The people that teach, support, inspire and care for our pupils are the heartbeat of our school.
They are here to guide, nurture and encourage every step of the pupil journey from Nursery through to moving on to senior school at Year 6.
Senior leadership team
Mrs Kylie McGregor
Head of School
Kylie brings a wealth of experience and expertise from a career spent in the region’s leading preparatory schools. Kylie is responsible for the day to day running of Copthorne Prep School.
Kylie joined the leadership team at Copthorne Prep School in 2022 as the Head of Pre-Prep and Nursery. Kylie has been instrumental in enhancing the nursery, driving curriculum development, and strengthening whole-school pastoral care. As the school’s longstanding Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Kylie ensures the highest standards of care and protection for every child.
Kylie’s previous roles include seven years as Head of Lower School at Pennthorpe School where she made significant contributions to the school’s curriculum whilst also shaping a creative, skills-based learning approach and developing an outdoor learning curriculum. During her tenure Kylie established Pennthorpe’s Pre-Prep department which gained recognition as finalist for Pre-Prep School of the Year
An advocate for nurturing future educators, Kylie mentors trainee and new teachers, working closely with the University of Buckingham to support teacher training.
Kylie graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in Primary Education and an Early Years specialism, before beginning her teaching career in the state sector prior to a move to the independent sector.
Mr Ali Raja
Deputy Head, DSL
Ali joined the leadership at Copthorne Prep in 2025 from The Hawthorns School where he was Head of Middle School and DSL. Previous role include Head of Junior School Sport and Head of Year at City of London Freemen’s. Ali’s experience in working with Prep age children places him in the perfect role to support the older Copthorne Prep pupils.
Ms Nicola Stone
Head of Academic Excellence
Mr Ben Purkiss
Executive Head
Ben is Executive Head of Copthorne Prep School focusing on the strategic direction of the school and its overall educational, co-curricular and wellbeing provision. The responsibility of the school’s day to day running remains with the Head of School.
Ben was appointed Headmaster of Caterham Prep School in 2019 and has led the transformation of the prep school which was named as finalist for Best Independent Prep School, in the Times Educational Supplement’s 2024 Awards, the only school across Surrey, Sussex and Kent to reach this position.
Ben has a strong track record of having worked in leadership roles in some of the top performing prep schools in the south east. Prior to joining Caterham, Ben was Deputy Head at Bede’s Preparatory School in charge of the day to day running of the school with responsibility for pastoral care. He was previously Director of Studies and Head of Science at The New Beacon School in Sevenoaks and Head of Science at Copthorne Prep School. He begun his teaching career at Cottesmore Prep School having completed a degree in Physics.
Governors
Mrs. A. Fletcher
Chair of Governors
Anne is a highly experienced Early Years childcare professional and was the Manager of the Ide Hill Pre-School for some 14 years.
She joined Ide Hill C E Primary School as a Governor in October 2009 with the key focus on Early Years and Transitions. She was appointed Chair of Governors in 2012.
Three of her children attended Caterham School and during that time she was the Chair of the Parents’ Association for three years. Anne is a longstanding member of the Caterham School Foundation and Copthorne Education Committee.
Anne can be contacted via email: chairofgovs@copthorneprep.co.uk
Mr. P. Clarke
Member of the Copthorne Board of Governors and the Finance & General Purposes Committee
In his Executive career, Phil Clarke spent over 30 years in Finance and developed experience across Strategy Development and Execution, managing high growth businesses and as a leader of I.T., Logistics and Supply Chain, Procurement, Property and Procurement. He held Board level roles of CFO at Selfridges, CFO at Ann Summers and Chief Operating Officer at The White Company.
His Non-Executive and Business advisory experience includes as a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of Riverford Organic Vegetables, Non-Executive Director at The Institute of Physics Publishing and Co-opted Trustee at De Montford University. Phil has also worked as Business advisor to several businesses in Retail and Recruitment.
Mrs. D. Grimason
Member of the Copthorne Board of Governors, Child Protection and Safeguarding Committee and Chair of the Finance & General Purposes Committee
Deborah was brought up in Northern Ireland and was educated in Dungannon High School for Girls Grammar and is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries. Deborah studied English Literature and Philosophy (B.A. Hons) and undertook a conversation law degree and solicitors finals at Christleton Hall Law School. After qualifying in 1987, Deborah has worked as a lawyer mostly in international industry roles, but also in private practice in London. She is currently General Counsel and Company Secretary to the Board of Ceres Power, a UK – based engineering and technology solutions provider, developing clean energy to address climate change and improve air quality.
Mr. O. Byrne
Member of the Copthorne Board of Governors, and Chair of the Welfare, Child Protection and Safeguarding Committee
Oliver is an Old Caterhamian and a practising solicitor. After leaving Caterham he studied Politics (B.A. Hons) at the University of Warwick and undertook his legal studies at Nottingham Law School. After qualifying in 2007, he worked for a number of years for various City law firms before moving to in-house legal roles.
He is currently General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Trident Energy, an exploration and production company with a focus on emerging markets.
Mrs. P. Jubraj
Member of Copthorne Board of the Governors and the Finance and General Purposes Committee
Preya studied Business & Computing (BSc) at Aston University and then went on to pursue a career in the Financial Services sector with her graduate position starting out at Accenture as a Management Consultant and supported a number of clients primarily within the Insurance space. Preya had a varied and successful 17 year tenure at Accenture before moving over to Baringa where Preya continues to build on her relationships in the Financial Services sector.
Mr. S. Araniyasundaran
Clerk to the Governors
