Sarah Kerr-Dineen

Sarah Kerr-Dineen (born August 1963) is an English educator who has been Headmistress of Oundle School since 2015, previously having served as Warden of Forest School, Walthamstow.
Education
Kerr-Dineen was born in Gosport, Hampshire. She was educated at Steyning Grammar School and received an MA in English at Trinity College. After leaving Cambridge she attended Christ Church, Oxford for her postgraduate study.
Career
Between 1990-1996 she was a Tutor at the Open University. She started teaching English at St Edward's School, Oxford in 1994 and then became a Housemistress. Later on she was appointed Director of Studies in 1999 after two years as Head of English at Oxford High School.
Following her time at St Edward's, she was appointed as Warden of Forest School, Walthamstow in 2009.
After finishing her tenure at Forest School, she became Headmistress of Oundle School
in 2015.
Oundle School
In 2015, she was the first woman appointed to be head of the school in its 460 year history, thus she became the first female headmistress of Oundle. Throughout her career she has been a strong advocate of co-educational schooling and in 2015 she argued that it created "flexibility". Along with Duke of Gloucester, Kerr-Dineen opened Oundle School's new SciTec building in 2016 and in that same year the school became a partner with Imperial College. In 2018, Oundle School won the award of Public School of the Year under her headship; Kerr-Dineen praised the pupils "drive to make the most of their time at Oundle guides us every day to ensure we are delivering the best for them." During the 2019-20 COVID-19 pandemic, she started a blog discussing with other headmasters about the importance of staying in touch with her pupils despite the issues that they face.
In 2021 the school received an excellent inspection. Kerr-Dineen commented that “This inspection report is an independent record of the work of every member of the staff community as evidenced in the outstanding quality of the outcomes experienced and shown by our pupils.”
Personal life
She is married to Anthony and has four children and four grandchildren. She enjoys the theatre, reading and visiting the west country. Kerr-Dineen has also written literary reviews.

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