Members of the Board of Governors

The Role

Due to the upcoming retirement of long - serving Board members, the Governors of George Heriot’s Trust seek to appoint four new Governors to join the Board during the course of the 2025 - 26 academic year.

The Board of Governors of George Heriot’s Trust is responsible for the implementation of the Trust’s charitable purposes, including overseeing the operation of George Heriot’s School. A key provision of the Trust is the support for bereaved children provided through its charitable foundation.

Governors are appointed for a three -year term, and each contributes to the Board with specialist expertise and collective decision-making. 

Governor roles are voluntary and the ability and willingness to commit time to working collaboratively with our Leadership team is of huge importance to us.  

Main Responsibilities

If you would be interested in finding out more about this opportunity to serve the Heriot's community as a Governor, please register by clicking 'Apply for this job' and we will send you a brief of the role and further details on the application process once your details have been submitted.

The Ideal Candidate

Applicants should be able to demonstrate commitment and enthusiasm and be willing to contribute time towards the well-being of the School, its ethos and strategic aims. The Board seeks to reflect the scale and complexity of the School in its membership, with its Governors having a mix of interests, competencies and experience reflecting all aspects of the work of the School and the Trust

To help ensure a broad range of experience on our Board, we particularly welcome candidates with professional expertise in the areas of Charities and Fundraising, Education Leadership, Accountancy, Law and Safeguarding.

Additional Information
Heriot’s is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.
This post is considered Regulated Work with Vulnerable Children and/or Protected Adults, under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 and the successful candidates will be required to obtain membership of the PVG scheme.

Please note that parking is not available on our campus

George Heriot’s Trust is an Equal Opportunities employer and we welcome applications from all sections of the community.

George Heriot’s School is governed by George Heriot’s Trust, Scottish Charity number SC011463

About the school/organisation

George Heriot’s School

George Heriot’s School is Edinburgh’s leading independent school. Academically proven and recognised as sector-leading by Education Scotland in June 2024, the school’s best practice expertise in wellbeing, equality and inclusion, and in raising attainment and achievement, is acknowledged. The school has 1,670 pupils aged from 4-18, with a distinct family feel shaped by its 400-year motto: I distribute chearfullie. Working hard, being kind, and being yourself are the values which bind staff and pupils into a cohesive whole. Put simply, Heriot’s cares about its staff and pupils.

As Edinburgh’s oldest school, Heriot’s was founded through the generosity of George Heriot, jeweller and goldsmith to the court of King James VI/I and his wife Queen Anne. Goldsmiths at that time were the principal money lenders and Heriot was able to amass a small fortune which he left to found a school for the ‘poor bairns of Edinburgh’.  Since it opened, the Foundation at Heriot’s has developed an unrivalled understanding of providing bereavement support and over the years has educated in excess of 5,700 Foundation pupils, each of whom received a fully funded education in keeping with the Founder’s wishes.

Separately, the school has continued to apply the transformative powers of education, opening 21 Out Schools in the 1800s which educated over 100,000 boys and girls in Edinburgh before the advent of the Children’s Act, and more recently supporting Serbian, Syrian and Ukrainian refugees to build a better life in Scotland. Each year the school spends approximately £1.3 million to support the education of bursary and Foundation pupils.

Today the school is an award-winning beacon: the only school in Scotland to receive the Gold Award from SAPERE for its teaching of philosophy in Junior School; awarded a third consecutive gold award for being a UNICEF Rights Respecting School and being voted the Sunday Times School of the Decade by readers in their Parent Power survey.