Head
Truro High School for Girls
Cornwall
- Expired
- Salary:
- Competitive salary and benefits
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Start date:
- September 2026
- Apply by:
- 16 February 2026
Job overview
This is a superb opportunity for a dynamic and thoughtful educational leader to join the School at an exciting time in its development. Truro High School, situated five minutes from the city centre, was founded in 1880. Deliberately a smaller school, the feeling is very much of a happy extended family. There are currently 370 girls at the school, day and boarding, and the pupil roll has risen by around 25% over the past two years as the School has gained a great deal of attention locally through the successes of its pupils and for the diverse and innovative range of events and activities it offers.
Sarah Matthews now leaves to take up an international headship but has done a tremendous job growing the roll and moving the School forward whilst navigating the challenges faced by many girls’ boarding schools. Now, at the end of its most recent five-year development plan, this is a great time to make a mark on the next chapter of Truro High School’s history. This is a school with little ego or pretence. It is a kind, caring and safe environment with committed staff, loyal parents and children who feel understood and valued. For a smaller school, it offers impressive breadth and considers itself to be a liberal institution punching much above its weight.
The Governors are looking for someone with proven experience in senior leadership to make a mark on a progressive school with tremendous vision and ambition. The successful candidate will value and support the Christian ethos while cherishing the diversity of faiths and cultures that form a vital part of our community. He or she will have the personality and imagination to inspire, and be inspired, as the School looks forward to its 150th anniversary in 2030.
The new Head will welcome the opportunity to establish a home in Cornwall, a Duchy that has, for centuries, fired a fierce passion in all those who live here, proud of its mining heritage, seascapes, wild coasts and moorlands.
This Headship is both operational and strategic. We are looking for someone who is prepared to think differently and shape the School in new and interesting ways, who really enjoys the company of children, walks the School every day, listens to staff and parents, and supports and contributes to the many activities that give the School its special flavour and vim. Above all, the new Head must be a champion for girls’ education in what is one of the most beautiful and lively parts of the UK.
Interested candidates are invited to contact RSAcademics in the first instance to arrange a confidential discussion with:
- Sarah Glencross, Search Consultant: sarahglencross@rsacademics.com
- Charlotte Faber, Senior Advisor: charlottefaber@rsacademics.com
For further information and to apply, please click here.
Closing date: 10.00am (UK time) on Monday, 16th February 2026.
Truro High 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 & Barring Service.
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.
Attached documents
About Truro High School for Girls
Truro High School is an award-winning independent girls’ school with around 400 pupils from the ages of 3-18, serving the local community in Truro, Cornwall, and well beyond. It takes pupils on a day, boarding or flexi-boarding basis, and runs a prep School, senior school and sixth form all on the same site.
Truro High School was founded in 1880 by Bishop Benson of Truro, moving to its current premises close to the centre of Truro in 1896.
Headmistress
Sarah Matthews
Values and vision
Truro High School strives to provide a personalised and happy all-round education that enables every girl to achieve her life and career aspirations. It aims to achieve this by offering outstanding teaching and pastoral care. It encourages girls both to grasp opportunities and to aim high, and to care for others in the community.
The school maintains a strong belief in the value of single-sex education, believing that they give girls the opportunity to take the lead in fields which are often male-dominated - giving as an example its thriving engineering programme.
ISI
"The pupils’ personal development is excellent. All pupils, from those in EYFS to the sixth form, are happy, kind, thoughtful and supportive of their peers...Inspectors judged that the wealth of opportunities available makes a considerable contribution.”
“Pupils throughout the school are successful in a wide range of activities, whether academic, sporting or creative. They achieve regular success in national maths challenge competitions and science Olympiads."
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