently became Second Master (Senior Deputy Head). In 2007 he was
appointed Headmaster of Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Blackburn and, after just over nine
years in that post, moved to the UAE to take up the reins at Brighton College Abu Dhabi where he
was Head Master from January 2017 until August 2021. Simon inspected many schools, as an ISI
team member for thirteen years Simon took Brighton College Abu Dhabi into HMC membership in 2018, a small group of the top three hundred schools in the UK and a relatively small group of top performing international schools, one of only half a dozen in the whole of the Middle East. Quite apart from being a kite mark of quality, HMC schools share a vision of holistic education, the importance of extra-curricular activities and the independence of their Heads, which very much accords with the Brighton ethos.
Brighton College Abu Dhabi achieved its outstanding rating from ADEK in 2018 under his leadership,
alongside results that improved year on year and saw pupils progress to an impressive range of universities around the world, including Oxford and Cambridge in the UK and Harvard, Yale and other Ivy League universities, giving the lie to the mistaken belief that A level is not a good route to US universities.

Simon is delighted now to be Head Master of Brighton College Al Ain, another outstanding member
of the Brighton College group, with a richly deserved reputation for academic excellence, a caring,
kind, inclusive and safe environment on a beautiful and spacious campus.
He strongly believes that, however spectacular the facilities (and those in Al Ain are wonderful), schools ultimately are about people. Providing the mindset of all staff is that pupils can achieve whatever they want in the end, a recognition that they develop at different rates but that we can all learn and progress, whether we are aged six or sixty, then success is likely to ensue.

At the core of our ethos are three elements: curiosity, confidence and kindness and by emphasising these at all times, we ensure pupils make the progress our excellent results and value-added scores exemplify unambiguously every year.

Tom is an experienced leader, having spent time in the UK and the UAE pursuing his passion for delivering truly holistic education. A child of an expat family, Tom has an international mindset, and whilst having spent the bulk of his schooling in the northwest of England has managed a number of locations throughout his career. Having studied English and Physical Education and Sports Science at Loughborough University Tom has been a keen contributor and developer of both curriculum and the co-curriculum in the schools he has worked in. The awarding of his MA in Educational Leadership and Management for the University of Warwick has acted as a springboard into the exciting challenges of senior leadership.

Tom has worked predominantly in the independent sector during his career, in single-sex, co-educational, day and boarding school contexts. He has also enjoyed being part of the senior leadership teams for the past 11 years, at Lincoln Minster School, Bedford Girls’ School and Brighton College Al Ain, concentrating on taking an inclusive and collegiate approach to whole school development.

Nathan studied History and Politics at Oxford before going onto to teach in a number of schools in the UK. He joined Brighton in 2020 from a school in Birmingham where he was Deputy Headteacher in charge of curriculum development and teaching and learning. Nathan has completed a Masters in Educational Leadership and is a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, studying the role schools play in developing pupils’ civic awareness.

Catriona moved to Brighton College Al Ain in 2015 from the North East of England and in this time has seen the College grow and open it’s doors to all year groups. Throughout her teaching career she has held a variety of roles such as Lead Teacher for Teaching and Learning, Head of Science, Assistant and Deputy Head Academic. In all these roles it is still teaching Chemistry in the classroom that she enjoys the most. Catriona fully understands the importance of blending the British Education curriculum with the Ministry of Education and is keen on developing suitable pathways to allow all pupils to achieve their potential.

Simon hails from the North East of England and is proud to say that he is a founding member of Brighton College, Al Ain. 

Starting off his professional life as a professional Actor and Singer in the Performing Arts industry, he made the transition into teaching and never looked back. He worked in the British State Sector for around 12 years before the lure of the Brighton College, Al Ain project brought him and his family to the UAE in 2013.

Simon has successfully fulfilled the roles of Head of Drama, Director of Performing Arts and since 2017 has enjoyed being a part of the Senior School Leadership Team as Assistant Head.

Simon has a creative approach and is passionate about collaboration, communication and developing and maintaining a positive and supportive environment for Pupils, Staff and the wider community.

Originally from Cheshire, England, Craig graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Statistics.

Craig taught in the UK state sector for eight years undertaking a variety of roles such as Curriculum and Intervention Coordinator, Strategic Lead of Mathematics and Specialist Leader of Education. As well as this Craig participated in the Shanghai Maths Teacher Exchange with the DFE and NCETM, leading the NW3 Maths Hub throughout the first iteration of this project. An accomplished public speaker, Craig has delivered workshops and keynote speeches on pedagogy and question design at a multitude of local and national conferences. Craig moved to Al Ain five years ago and was appointed Assistant Head (Academic) in 2019. This role has given him the opportunity to continue focusing on the development of teaching, learning and assessment in a College rightly rated Outstanding by ADEK in every category.

Jonathan McArthur was a Head Master in England for 10 years before becoming the Head of Middle School, Interim Headmaster and the Head of Junior School here at Brighton College Al Ain. He moved to Al Ain with his family and is now in his 7 th year at the College. Mr McArthur studied to become a teacher at the University of Warwick in England and has loved being in the profession for nearly 30 years.
Mr McArthur believes that at the heart of a successful education are happy children and families, fascinated, inspired and motivated by the world around them. Being actively involved in their learning and being taught by inspirational teachers in a calm and purposeful culture is what helps to ensure that pupils at Brighton flourish and make terrific progress.

Mr McArthur’s wife is Deputy Head (Academic) of the Junior School and their children Robbie and Alex have benefited hugely from their Brighton education. Robbie is now in the final year of  his ‘A’ level studies, whilst Alex has just entered Year 9.

Rowena McArthur joined BCAA in 2015 after teaching for over 20 years in a number of Primary settings across the South of England where she held a variety of leadership positions. Prior to having her own children, she was Deputy Head teacher of a Primary School in West Sussex. Rowena subsequently went on to work for the Local Education Authority leading teacher training in reading, writing and media literacy and supporting school improvement across the region.  She also has many years’ experience serving as Chair of Governors of an outstanding Infant School in Brighton Sussex.

She has a passion for reading and children’s literature and firmly believes in the power of reading in unlocking children’s imaginative worlds and providing them with a safe and exciting way of exploring alternative realities to their own. 

She has a first class honours degree from the University of Warwick. 

Melanie is now in her seventh year as Deputy Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing in the Junior School. She has over 21 years of teaching experience, with a wealth of educational experience in schools
internationally and in the UK, across many contexts, teaching varying age ranges with different curriculums. She is an adaptable person and has had responsibility for leading on many different curriculum areas and with numerous leadership roles during her career.

Within Brighton College Al Ain, as a member of the Junior School Leadership team, Melanie has
contributed fully to 2 successful ADEK inspections of which we achieved outstanding. She has also helped shape the development of the Junior School, taking it from 2 form entry to 4. Through her pastoral care role, Melanie has supported behaviour, mental health, wellbeing and pupil voice, providing leadership opportunities for many of our children, so they aspire to be more.

Alongside her Deputy Head role,  Melanie is also the Director of Learning Support, a role that allows her to support the most vulnerable children within our school and create a pathway for success in their learning. In addition, she is also Child Protection Officer, Designated Lead for Mental Health and has recently attained her National Professional Qualification for Headship.

Matt Brant joined Brighton College Al Ain after 8 years at a large British international school in Bahrain, where he was part of the leadership team which led the school to maintain its outstanding status in inspections.  Originally from Reading, UK, where he earned a BA (Ed) Hons Degree  in Primary Education, he began his career at a founding Forest School where he learnt the importance of a holistic education, nurturing, valuing and developing the whole child to be the best they can be. He is passionate about gymnastics, previously coaching in the UK and developing his own club in Bahrain and holds a Level 3 coaching qualification. He is also an accredited Level 2 Google Educator. 

As a Brighton College parent, Matt fully understands the impact being part of the Brighton College family can have on its pupils and is committed to ensuring that this is experienced by every child in his care.