Whitgift Appoints New Headmaster

The Whitgift Foundation made the following announcement today, 12th April:

New Headmaster appointed at Whitgift School

The Whitgift Foundation’s Court of Governors and Whitgift School Committee are delighted to have appointed Mr Christopher Ramsey as the new Headmaster of Whitgift School. Mr Ramsey is set to take up his new appointment at Whitgift from 1 September 2017 following a rigorous recruitment process that attracted the top school leaders from across the UK. He succeeds Dr Christopher Barnett, who will be retiring after an outstandingly successful Headship of 26 years at the School.

Mr Ramsey was educated at Brighton College, graduated in 1986 with a MA in Modern and Medieval Languages from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and holds a PGCE from Durham University. Whitgift will be Mr Ramsey’s third headship appointment after becoming Head of King’s College, Taunton, in 2002 and then Head of The King’s School, Chester, in 2007. His vast experience of working in independent boys’ and co-educational boarding schools also extends to Shrewsbury School, The Leys School in Cambridge and Wellington College.

During a successful Headship at King’s, Mr Ramsey developed a strong whole school culture with a strategic oversight on the four ‘sub schools’ and strengthened the School’s position. He has also developed an appreciation for using technology as a significant force for positive change in teaching and learning and established a digital strategy group to advance the use of technology at the School.

Mr Ramsey holds a number of external appointments including the Chairmanship of the joint Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) and Girls’ School Association (GSA) Universities Committee since 2012, and is HMC spokesman on university matters. Mr Ramsey is presently a Trustee of the University of Chester Academies Trust where he has gained a valuable insight into the challenges facing maintained sector schools and he believes that the state and independent sectors benefit from working closely together. Mr Ramsey is married with three children and is very much looking forward to his move to Croydon.

On his appointment, Mr Ramsey said: “It is an enormous privilege to have been appointed to succeed Christopher Barnett at Whitgift. Everything I have learned about the School and Foundation has excited me and I am greatly looking forward to getting to know all the different constituencies of this very wide community in due course”.

Geoffrey Wright, Chairman, Whitgift School Committee, said: “As Governors, we are delighted to appoint Mr Ramsey as Headmaster of Whitgift School with his tremendous drive, experience and commitment to continue to develop the intellectual heart and ethos of the School. In Mr Ramsey, we believe we have found a leader who will uphold and enhance Whitgift’s values and excellence in all areas of the curriculum, build on the outstanding work of Dr Barnett and continue on Whitgift’s very exciting journey of being one of the country’s finest schools.”