James Jones (©David Levenson

Sidcot School in Somerset has appointed James Jones as head to succeed Iain Kilpatrick from January next year.

Sidcot is a co-educational private school for boarding and day pupils, associated with the Religious Society of Friends.

Since 2017 Jones has been deputy head at Wycombe Abbey an independent girls’ boarding and day school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Jameson Miller, chair of governors at Sidcot School, said: “James is a dedicated and experienced educational leader, a confident and skilled teacher, and an ISI inspector who has impressed the governors, Sidcot staff, students and Sidcotians with his skills, attributes and personal qualities. James’s strategic vision for the school is as compelling as his sympathy for Sidcot’s Quaker values and ethos. He has held senior boarding and safeguarding positions within his educational career and has demonstrated his proven abilities in both academic and pastoral leadership.”

Jones commented: “Since visiting Sidcot as an ISI inspector, I have been inspired by the depth in which the values of the school have permeated and shaped the lives of all members of its community. I am delighted to be building on the tremendous work undertaken by Iain Kilpatrick over the past eleven years, and very much look forward to taking up my post in January 2024.”

Iain Kilpatrick will take up the position of executive headmaster at YK Pao School in Shanghai, China at the start of the new year.