Cheam School in Headley near Newbury will be led by husband and wife team Sophie Green and Will Phelps from September 2024

In a unique move, a North Hampshire prep school will be led by a husband and wife team from the beginning of the next academic year.

From September 2024, Headley’s Cheam School will be led by co-heads and married couple Sophie Green and Will Phelps when Sophie joins Cheam from Godstowe School.

The pair have 25 collective years in charge of schools, and Sophie will be the first female head at Cheam in its 379-year history.

Cheam’s chair of governors Mark Harford said: “I can say that the board is both resolute and excited that this is the very best next step for Cheam’s leadership.

“We believe co-headship will take best advantage of our school’s good fortune in having not one but two experienced leaders in Will and Sophie, with their different and complementary styles and skills.

“It will represent a boldly progressive approach to meeting the ever more complex challenges of school headship, and it will serve daily as a living model of equal partnership to all Cheam’s pupils, girls and boys alike.”