Loretto School head ‘nobly’ resigns

THE head of one of the country’s top private schools has announced he is to step down during the current school year.

Peter Hogan, headmaster of Loretto School in Musselburgh, East Lothian will leave before the start of the summer term after five years in charge.

Mr Hogan, 52, who is said to have “transformed” the school, will leave without another job to go to, and is said to be “looking at other options”.

The school, which charges fees of up to £8,975 a term for boarders, counts former chancellor Alistair Darling and broadcaster Andrew Marr among its former pupils, and was one of the few Scottish institutions to be named in Tatler’s Schools Guide last year.

A spokesman for the school said Mr Hogan had taken a “noble” decision to step aside, adding that there was “nothing suspicious” about the decision.

In 2010, an admissions director at Loretto won £8,000 after suing the school over alleged sex discrimination.

Fiona Gordon took the school to an employment tribunal, saying Mr Hogan had threatened her with redundancy when she told him she would be going on maternity leave.