"Pablo" Dunstan started his education at the St Jude's Church of England School, Wolverhampton, in 1919, from where he went to Wolverhampton Grammar School in 1925.

He read Classics at Cambridge, from 1933, graduating with First Class Honours in 1936. He stayed a further year to complete a post-graduate course to gain his Certificate in the Theory and Practice of Teaching.

South Shields High School for Boys was his first and only school, joining the staff on 1st February, 1939. But he had been there less than two years when he left to do his War Service with the Army.

He returned in 1946, and remained on the staff until his retirement in 1975.

His first nickname was "Dopey", perhaps due to his "far-away" look - this appears to have been somethat improved upon with "Pablo", a reference to a popular 1940s song, Pablo, the Dreamer.