Currently part of Concord's fantastic 20-strong maths department, Brian Lees says he would love to stay here, but the timing is right to take up a new position in Malaysia...

Q) What is behind your decision to move to KL?

"I've been at Concord for 6 years, and in my 30 years as a teacher I’ve never been so fortunate to have been part of such a large maths department. The whole team is amazing, they are so friendly and love maths, and I would happily have stayed here for the rest of my career. However, I had thought about teaching abroad before I came to Concord but the timing wasn’t right. Now that my 3 boys have all left home, when this opportunity to join Concord College International arose, everything just lined up and fell into place."

Q) Have you visited Malaysia before?

"I love travelling but only visited Malaysia for the first time a few weeks ago when I had the opportunity to see the new school with Dr Outram, Mrs Outram and Mr & Mrs Hawkins. I feel like the world is there to be explored and my wife, Janet and I are excited to make Malaysia our home for the next chapter in our lives."

With Dr Outram and Mr Hawkins in KL in April

Q) Tell us about your new role.

"I actually applied to be a maths teacher but, after speaking to Mr Hawkins and Dr Outram, I was offered the position as Deputy Head of CCIS. Before I came to Concord I had been Head of Maths and Head of Year in previous schools, so I will be able to draw on this experience in September. There is no doubt I will learn much from working closely with Dr. Outram and Mr. Hawkins over the next few years for sure. Concord College makes sense to me from many perspectives and I’m excited to play a part in setting up another excellent educational establishment on the planet!”

Q) What are you looking forward to about the challenges ahead?

"I love Concord College and am quite evangelical about it! I feel a real joy working with such amazing young people from so many different places. I'll be looking at what works well here and how we can implement it there to give the new school the best possible start. Concord UK really is a special place, and something special would only make me leave it! Apart from the new job, Janet and I are looking forward to experiencing new foods, colours, smells, weather and meeting new people."

The new school in Kuala Lumpur

Q) We heard that you have another challenge planned - tell us more about that!

"Form 3 students doing D of E will know I like travelling and camping, but I'm also a keen cyclist. When my time in KL runs its course I plan to cycle back to the UK, heading east through Australia, New Zealand then maybe even finding a ship to take me across the Pacific before crossing North America. It’s important to have dreams! Who knows what's ahead? It's very exciting."