Are you ready to manage and maintain a beautiful school estate where heritage, education, and environmental stewardship come together?
Benenden School is seeking a hands-on Head of Environmental Estate and Grounds to oversee our 250-acre campus in the heart of the Kentish Wealden countryside.
The role
This is a rare opportunity to combine your horticultural expertise and leadership skills in a role that will shape a landscape, inspiring learning, wellbeing, and biodiversity for generations to come.
Our campus is home to ancient forest, Wealden meadows, gills, lakes, ponds, an orchard and walled garden, a vegetable plot, a rose garden, and a Victorian pinetum with mature specimen conifers. The biodiversity of the site is truly impressive, with a vast range of insects, birds, flowers and fungi, including peregrine falcons, nightingales, different species of owl and newts, and rare orchids.
As Head of Environmental Estate and Grounds, you will play a pivotal role in preserving our ecological heritage and ensuring that our environmental landscape moves to its rightful place at the heart of our curricular and co-curricular offering to our students. You will combine expert management of the school’s gardens, parkland, and sports grounds with strategic leadership in the environmental stewardship of our extensive and ecologically important estate.
About you
This is a hands-on leadership role, requiring physical stamina, practical skills, and a love of working outdoors in all seasons. You will bring proven experience in environmental leadership, including policy development and data analysis, alongside practical horticultural expertise in plant care, organic practices and soil and sports turf management. Proficiency with garden machinery and tools is essential, as is a strong understanding of Health & Safety and environmental legislation relevant to grounds management and sustainability.
This is more than a job — it’s a chance to shape the environment where young minds grow, and to lead the way in sustainable thinking for future generations.
About Benenden School
Benenden is one of the leading day and boarding schools in Britain. We were founded in 1923 and are situated in 250 acres of attractive parkland in Kent. There are 550 girls in the school, aged 11-18, with 190 of those in the Sixth Form. Benenden is at the forefront of girls’ education in the UK. We are an ambitious school, with recent developments including a state-of-the-art Science Centre and All-Weather Sports Pitch, and the newly established Centenary Hall and Sir David K.P. Li Music School.
Benefits
Benenden offers its own generous pay structure, responsibility allowances and benefits. Staff are provided with meals whilst on duty. The school’s leisure facilities, including wonderful grounds, a fitness gym and swimming pool are also available for staff to use.
For a full job description and to apply, please click the apply button.
Completed applications should be received by midnight on 23rd November 2025.
Interviews will be held on the 25th November 2025 in person at Benenden School.
The post-holder will be responsible for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children with whom they come into contact. They must ensure compliance with the School’s Child Protection Policy Statement at all times, this appointment will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service checks. Benenden School is committed to equal opportunities and equal pay for all employees.
