Category: News and Announcements

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.

The appointment from September 2024 of William Goldsmith as Headmaster of Packwood Haugh, one of the Shrewsbury School family of schools, has been announced by Mr Leo Winkley, Head of Shrewsbury School. Mr Winkley said: “Following a search led by recruitment experts RSAcademics, William emerged as the outstanding candidate from a strong field of school leaders from across the world.” The RSAcademics search team was headed by Charlotte Faber and Angela Short.

William has been Headmaster of St George’s School, Windsor, since January 2019.  He was previously Head of Junior School at St Leonard’s School, Fife and before that he was Head of Boarding at Highfield School in Hampshire.  Prior to his move to senior leadership in Prep Schools, he was Director of Music at Ludgrove School and then St Paul’s Cathedral School.  William has extensive experience of the Prep School sector and has served as a Governor in several schools.  He was Vice Chair of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) in 2020-2021, sits on the BSA Institute of Boarding Executive Committee and is the IAPS representative on the Independent Schools Examination Board.  Educated at Radley College and the University of Durham, he has an MSc in Learning and Teaching from the University of Oxford.

William comments: “Catherine, Arthur, Patrick, Hamish and I are so excited to be joining the Packwood community in September 2024. We were immediately struck by the ‘Packwood Way’ at the start of the recruitment process and seeing it in action across all areas of school life during our two visits to the school cemented our belief that this is a very special school.”

RSAcademics are delighted with this appointment and are confident that William, Catherine and the boys will be very happy and successful at Packwood Haugh.