HISTORY is being repeated at Kelly College with the appointment of a new young headmaster.

Mark Steed, 35, starts in September and, like the current head, Mark Turner, comes to Kelly from Oundle School in Northamptonshire.

Mr Steed, who teaches Theology and is a housemaster at Oundle, said he was very excited at the prospect of taking up the post at Kelly.

'It's a very friendly place and it is a good time to be going there — the school is in a very good position with academic standards rising and the new astro-turf going in this September,' he said.

A married man, Mr Steed and his wife, Patricia, a geographer, have three children, Anastasia, 8, William, 6, and Jeremy 3.

Originally from Essex, Mr Steed was educated at King William's Grammar School in Chelmsford and read Theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He went on to obtain his MA in religious education at Nottingham.

A keen sportsman, he had a 'blue', representing Cambridge University against Oxford in athletics. He also played basketball for Cambridge, has played rugby for the East Midlands and helps coach the first XV at Oundle.

Mr Steed manages the Oxford and Cambridge Achilles athletics club and this Easter will take them to the United States to compete against Ivy League universities.

At Oundle, he runs the website and is involved in desktop publishing for the school.

Mr Steed and Mr Turner 'overlapped' at Oundle by two years. Further links with Kelly come with the fact that Mr Steed formerly taught at Radley School, in Oxfordshire. Radley was where another Kelly head, Christopher Hirst, taught, and is in the town of Abingdon — it is to take over the headship of the 850-pupil Abingdon School that Mark Turner will leave Kelly this summer.

Mr Steed was selected from a shortlist of four candidates for the Kelly headship. There were 85 applicants for the post.

Chairman of governors John Wright said Mr Steed was the unanimous choice. He said: 'We are absolutely delighted with Mark Steed.

'He has a strong academic background and a range of sporting interests that will enable Kelly to preserve the international reputation it has in that field.'

The appointment will make Mr Steed the youngest member of the Headmasters and Mistresses' Conference of senior independent schools, a position also achieved by Mr Turner when he was made head at Kelly six years ago at the age of 34.

Kelly currently has 370 pupils and a waiting list for its youngest level, Year 7.