Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience
Location: Wimbledon High School, London
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time
The role
Wimbledon High School is seeking an accomplished and visionary academic leader to join its Senior Management Team as Director of Studies. Reporting to the Deputy Head Academic and Innovation, you will be responsible for shaping and implementing a dynamic Teaching and Learning strategy, leading Heads of Department, strengthening curriculum coherence and ensuring the highest standards of scholarship and student achievement across the school.
This is a role for a leader who combines intellectual curiosity with operational rigour: someone who thrives on developing others, embedding evidence-informed practice and contributing to a culture that is both ambitious and nurturing. In a school known for its academic excellence and commitment to girls’ education, this position offers genuine scope to influence, innovate and lead at scale.
About you
As an experienced senior leader with a strong track record of driving academic excellence across a secondary setting, you will bring clarity of vision, depth of subject expertise and the credibility to lead and influence high-performing Heads of Department. Thoughtful and strategic in approach, you will use insight and analysis to inform decision-making, balancing long-term academic ambition with the operational precision required to deliver it. Committed to fostering a culture in which both staff and students flourish, you will value collaboration, intellectual curiosity and purposeful leadership within a dynamic and ambitious school community.
About Wimbledon High School
Since 1880, Wimbledon High School GDST has been educating girls to go out into the world and make a difference. Our acclaimed pastoral programme GROW, enriching co-curricular opportunities, character-forging partnerships and our ‘playful scholarship’ approach to academic life make for a compelling environment where every individual can flourish and be herself. Located in the heart of Wimbledon, we are less than 20 minutes from central London.
Benefits
As part of the Girls' Day School Trust, the UK's leading network of independent girls' schools, we can offer a variety of benefits, such as:
• Competitive salaries and pay progression
• Access to extensive professional development opportunities
• GDST Flexible Pension Plan
• Training grants for qualifications
• Free life assurance benefit
• A discount of up to 50% on fees for children at GDST schools
• Interest free loans for training, computer purchase loans and travel season tickets
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Competitive terms and conditions of employment
For further details please download the recruitment brief.
The closing date for applications will be 9.00am on Friday 13 March 2026
First-round interviews will take place on Tuesday 17 March 2026
Final-round interviews will take place on Monday 23 March 2026
We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all qualified individuals. To be eligible for employment, candidates must provide proof of their right to work in the UK.
The GDST is committed to diversity, inclusion and real change: a family where every individual is valued, respected and included.
It is an offence to apply for the role if the applicant is barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children.
The Girls’ Day School Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection checks appropriate to the post, including online searches and checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.