Tributes to Kettering's Bishop Stopford School headmaster Dr Trevor Hopkins who has died

Warm tributes have been paid to a former Kettering headteacher and father of six who has died at the age of 89.

Dr Trevor Hopkins, headteacher at Bishop Stopford School, was appointed to the role in 1974, transforming it from a secondary modern to a thriving comprehensive school.

The father-of-six wanted to create a school where he was happy to send his children and where everyone could reach their full potential.

Jill Silverthorne, current headteacher, said: "We remember Dr Hopkins with great affection. He maintained an avid and active interest in Bishop Stopford School, encouraging those of us who followed him as headteachers to continue to do the very best for every young person at the school, until only very recently when ill health limited him.

"The school continues to live out the core values which he established, and his passion for comprehensive and inclusive education is a heritage which we cherish and espouse.”

On March 31, his funeral cortege will travel the length of Headlands, passing Bishop Stopford School and his former home, taking the same route that he was driven on his last day as headmaster in 1998 when pupils lined the street.

Born in Newhaven, failing his 11 plus spurred Dr Hopkins to provide education for all children during his career, guiding thousands of children, including his own.

His first wife Valerie Hopkins (nee Davis) was killed in a car crash in 1960. He had to battle with social services who wanted to take his three young children, Anthony, then three, Elizabeth, two, and Susan, six weeks, into care. Further heartbreak came two years later when he lost his second wife, June, to cancer.

He married Margaret in 1963. They had three children, Rachel, John and Meg.

On his retirement in 1998, Dr Hopkins told this newspaper: "I wanted to create a school where I was happy to send my children and where they would have the chance to realise their full potential and I think we did it. It is a happy school."

Son John Hopkins said: “Many of the comments have been about his sense of humour. He was presented with his OBE for services to education on March 11, 1997 after a long and eventful career. As the late Queen and my father spoke, there were smiles too. My mother asked him what he had said to the Queen that made her smile like that. She had grinned when he had told her that there were 400 in the sixth form – it didn’t have a sixth form when he started there in 1974.”

Julian Taylor, a former pupil and teacher under Dr Hopkins, who went on to be a headteacher, paid tribute.

He said: “As a student and a teacher my memories of the great man are intertwined and the same characteristics of the man as an employer and as an educational mentor shine through.

“Dr Hopkins was incredibly ‘hands-on’. I can see him now pottering around school, picking up litter and chatting to all he met. He treated everyone as an equal, students, staff in all roles, and had that special quality of making you feel that he knew and cared about you personally.

“He would always sing in the school choir and I never knew him to miss a single school event, performance, show or parents evening, he would even accompany us on our school exchange visits to Kettering’s twin town, Lahnstein.

"He was a practical man and I clearly remember him making emergency repairs with a piece of silver foil on my brother’s dilapidated motorcycle which had broken down in the school bike sheds, a highly successful fix, of course, and one he no doubt learnt tinkering with his beloved old Morris Oxford which brightened up the car park.

“Much of this might make you wonder how he ever found time to be a headteacher and yet he did and he was one of the best. A highly gifted and intelligent man, a caring Christian deeply respected by all who knew him and yet unassuming and modest.”

Ex-director of Sixth Form Paul Dorran said: “When I started at BSS in 1976 I was only planning to stay about two years. The reason I stayed many decades was because of the headship and vision of ‘Doc Hop’. He was a very kind and genuine and approachable human being who created a school with very high academic achievements but also a real concern for every student as an individual. All teachers too were given real support and respect.

“On a lighter note, Doc Hop loved his food. In the 1970s and 1980s boys had lunch in the new hall and girls eat in the old hall - there were two canteens. On some days the head was seen eating with the boys at midday and the girls at 12.30pm.”

Long-serving Bishop Stopford teacher, Paul Starr said: “He cared about the individual not just their career but as a person and was an advocate of positive career development. He was fair and would support you if he felt you were giving it 100 per cent.

“We shared a genuine love of sport although in later years the decline of his beloved Poppies did not make a happy conversation!

“He had clear Christian values, faith, fairness and a genuine love for the students and staff in his care.”

Dr Hopkins died on Saturday, March 11. His funeral is at St Andrew’s Church, Kettering at 11am on Friday, March 31. His cortege will travel the length of Headlands at around 10.30am.

He is survived by his six children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.