Reverend Will Adams awarded Honorary Fellowship

The University of Northampton is pleased to have awarded Reverend Will Adams with an Honorary Fellowship at this year’s Summer Graduation Ceremonies.

Will was educated in Devon and at the University of Chester, where he gained his teaching certificate in Mathematics and Geography. His first teaching post was in Aylesbury and Will subsequently moved on to posts in Oxford and finally at Roade School, Northamptonshire, where he was Deputy Headteacher from 1982 to 1992 and Headteacher from 1992 to 2004.

During this time, Will was accredited as a Tutor for the National Professional Qualification for Headship (one of the first tranche of headteachers to be trained to prepare other secondary school heads), Elected Ordinary Fellow of the College of Teachers, and became Deputy Director and later Chair of, the Centre for the Study of Comprehensive Schools, a charitable trust which promoted comprehensive values and best practice for secondary schools in England and Wales.

In 2001, Will was ordained as priest at Peterborough Cathedral and a few years later, following his retirement from headship, was installed as Rector of the Astwell Benefice, comprising the parishes of Wappenham, Helmdon with Stuchbury and Radstone, Syresham with Whitfield, and Lois Weedon with Weedon and Plumpton.

In 2004, Will joined the governing body of the University of Northampton and became Deputy Chair in 2010. He retired as a Governor in 2013 having completed nine years of office. In 2007, he was invited to join the Interim Executive Board of Unity College (now Malcolm Arnold Academy, Northampton) as a representative of the Peterborough Diocese Board of Education and worked with the College during its conversion to academy status. More recently, Will was appointed jointly by the Royal Society of Arts and the Diocese of Worcester as a trustee of the Redditch Academy Trust and Chair of Ipsley CE RSA Academy.

Will said: “I think graduates today will have a different education experience to what I had as the world is which they are living is going to be very different too. They will therefore have to be more adaptable, more open to change and more willing to engage with a world that perhaps they thought they may not have to.

“I was stunned that I was offered an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Northampton and once it sunk in, I was delighted and I now feel quite humbled by it. I think of all the eminent people I have seen receiving their awards at the Royal and Derngate and it really is an enormous honour.”

Professor Nick Petford, Vice Chancellor of the University of Northampton, commented: “In addition to celebrating the outstanding achievements of the graduating class of summer 2015, we are also recognising high profile individuals who have made a positive impact on others. The recipients of these honorary awards will inspire our graduates as they begin the next exciting stage in their lives, making their own mark on the world.”

Listen to Rev Will Adams talking about his career​.