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Deputy Head (Academic)

Deputy Head (Academic)

Shrewsbury School

Shropshire

  • New
Salary:
Competitive Salary
Job type:
Full Time, Permanent
Start date:
September 2025
Apply by:
20 January 2025

Job overview

Shrewsbury School is seeking a dynamic and inspirational leader to become its next Deputy Head (Academic). 

Named Independent School of the Year in 2020, Shrewsbury has a world-class reputation for all-round excellence and is one of the leading UK independent schools. Founded by Royal Charter in 1552 and located on a breath-taking 110-acre site on the banks of the River Severn, it combines a vibrant seven-day boarding heartbeat with a thriving day community. Fully co-educational since 2008, the School continues to grow in size and renown, delivering a distinctive education that develops the talents and enthusiasms of each pupil for life.

Academically, Shrewsbury champions the ‘serious fun’ of learning through a balanced, forward-thinking curriculum from Third Form (Year 9) to Sixth Form (Year 13). Teaching is informed by Cognitive Load Theory, and pupils benefit from modern classrooms equipped for the 21st-century digital workplace, as well as pupil-led academic societies, visiting speaker programmes, and extensive trips and competitions. A structured Sixth Form programme and the Futures Department help guide students in their subject choices, higher education, and career paths. The school's global perspective nurtures confident young adults ready for life in an ever-changing world.

Reporting directly to the Headmaster, Leo Winkley, the Deputy Head (Academic) will lead and manage the academic programme at Shrewsbury with vision, energy and creativity. The successful candidate will be passionate about combining discipline and accuracy with the freedom to think, innovate and explore, both within and outside the classroom. A commitment to the values and educational philosophy of Shrewsbury is essential. The successful candidate will have a collaborative and enabling style that will help them to bring the best out of others.  

Accommodation may be offered to the successful candidate.

For a full recruitment pack and application form, please visit www.shrewsbury.org.uk/page/job-vacancies alternatively, email recruitment@shrewsbury.org.uk or call the HR department on 01743 280834. 

Closing Date: 10.00am, Monday 20th January 2025.

Long list interviews will be held at the school on Tuesday 28th or Wednesday 29th January 2025.

Please submit your application at the earliest opportunity, we reserve the right to appoint before the closing date.

Shrewsbury School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, 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 Shrewsbury School

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+44 1743 280500

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Visit employer website

www.shrewsbury.org.uk

A brief history of Shrewsbury:

Shrewsbury School, Independent School of the Year 2020, has a world-class reputation for all-round excellence. Fully co-educational, with a seven-day boarding heartbeat and an integral day community, the school delivers a dynamic education that develops the abilities and enthusiasms of each and every pupil.

Founded by Royal Charter in 1552, Shrewsbury School is one of the ‘great’ nine schools in England identified by the Clarendon Commission of 1861. The School moved to its current location in 1882. Over the centuries it has grown in size and reputation. Girls first joined the Sixth Form in 2008 and it is now ranked amongst the leading co-educational boarding schools in the world, educating around 830 pupils aged 13-18 years.

Shrewsbury delivers a programme of academic learning that is exciting, challenging, responsive and versatile. On the School’s breath-taking 105-acre site on the banks of the River Severn, pupils also have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of sporting, music, drama and co-curricular activities, as well as being encouraged to engage in adventure and charitable endeavour.

Our Ethos:

The celebration of individuals and individual talent is central to education at Shrewsbury – both in and beyond the classroom. In whatever sphere, a pupil will find a member of staff to support and encourage, enthuse and inspire him or her to exceed their expectations and meet the challenges that lie ahead with confidence and good judgement.

Life at Shrewsbury is founded on a close partnership between staff, parents and pupils to promote the strength of family life, foster responsibility, and balance the claims of developing individuality with the needs of a vibrant community. To make this ideal a living and working reality, the School cares for its pupils in 12 Houses for both boarders and day pupils.

Academics at Shrewsbury:

Our aim in the classroom is to inspire and enthuse pupils from across the top of the ability range. In recent years, on average, up to 10% of our leavers have gone on to Oxford and Cambridge and virtually all have won places at the university of their first choice; we expect about 80% of A Levels each year to be passed at A*, A or B grade. But there is as much joy for the less academic pupil who surpasses his or her expectations as there is for the pupil whose progress to top grades always seemed more certain.

Co-Curricular at Shrewsbury:

We want all our pupils, whatever their ability, to enjoy their life beyond the classroom, and Shrewsbury has a well-earned reputation for academic, musical and sporting excellence. We compete internationally in cricket and rowing, and we are one of the strongest schools in the country for football, cross-country running, cricket and fives; facilities and coaching for these and a host of other sports including badminton, basketball, tennis, fencing, hockey, netball and swimming are excellent.

Our school plays and musicals have drawn praise at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in London. As one would expect from one of the strongest music departments in the country, the breadth and quality of music-making are remarkable, and several students win places at some of the top music colleges each year.

We also offer our pupils an extraordinary array of clubs, societies and other co-curricular activities, many of which take place on a dedicated weekly activity afternoon. Members of the school staff lead the majority. Shrewsbury is surrounded by glorious unspoilt countryside and the School makes the most of its easy access to the Shropshire Hills, the Welsh Marches and Snowdonia.

Location:

Shrewsbury School lies on the outskirts of the town of Shrewsbury, approximately 50 miles west of Birmingham, and 75 miles south of Manchester.  Shrewsbury is served by Virgin trains from London Euston (by changing at Birmingham New Street or Wolverhampton).  There are also regular services from Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Cardiff and Bristol.  The international airports of Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and East Midlands are all between 1 hour and 1 hour 30 minutes away (by car or rail).

We are well positioned to enjoy the benefits of the local countryside and the mountains and coastline of North Wales.

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