16:52, 25 Aug 2025Updated 16:55, 25 Aug 2025<\/p>\n
![\"Dave](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Dave-Baker-Olympus-Trust.jpg\")
Dave Baker, chief executive of Olympus(Image: olympus)<\/p>\n
Friends and colleagues of an \u201cinspirational\u201d Bristol schools boss have spoken of their shock following his sudden death.<\/p>\n
Dave Baker, the chief executive of the Olympus Academy Trust, was just 61.<\/p>\n
Mr Baker, was remembered as a larger than life figure, who was well-known in the education and charity sectors throughout the South West.<\/p>\n
He founded Olympus in 2012, with its first school, Bradley Stoke Community School, which he had been instrumental in planning and opening as its first headteacher in 2005. Before becoming a school leader, he had been a teacher of several different languages, primarily French and German in various schools in the Bristol and wider area.<\/p>\n
Under his leadership, Olympus is now responsible for educating more than 6,500 pupils, and employs around 800 staff.<\/p>\n
Outside of education, Mr Baker was chair of the Bristol City Robins Foundation and a referee for the West of England Basketball Association.<\/p>\n
His brother Jonny said he had died last week following a heart attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always said he was born to be a headmaster and sure enough he went on to teach and become head of not one but multiple schools as CEO of Olympus Academy Trust in Bristol,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was an amazing networker and stayed in touch with so many people \u2013 we used to joke about the ridiculous size of his Christmas card list.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cHe loved and played basketball, loved the ocean and surfing, loved doing sudokus! He was super dependable, organised everything and everyone, was very caring, a great leader, brother to me, uncle to my lads. We are so sorry to lose him what feels like so early \u2013 he was 61.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Baker held other roles within the education sector and worked with the Department for Education to support other education leaders in the region and beyond.<\/p>\n
He was also a national policy advisor for the Confederation of Schools Trusts, chair of the board for the Five Counties Teaching School Hubs Alliance, and vice-chair of the South Gloucester Schools Forum. He was a member of the Venturers Trust and advisor to the Diocese of Salisbury Academy Trust.<\/p>\n
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, recalled how Mr Baker had used his sense of fun to great effect.<\/p>\n
Paying tribute, she said: \u201cDave, you were an icon of strength and goodness and courage. You touched so many lives and you used your life force to bring about good in the world. You helped so many, including me, in times of aloneness or darkness.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt two metres tall, you were larger than life \u2013 with your bow ties and boldness.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou showed the children in your trust how to maintain a safe distance during Covid by lying flat in the corridors of your schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved your sense of fun, humour, and infinite possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n