My friend and colleague Seán Cormac, who has died aged 72 of a brain tumour, was that rare commodity, a state school teacher of Latin, and later a deputy and then head of a large comprehensive.
As head of languages at Wrenn school, Wellingborough, in the 1980s, he introduced Gujarati. And as deputy head of Plymstock school, in Plymouth, he brought in the study of Latin and reached the national final in the Teaching Awards’ teacher of the year category in 1999.
Born in Clifton, Nottingham, Seán was the son of Joe Condon, a washing machine salesman, and Elsie (nee Dennehy), who had moved there from Clonmel, County Tipperary, in the early 50s – Seán later changed his surname to Cormac. He had three siblings, Pauline, Karen and Kevin, and attended Blessed Robert Widmerpool primary and the Becket secondary.
Graduating from Hull University in French and politics in 1976, Seán did his PGCE there the following year and began teaching at Kingsthorpe upper school in Northampton under its inspirational head, Clifford Romany. Clifford urged his staff to have “a cool head and a warm heart”. Seán lived that mantra.
In 1982 he moved to Wrenn school, then joined Plymstock in 1990, where I worked alongside him as deputy. Humour shone through everything he did, making the education of 1,500 adolescents in one building seem like good fun for us all.
Seán loved sport, in particular golf, squash and football. Playing for Plymstock staff football team, Seán on one occasion led a pre-match two-minute silence for the visiting team, only to announce afterwards that it was for the home team’s left back, whose car had failed its MOT that day.
In 2001 he was head-hunted to lead St Cuthbert Mayne school in Torbay. After leaving Devon, he could not stay away from his vocation for long, and took up a post teaching Latin at Bilborough sixth form college, Nottingham, until finally retiring in 2019. A student there gained the highest national mark one year for GCSE Latin and another said Seán was “a truly exceptional teacher with an amazing enthusiasm”.
Seán fought for the underdog, never compromised and never called it quits. He disliked bullies and stood up to them all of his life, usually on behalf of students or beleaguered staff.
He is survived by his second wife, Lesley Dunn; by the three children, Rory, Patrick and Christy, from his first marriage, to Susie (nee Felton), which ended in divorce; four grandchildren, Finlay, Declan, Genevieve and Ronan; and his siblings Kevin and Karen.
• This article was amended on 23 October 2025 to correctly render Seán’s first name and to add that his birth last name was Condon, which was that of his father. Also his first wife, Susie, retained the last name Cormac.
