Suzie Longstaff

Previously Headmistress of Putney High School, GDST, one of London’s top day schools, Suzie brings 25 years of experience as an education leader to LPS.

Before moving into education, Suzie had a successful rowing career, including coxing the British Olympic VIII at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and the Cambridge University ‘Goldie’ boat in the 1997 and 1998 Boat Races.

With a degree in Economics from Durham, Suzie has qualifications in Mathematics from Cambridge and Computing from Oxford. Her teaching career spans single sex, co-educational, day and boarding schools including Shiplake College, Kingston Grammar School and Putney High School, GDST, where she was Director of Sixth Form and Deputy Head Academic before becoming Headmistress in 2014.

Suzie’s rich life experience informs her dynamic, forward-thinking attitude to what an outstanding education can be. She encourages students to be both innovative and intrepid in their learning in an approach she calls ‘modern scholarship’ which is about making learning challenging, fun and relevant, exploring everything from entrepreneurship and oracy to design thinking and AI.

Suzie values sport, co-curricular activities, and community involvement as key to a rounded education and crucial in promoting good wellbeing in her students. She is a born leader who has established Putney High as one of the UK’s leading schools: it was graded excellent with ‘exceptional’ achievement in its last ISI inspection, ranked 5th for school sport nationally in 2020, shortlisted for the TES Independent Senior School of the Year 2022 and won a Gold Medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2021 for its ground-breaking research into the benefits of biophilia on wellbeing and academic performance.

With her deep understanding of the London market, Suzie was named as one of the i25 innovators and influencers in education in 2019.