By the time he left it had the longest waiting list of the city's 27 secondaries, and was handed a CBE and a doctorate from the University of Sheffield for his efforts. This is a man who is used to helping children achieve highly, and achieveing highly himself.

Related: Opening day: New schools have the wow factor on big day
Today, a new era for education in Peterborough began, as almost 4,000 pupils attended the new Voyager and Thomas Deacon Academy secondary schools.
Interview and video: Alan McMurdo, Academy principal.

This is a man who doesn't let the children who walk through the school gates down. And so to have him in charge of the £26 million Voyager School, which replaces Bretton Woods and Walton Community School, feels reassuring, to say the least.

But has he been nervous this past week? How has he felt strolling around the new school's corridors? "Well," he said. "The building is designed in an innovative way, and the centre of the school is a huge social space. The heart of the building is what we call The Street, and so traditional corridors as we would recognise them aren't part of The Voyager.

"And when I walk around I feel very proud, and honoured to be working here. Although we didn't go out of our way to achieve this, there is a real 'wow; factor when you walk around. This building is a very powerful symbol of the investment being put into the city's education, and how valuable education is to the city."

But the wow factor of the glossy new buildings aside, Mr Howe realises that he and his team are first and foremost in the basic – and extremely complex – business of educating the city's pupils. He said: "The immediate challenge for us is to live up to expectations, and also to establish a safe, stimulating environment for pupils to learn in.

"We also want the wider community to have the opportunity to see what is going on here, and to feel reassured about the investment in the school. And we want to move as fast and as securely as we can towards establishing a place where excellence and equality are key features."

Mr Howe will be spending his first year not teaching, but helping other members of staff, some of them new to teaching, and making sure school life runs smoothly.

He realises that there will be a legacy of teaching and learning from the schools the older pupils have come from, and so it will be a few years before the grades the school sees are entirely the fruit of The Voyager, and so to talk of what he wants to achieve in terms of academic results is slightly premature.

The headteacher is a passionate believer in everyone, no matter where they come from, being able to have the same access to equal opportunities. In his eyes, everyone deserves the best shot at life. And that comes from having a first class education, which The Voyager is shaping up to offer.

He was quick to point out that The Voyager and the Academy may be the city's two new schools, but major building work is going on at many of our other schools, and money really is being pumped into education in Peterborough.

However, his school is facing challenges that a Peterborough school wouldn't have had to face even 10 years ago. For example, there will be about 30 other languages spoken in The Voyager. But then, it is being fuelled by ideas and equipment that wouldn't have been dreamt of 10 years ago.

The school achieved media arts status before it opened, which is a clear indicator of what's possible. To say a lot is possible for this place and its pupils would be an understatement. This is a school that has its own recording studio and newsroom, and pupils will record TV and radio shows which will be broadcast in school.

This is a school that has a 600-seat theatre, making it the second largest seated venue in the city. Plus it has a lecture theatre that can hold 100 students, the school will quite clearly be one of the best things in Peterborough, something we can all be proud of.

The Voyager is dedicated to serving the community around it, but will also consider applications from children across the city who are attracted by the fantastic arts and media opportunities.