Speakers

Will Goldsmith has an MA (Hons) in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. He became Acting
Head of Bedales in September 2021, having initially joined the school as Deputy Head (Academic), and
became Head of Bedales in February 2022. He was previously Director of Teaching and Learning and Head
of English at Latymer Upper in West London, which followed teaching in state and independent schools. He
says education is about empowering young people to engage with learning on a profound level that they
sustain their whole life. He is passionate about diversity and works closely with students in supporting
LGBTQ+ rights in school and beyond. He enjoys singing, having spent much of his life in a variety of
chamber choirs; he was brought up as the child of expatriate parents in Africa, the Middle and Far East; and
he speaks fluent French having lived in Paris for five years after graduating. On Bedales, Will says the
willingness to challenge the orthodoxies of education (without necessarily rejecting them), combined with a
profoundly communitarian approach and an understanding of the importance of the natural world make it
very special indeed.