Inspire Education Association | Education, Charity

Most of Dr Tommis’ 40-year career has been in the education sector. He trained at the London Institute of Education as a secondary school teacher in 1979 to teach Geography and Economics.

His first teaching post was at Mill Hill School in NW London. From there he moved to Sherborne School in Dorset where he stayed for 16 years. He was rapidly promoted to Head of Department and Under Master. In 1996 he was appointed as Deputy Head at The King’s School, Gloucester and in 1999 he moved to Abbotsholme School, Staffordshire as Headmaster where he turned persistent losses into surpluses within three years and with pupil numbers amongst the highest in the school’s history.

In 2003 he moved sectors to lead a UK charity specialising in gifted children. From there, he was invited by the Hong Kong government to advise them on their gifted education policy and, with seed capital of $200m, he was tasked with setting up the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE) between 2008-2014. Within 5 years HKAGE had provided out-of-school courses for 45,000 students, supported 30,000 parents and had retrained, through CPD, 25,000 teachers in Hong Kong and parts of Asia. Whilst in post, he was invited to Mainland China and most countries in SE Asia to advise on similar programmes.

On his return to the UK he was made CEO of Montessori St Nicholas, the leading organisation in the UK for promoting Montessori nursery education. He left in 2018 after four years to take up his present position as CEO of Thames Premier Service Ltd, an educational service company with franchised schools in Mainland China.

He is a graduate of the University of Dundee (MA First Class Honours), Jesus College, Oxford (DPhil) and the London Institute of Education (PGCE).