TAKING over one of the country's leading independent schools is not a job for the faint-hearted.

So Dr Tim Hands, who has recently taken up the post of Master at Oxford's Magdalen College School, is making sure he does his homework.

Dr Hands has spent his opening weeks at the school shadowing several of his pupils - going to lessons with them and even donning his PE kit - in a bid to find out how the school really works and what makes the students tick.

The 51-year-old, previously headmaster at Portsmouth Grammar School for ten years, said: "I want to understand the school, how it comes to be so good and what the people who are here think about it.

"Then I can start thinking about what I need to turn my attention to.

"I think it's all about understanding the school.

"It is very different from where I've come from."

Dr Hands said it was the school's reputation which initially drew him to the post, plus the fact he had been an admirer of the work of his predecessor, Andrew Halls.

Dr Hands, who is a married father-of-two, said: "Andrew and I were neighbours when we were both teaching at Whitgift School in Croydon.

"I later became a huge admirer of what he was doing at Magdalen College School and am thrilled to have taken on the role."

Dr Hands is no stranger to Oxford.

After reading English at King's College, London, he came to the city to become senior scholar at St Catherine's College and then senior scholar at Oriel College.

He began his teaching career in 1986 at King's School, Canterbury, before moving on to Whitgift School.

He comes from a family of teachers - an ancestor was schoolmaster on Nelson's flagship HMS Victory.