Head – Colfe’s School

The Governing Body of Colfe’s School seeks to appoint an outstanding individual to the position of Head. The vacancy arises upon the retirement of Mr Richard Russell after twenty years’ distinguished service.

Required for September 2025

Full time/Permanent Position

Colfe’s School is a highly successful independent co-educational day school located in Greenwich, to the south-east of London. It is a historic institution which has been governed by The Leathersellers’ Company for over 370 years. It educates pupils aged 3 to 18 across both Junior and Senior Schools. The School currently has around 1300 pupils, including 430 in the Junior School. It operates within a competitive local market containing leading state and independent schools. The School offers first-class teaching on a well-resourced campus (housing both the Junior and Senior Schools), which leads to excellence in public examination outcomes, pastoral care and the co-curricular programme. Following the impressive judgements reported by the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate in September 2023, the new Head will inherit a School that is conspicuously successful, highly subscribed and very well regarded. Nevertheless, the Governors remain ambitious for it to continue its all-round development and to be flexible and agile in shaping its provision for the needs of 21^st Century families.

This is a tremendous opportunity for a current or aspiring Head to lead a very special school with a demonstrably unique and strong personality. The Governors are looking for a leader who combines personal warmth with a strategic mindset, to help the School to evolve culturally, educationally and technologically over the coming decade, whilst retaining its strong ethos. The person must lead with a high degree of emotional intelligence to establish an authentic connection with pupils, parents, staff and Governors.

The new Head will shape and drive the School’s future, with their primary challenge being to maintain its recent upward trajectory through the likely external economic, societal and political challenges of the coming years. They will be an articulate advocate for Colfe’s, defining it clearly amongst its competitors, in the local community and in the wider educational sphere. It will be critical in doing this to retain and embrace the caring and inclusive culture of its community.

Interested candidates are warmly invited to have an initial, confidential conversation with key members of the team at RSAcademics who are handling this appointment:

Michael Stephens, Head of Senior School Search: MichaelStephens@rsacademics.com

Bob Griffin, Senior Advisor: BobGriffin@rsacademics.com

Claire Oulton, Head of Leadership Appointments, UK: ClaireOulton@rsacademics.com

The deadline for receipt of applications is 10.00am (UK) on Monday 20 May 2024.

Applications should be made electronically to RSAcademics. To submit your application, please click on “Apply Now” on the right side of this webpage and upload your documents according to the instructions provided. 

You should submit the following (both in PDF format):

• a completed application form
• a covering letter addressed to Mr Matthew Pellereau, Chair of Governors. The letter should explain your reasons for applying.

If you have any questions about uploading your application documents, please contact Jonathan Barnes, Head of Operations (Leadership Appointments) at: applications@rsacademics.com. Jonathan can also be reached by calling our Head Office on +44 (0)1858 383163.

• Colfe’s School is an equal opportunities employer, and therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex or sexual orientation. 
• Colfe’s School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is subject to enhanced DBS and other checks in line with safer recruitment best practice. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020.
• The safeguarding responsibilities of this post are detailed in the candidate information brochure.
• RSAcademics is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and to promoting diversity and inclusion in schools.