A perpendicular write head having a wrap around trailing shield for reducing stray field writing and adjacent track interference. The trailing shield is notched, having an un-notched portion directly behind (trailing) the write pole and first and second notched portions that extend laterally to either side. The un-notched portion of the trailing shield is located adjacent to the trailing edge of the write pole and is separated from the trailing edge of the write pole by a trailing shield notch. The notched portions are separated from the trailing edge of the write gap by a notch depth, measured along the trailing direction, the notch depth as measured in the trailing direction being larger than the trailing shield distance. The notch depth as measured in the trailing direction is preferably 25-50 nm larger than the trailing shield gap distance.