Situated in the historic Hertfordshire town of Berkhamsted, and with Her Majesty the Queen as patron, Berkhamsted is a leading independent school for pupils aged 3 to 18 years. Its foundation dates back to 1541, when John Incent, the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, successfully applied to King Henry VIII for a licence to purchase a piece of land for a ‘freescole’.

In 1888, a Girls School was founded in Berkhamsted under the same governing body, and the Boys’ and Girls’ Schools merged to form a diamond school in 1997. The Prep School was also integrated at this stage, and the School became Berkhamsted Collegiate School. In 2011, the School merged with Heatherton House, a small independent day School for girls in Chesham Bois, and became the Berkhamsted Schools Group. Operating as a satellite Prep School, Heatherton provides a feed of girls to the Berkhamsted Girls School every year. In 2012, Berkhamsted Schools Group acquired Haresfoot, a small proprietary prep school in Berkhamsted. This site now houses the Berkhamsted Pre-Prep and Berkhamsted Day Nursery Limited, and Berkhamsted Prep takes children from age 7-11.

Berkhamsted has led the way in pursuing a ‘foundation structure’. As a group of six schools, it combines the scale of resources with individual attention and development of pupils — and staff. The School starts with its values and aims for excellence — aiming high with integrity — in all that it does. Berkhamsted is ‘adventurous’, and supports development, research, and experimentation in teaching and learning. At both pupil and staff level it ‘serves others’. Berkhamsted is proud to be a non-hierarchical school in which the opinions of all matter, and in which everyone shares in the support and contribution to the local community. Above all, it is committed to developing remarkable people who are positive contributors to society and embody the School's values of 'aiming high with integrity and serving others'.

Primary responsibilities

The Chair shall lead the governing body in its responsibilities to:

• Secure the long term future of the school
• Ensure the highest possible standards of governance and regulatory compliance
• Support and, where appropriate, challenge the Principal and Executive Leadership Team to make the School the best it can be
• Ensure the proper and efficient conduct of governor meetings

Other responsibilities include:

• Holding overall responsibility for ensuring that the School has an appropriate governance structure and that this structure and the Board’ s performance are reviewed regularly
• Ensuring that the School has a clear and appropriate strategic vision and a development plan, on which governors have been sufficiently consulted
• Leading the identification and appointment of a new Principal, with the assistance of the Nominations Committee, subject to the ratification of the full board of governors
• Settings objectives for, and appraising, the performance of the Principal, using a 360 feedback method
• Being a manager, friend and mentor to the Principal and ensuring clear lines of demarcation between the activities and responsibilities of executive and governors
• Ensuring that delegated authorities to the Principal are in place and reviewed regularly 
• Ensuring that that succession plans (for Senior Management Team and governors) are in place and regularly reviewed 
• Ensuring that an open process for the identification and nomination of new governors and that the board has the necessary skills, experience, diversity and expertise 
• Ensuring that all governors receive appropriate induction, advice, information and training
• Managing the performance of and / or the contribution to discussions of each governor, as appropriate, with them
• Nominating a candidate to the post of Clerk to the Board and managing the appointed person’s performance
• Settings the agenda for the Board and arranges the calendar of dates of meetings a year in advance
• Ensuring that terms of reference are current and in place for the Board and its sub-committees
• Chairing meetings in an open, modern style allowing all to participate in discussions and decision-making whilst maintaining time management as appropriate
• Nominating Vice Chair and the Chairs and members of the Board sub-committees
• Maintaining close links with Vice Chair and Chairs of the sub-committees
• Chairing the Chair’s Committee
• Overseeing the process for dealing with complaints, grievances and appeals
• Being visible around the school at events and other times and meets regularly with the Senior Team
• Overseeing the remuneration of staff to ensure fairness and equality, within the terms of reference for the Remuneration Committee
• Making availability to meet with key stakeholders as appropriate as well as participating in the inspection process of the School with outside agencies
  

After a successful 10 years as Chair, Gavin Laws will be reaching the end of his term and so Berkhamsted Schools Group is looking for an experienced, forward-looking and committed leader to become its new Chair. The successful candidate will guide the Board and support the Group through its next exciting chapter. 

The next Chair will be a forward-thinking and commercial leader. It is likely they will have come from outside of education perhaps from senior roles in business or the public sector more broadly and will have experience of operating strategically and at a senior level in complex organisations. They will be a strong communicator and advocate for Berkhamsted and above all will be energetic, enthusiastic, and have a genuine desire to make a difference in education. 

As the Chair will need to spend time in the School, it is essential that they live within an hour of it, and ideally will know the area well. They could be a former parent or pupil, but Berkhamsted welcomes applicants also from individuals who have no connection to the School. 

A list of current Board Members is available here.

There are three full Governing Body meetings per year (one per term). These take place in person on Saturdays and last approximately half a day. Additionally, the Chair will likely attend each of the Governing Body's four sub-committees (Risk and Regulatory, Finance, Property, and Education) and the Chairman's Committee, each of which also meet once per term. Further ad hoc engagement is expected. The overall time commitment for the position is approximately 45 hours per term, of which around 38 hours would be spent at the school. The appointment is for a renewable three-year term. The role is voluntary but reasonable pre-agreed expenses will be reimbursed.

This organisation is based in Berkhamsted, and it is essential that candidates live within an hour of it.