Gloucester: tributes pour in to popular headteacher Lawrence Montagu

Lawrence Montagu

Tributes to Lawrence Montagu, head teacher of St Peter's Catholic School in Gloucester headteacher have been flooding in. Mr Montagu passed away with his family around him on Friday, 5 April, at the age of 67. He was headteacher at the Tuffley school for 29 years.

His son Keiran, who also works at the school, said his dad would have been amused at all the tributes posted on Facebook, Twitter and www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk.

"He was a normal guy," he said. "He would be laughing at how much publicity there is around him because the school was never about him. It was about the students and staff - they were his primary concern."

The following letter has been sent to all parents and carers:

Dear Parents and Carers;

We now have details of Mr Montagu's funeral arrangements. There will be a Mass at St Peter's RC Church Gloucester at 7pm on Thursday 18 April where Mr Montagu's body will be received into the church. The funeral Mass will take place at Gloucester Cathedral at 1 pm on Friday 19 April to be followed by a private interment at Prinknash Abbey.

We are absolutely delighted, and very grateful, that the Rev Stephen Lake, the Dean of Gloucester Cathedral, has offered that ancient place of worship at the heart of Gloucester for Larry's funeral. It is most appropriate that Larry, who has served the city so well for so many years, should be recognised in this remarkable way. His funeral Mass brings together two of the oldest Christian traditions in England, in a beautiful space dedicated for over a millennium to St Peter. Equally, it is very moving that his final resting place should be in the quiet abbey at Prinknash.

Larry had been suffering from cancer for several years. Indeed, many of our pupils who do not have older brothers and sisters here may never have met Mr Montagu when he was 100% healthy. Although, from his iron will and determination, his self-sacrifice and energy they may never have noticed this! Many people make full recoveries from cancer and go on to enjoy healthy lives, but unfortunately this was not to be the case with Larry. Nevertheless, his death has come as a great shock to us all, and especially to those staff here who have known Larry and worked for him for so many years.

Larry had a huge capacity for emotional support. He was always prepared to listen and always found time to give 100% attention to those who wanted to speak to him. This was one of his many gifts and it was a gift he used with great generosity. When people needed consolation, he would console; when they needed reassurance, he would reassure and when they needed scolding, he would do so kindly and firmly. Many of us here, myself included, owe Larry a huge debt, not just at a personal level but at a professional one too, for his care, his support and his encouragement. Larry always acted in the interests of the school. In all the time I have known him, I never knew him to take a decision which simply made things easier for him: everything he did was for the staff and students at St Peter's. This is a remarkable thing to be able to say.

Larry was an important figure in English education. He received an OBE for his work; he mixed with educational leaders from across the country, from all kinds of schools and from universities, and with politicians and with the Department for Education.

Nevertheless, he never hid or forgot his roots. He was always a Liverpudlian Catholic and he always presented himself with a unique brand of scouse gravitas. That is something for us all to learn from, for as our students go on and each in his or her different way becomes important, they will always have, somewhere, roots in Larry Montagu's school in Gloucester.

We will grieve. We will mourn. There will be a memorial trust fund about which you will surely hear more in due course. But the truth is that Larry's great public memorial will be St Peter's High School. The students who work here are his memorial and the best way they can remember him is to continue to be the students he wanted them to be: kind students, students who show respect to all and also, yes, students who learn the work of the day.

Last night all five of our boys' football teams won their respective finals in the city's football cups. A remarkable achievement and a testimony to hard work, talent and dedication. In some ways, of course, it was the first big success which Larry has missed. In other ways, you can't help feeling that he was cheering them on.

The school will be closed on Friday 19 April as a mark of respect. Mr Montagu's family is keen to welcome everyone who can attend to the Cathedral Mass and funeral. We would ask pupils where they can to come in their green uniforms, partly because this is a good way to come smartly dressed, but also to say farewell to their headteacher as students of his school.

This year our St Peter's Day Mass - we shall celebrate this on Friday 28 June - will remember Larry along with Tony Chesson and Sue Goble and our student Kamil, and we will celebrate their lives. (It's quite a school they've got up there now.) We are hoping to arrange that Mass so that as many of you who want to come may be able to attend.
We also have a memorial Mass for Sue Goble this coming Tuesday, 16 April, at 7.30 at the school. Sue's funeral took place a long way away and during the holidays and it was thought important to offer an opportunity to those who were unable to attend to come to a Mass which uses the same readings, hymn and prayers. You will all be welcome and there will be light refreshments afterwards.

Larry Montagu's school was not built on sand. St Peter was a rock. The school's foundations are firm and Larry will not be forgotten. There are improvements to be made here and there, there are problems which we will have to face, and problems will occur which we shall have to deal with in due course, but St Peter's will continue to be a leading Catholic school for the families of Gloucestershire. It will continue to treat its pupils as young adults. It will continue to provide an inspirational education of outstanding quality and it will never forget that a good school is a kind school and a school which listens to the needs of all those who work there.

We pray for the repose of Mr Montagu's soul and for the comfort of his family.

Yours sincerely,
Philip Rush