Headteacher

Donhead Preparatory School is a leading Catholic day school educating some 280 boys aged 4 to 11. The School is a Jesuit School and it seeks to create a climate where children are honoured, cared for and believed in order to develop to the full their academic and human potential. The School seeks to encourage in its young people competence, conscience and compassionate commitment.

Children at Donhead are educated in an environment which allows them to grow and develop in a community where they feel valued and which offers them great support as well as challenge. Whilst entry to the school is non-selective, Donhead is proud to have secured over 45 scholarships to top senior schools in the past five years. 

Located in Wimbledon, London, boys at Donhead enjoy a safe and secure site with exceptional facilities. The site has seen significant investment in recent years, with September 2017 seeing the completion of the School's ten year, £8m capital development plan; the final stage of which included four new air-conditioned classrooms, a Chapel, an Art Centre and a 150-seat Auditorium for Music and Drama.

The Governors are now seeking to appoint a visionary and inspirational leader to succeed Mr Philip Barr as he becomes the Head of St John’s Beaumont in September 2023. At this exciting juncture in the School’s history, this is an excellent opportunity, working in close partnership with a fully supportive and ambitious Board, to modernise and develop Donhead and cement its position as a market-leading Catholic and Jesuit prep school.   

The successful candidate will demonstrate alignment with the School’s educational aims and values, and be wholly committed to the mission and identity of Donhead as a Jesuit School. They will have first-class communication skills alongside a proven ability to engage with, motivate and inspire the whole school community through a visionary and empowering approach. They will have a collaborative and enabling style that will help them to bring out the best in others. 

As an independent Catholic School under the trusteeship of the British Province of the Society of Jesus, the post requires a practising Catholic.

Further information on Donhead Preparatory School can be found at www.donhead.org.uk and a candidate brief is available here or from www.odgers.com/88065.

Letters of application, CVs and application forms should be submitted by the closing date, 09:00 GMT on Friday 17 February.

Donhead Preparatory 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.