Barbara Harrison has been appointed chief executive officer of the Girls’ Day School Trust, the group of 25 independent girls’ schools in England and Wales with nearly 20,000 pupils and 3,500 staff.
Ms Harrison joined the trust as education adviser in 1996 and took on the additional role of deputy chief executive in 2001. She taught in the maintained sector before becoming assistant director of education in the east London borough of Newham. She is a former Ofsted inspector and has also worked with Lord Dearing on national curriculum reviews.