Head
St John's College School
Cambridgeshire
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Start date:
- September 2025
- Apply by:
- 10 May 2024
Job overview
The Governors of St John’s College School invite applications for the role of Head from September 2025, following the announcement of Mr Neil Chippington’s decision to retire after nine years of outstanding leadership.
St John’s College School is a leading co-educational independent day and boarding school educating 440 children aged 4 to 13 located in the heart of Cambridge. The School traces its roots to the 17th century when it was founded by St John’s College, Cambridge and has long enjoyed a national reputation for the exceptional quality of education and care it provides.
The School delivers a forward-thinking preparatory education that is underpinned by the unique Emotions for Learning (E4L) curriculum and enhanced by a creative and progressive approach to teaching and learning. Through investing in children’s wellbeing, encouraging creativity, and instilling community values, St John’s nurtures emotionally literate and well-rounded individuals who go on to excel in senior school and life thereafter.
This is a rare opportunity, working in close partnership with a fully supportive and ambitious Board, to lead St John’s College School with vision and ambition to ensure the School continues to thrive in a changing marketplace. The next Head will ensure the School develops its position as a sector-leading co-educational prep school while maintaining its distinctive educational approach and heritage.
The successful candidate will demonstrate alignment with the School’s distinctive educational approach and be wholly committed to its ethos and values. They will have first-class communication skills alongside a proven ability to engage with, motivate and truly inspire the whole school community through a visionary and empowering approach. This person will have a high level of strategic and commercial acumen alongside a collaborative and enabling style that will help them bring out the best in others and engage effectively with a diverse audience.
Further information on St John’s College School can be found at www.sjcs.co.uk and a candidate brief is available from www.odgers.com/90987.
A completed application form, CV and covering letter should be submitted via the Odgers Berndtson website by the closing date, 9:00am BST on Friday 10 May.
St John’s College School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Attached documents
About St John's College School
Set in the heart of Cambridge, St John’s College School has long enjoyed and deserved a national reputation for the exceptional quality of education and care it provides, which focuses on fostering the aptitudes and nurturing the growth of each child. St John’s has been awarded national Best Prep School and national Best Prep School Head awards in the Tatler Schools Awards. Its teaching has been rated ‘inspirational’ by the Independent Schools Inspectorate and it is the first of the very few to have achieved the coveted ‘exceptional’ grade for children’s attainment. At St John’s, we believe in a childhood filled with affection, in which children know that they are known and valued, in which they learn to trust themselves and each other, in which they find and express their voice, discover the difference they can make for themselves and others, learn to think for themselves, to question, to collaborate, to be independent, to own and take charge of their learning and their lives.
A curriculum that believes in children draws from them the highest and the deepest levels of attainment. Though we are not selective in our Kindergarten, our children are on average at the 85th centile on national tests or ability before they leave. Our exam results are outstanding and our 60 leavers gain on average around 25 scholarships to the strongest schools. Up to one-third of our past pupils in due course gain Oxbridge places each year, more than in the most academically selective of schools: our children continue to be exceptional learners.
The School is located in leafy Grange Road, a short walk across the playing fields from the centre of town and the College, at the heart of which sits the Chapel, home to the internationally renowned College Chapel Choir. The School site has undergone significant rebuilding or redevelopment in the last five years to ensure the facilities, layout and fabric of the buildings fully support the delivery of the School’s ethos.
The majority of children proceed at 13+ to day schools in Cambridge, each of which sets its own Entrance exams, predominantly in English and Maths. About one-third of the children proceed at 13+ to boarding schools via Common Entrance while others will proceed via Academic Scholarship examinations.
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