Category: News and Announcements

The Governing Body has announced Will Newman, current Head of Sedbergh Prep School, to be the next Head of Cranleigh Prep School. Will joins the school in January 2025 and we are thrilled to have supported his appointment. 

Will brings 24 years of experience in senior leadership positions in prep school education. Head of Sedbergh Prep for over six years, he was previously Deputy Head of Taunton Prep and has taught both Science and English. The move will be a return to Surrey for Will and his wife Liz, a fellow teacher and their two children, as he previously held senior roles at Edgeborough Preparatory School for eleven years.

As well as Will’s more senior leadership roles, he is a school inspector and has taught Science and English. He also holds an MA in Physical Education and has a strong interest in sport, as well as performing arts, and an in-depth knowledge of co-curricular provision from former specialist roles.

Current Head of Cranleigh Prep, Neil Brooks, will remain in post until his retirement from the profession at the end of the Michaelmas term 2024.

Chair of Cranleigh’s Governing Body, Adrian Lajtha, said: ‘It is clear to the Governing Body that we have found a leader whose values and ethos closely align with those of our School. We have no doubt that he will be an inspiring Head for pupils and staff. The field of candidates was exceptionally strong and a really positive reflection of the excellent reputation and standing of Cranleigh Prep.” 

We wish Will every success in his new role. 

Following a rigorous selection process, we are pleased to have supported Prior’s Field in the successful appointment of Zoe Ireland as their new Head from September 2024. Zoe will succeed Tracy Kirnig who will be retiring at the end of August.  

Zoe has substantial experience in senior leadership roles and is currently Acting Head at Farnborough Hill, where she was previously Deputy Head Academic for six years. Hazel Morris, Prior’s Field Chair of Governors, said: ‘We are very fortunate that Zoe is able to join Prior’s Field as Head Designate in the Summer Term, so that she can familiarise herself with the school and therefore hit the ground running in September. My thanks to Tracy for being keen to enable this handover period. Zoe will bring warmth and commitment to the school, fully supporting our ethos and aim to ensure achievement for each individual.’ 

Zoe herself said: ‘As a longstanding and dedicated advocate of girls’ education, I am thrilled to be joining the Prior’s Field community. I could not have been more impressed by the energy and calibre of the staff and students that I met during my visits to the school. I am very much looking forward to working with staff to inspire the next generation of young women at Prior’s Field.’  

We wish Zoe every success in her new role. 

We are delighted to have successfully supported Charterhouse in the appointment of their new Chair of Governors, Mark Bishop. Mark will take over from Vicky Tuck, who has stepped down to begin a new three-year tenure as Chair of Council for the Girls’ Day School Trust. 

Mark was educated at Charterhouse before graduating from St Edmund Hall, Oxford in 1984. He began his teaching career at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford before becoming the Deputy Headmaster at Caterham School, a leading HMC co-educational boarding school. In 1996 he was appointed Headmaster of Trinity School, Croydon, part of the John Whitgift Foundation.   

After 10 years of headship Mark became the Chief Executive of Perrett Laver, a global Executive Search company, before returning to the world of schools as the High School Principal and Executive Headmaster of YK Pao School, Shanghai, one of China’s leading international schools. He has been a Governor of several independent schools and for many years was an Independent Schools’ Inspector in the UK. He was and remains a keen sportsman and is married with two grown-up children. 

Mark joined the Governing Body this month and will take over as Chair on 1 March 2024. John Olsen, a current Governor and OC, will become acting Chair during this short interim period. 

Following a thorough recruitment process, led for RSAcademics by Charlotte Faber and Jenny Funnell, the Governors have announced that Mrs Sonal Chatrath has been appointed as Head of John Lyon Prep School (Quainton Hall) from 1st January 2024, to succeed Simon Ford.

Sonal is the current the Deputy Head Academic at Danes Hill School in Surrey and has over a decade of hands-on experience in senior leadership roles at prep schools, including seven years at Danes Hill School, where she worked her way up from Director of Learning Support and Assistant Deputy Head Academic to become Deputy Head Academic. Prior to this, she was Head of Prep at Manor House School in Surrey.

With her extensive prep school experience, across a number of senior level roles, RSAcademics and the John Lyon Governors were in agreement that Sonal is exceptionally well-suited and qualified to lead John Lyon Prep School.

Sonal joins the John Lyon family of schools at an exciting time in their history and she will help to take forward the collaboration between the senior and prep schools to maintain John Lyon’s position as one of Northwest London’s leading 3-18 co-educational schools. Sonal will work closely with Rose Hardy, the incoming Head of John Lyon School, with whose appointment RSAcademics was also delighted to assist the Governors.

After a rigorous selection process led by Jo MacKenzie and Michael Stephens for RSAcademics, the Governing Body has chosen Oliver Knight to be the next Head of Pangbourne, from what they described as a very strong and high-calibre field. He will join the School in September 2024.

Oli is former pupil at Uppingham School in Rutland, where he excelled as a rower and climber. He began his career in education teaching history in London. His first Headship was in 2014 in Greenwich and then in 2017 he became Executive Head of Phoenix Academy, moving in 2019 to be Principal of Ark Acton Academy.

Oli is also a published author on education and teacher development and one of his publications on curriculum planning and lesson design is currently included on PGCE courses. Alongside his published work on education, Oli is on the Board of a successful Multi-Academy Trust and is a Governor for a London Prep School and Senior School.

We wish him every success at Pangbourne.

Dr Emma Margrett, currently Head of the Prep School at Radnor House Sevenoaks, will take on the role of Head of Westminster Abbey Choir School from January 2024, having been selected from a very strong field of candidates provided by Charlotte Faber and her team at RSAcademics.

Emma read Theology and Religious Studies at Bristol University, then worked in international trade finance for several years before studying for an MPhil in Development Studies at Pembroke College, Oxford. Having realised that her true vocation lay in teaching she took on various roles, starting her career at the highly selective Townley Grammar School whilst also completing an MA in Religious Education at King’s College, London, before going onto roles at Benenden School and Mayfield School. As Deputy Head at Lingfield College Prep from 2013, Emma had responsibility for the academic direction of the school. She then moved to St Edmund’s Canterbury, taking on the role of Head of Junior School where she was also Headmistress for the choristers at Canterbury Cathedral. Most recently, Emma has been Head of the Prep School at Radnor House, since September 2020.

Emma trained as an ISI Inspector in 2014 and has worked on a number of inspections for ISI since that time. She completed a Doctorate in Education in 2017 and was recognised as a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching in 2019 for her contribution to the profession.

On Emma’s appointment as the Abbey’s first female Head, the Dean of Westminster the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle said: “We ran a challenging process, saw some good people and met one outstanding candidate in Emma Margrett. Emma performed well in every aspect of the application process, landed very well with the staff, taught an excellent lesson and impressed two panels of interviewers.”

We are proud to support women leaders in education and to have helped to recruit the first female head of a number of schools. The women appointed are all highly qualified, brilliant leaders, with a wealth of knowledge and expertise. We constantly strive to generate diverse fields of candidates for our clients. This is our commitment but we recognise there is still a long way to go. Read more about our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion activities. 

If you are looking for a new Head for your school, please contact claireoulton@rsacademics.com for UK appointments and keithclark@rsacademics.com for international appointments in complete confidence. Our search strategies are ambitious, far-reaching, persuasive and matched to the set of skills and talents you seek, to ensure we find the most outstanding leader for your school.

Find out more about how we can support your Appointments process

Our annual conference for over 70 colleagues took place in September. It was a wonderful series of talks, workshops and exercises with RSAcademics colleagues and our partners: Love Your Coaching, All-in Education, The Wellbeing Hub and Kampus 24. Andy Kemp, Principal of the National Mathematics and Science College, also gave a fantastic presentation about AI.

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In mid-September we launched our new research report “The New Art of Headship”. The report provides valuable insights into what has changed in headship at UK independent schools since our first study in 2013. We were delighted to welcome 200+ guests to the launch event.

Barry Speirs, who researched and wrote the whole report, presented the key findings from his home in Thailand and Claire Oulton, Head of Leadership Appointments UK, introduced the presentation and chaired a Q&A in the room.

We exist because the world needs schools to thrive.

We have been profoundly concerned and unsettled in the last year by the way in which major conflict has come to dominate our attention. First in Ukraine and now in the Middle East, we have been witnessing the horrors of conflict with terrible loss of life, destruction of communities and forced migrations on a daily basis. Of course, we know that the world is scarred by many other conflicts, with many origins, and we recognise, sadly, there are tensions and hostilities in other parts of the world. We should be concerned by any conflict that endangers life and threatens universal human rights.

Our work means that we especially appreciate the challenges that conflict poses to schools, whether in the region concerned, internationally or in the UK. Some schools will be in or close to the conflict zones, others will have close links to the communities involved, and almost all schools will be providing support to students and their families, including those directly or indirectly affected, to help them to make sense of what they see unfolding on every news bulletin, news feed or social media platform.

Thriving schools are built on an environment where all members of their communities feel safe, supported and included. We thought about this at the outset of the Ukraine War and our thoughts then seem still so relevant as another war has so devastatingly opened up. Thriving schools provide a place for individuals to grow and develop and they enable individuals to fulfil useful roles in society. At their core, we believe that schools should enable future generations to have respect for one another, develop a moral compass and help their communities learn how to resolve conflict peacefully. These fundamental freedoms form a strong social fabric.

At RSAcademics we stand with schools as they find their own ways to address the world’s current tensions, the search for peace and all our global challenges. These extraordinary times only increase our resolve to use our expertise, experience and networks to support schools.