Chief Executive Officer

Orchard Learning Alliance, Reading, RG5 4RF

20 days remaining to apply

• Closing date

  26 January 2026 at 6pm

• Date listed

  17 December 2025

Job details

• Job role:
  • Other leadership roles
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full-time equivalent salary: Competitive Salary
• Additional allowances:

  Competitive Salary

Chief Executive Officer job summary

Welcome to the Orchard Learning Alliance Multi-Academy Trust.

The children, staff and communities will be thrilled to welcome you on-board to our family of 10 schools within the Trust. Our schools came together through choice, autonomy and co-design to form our Trust in 2022. Born from a group of over 35 local schools, we have been working in partnership for collaborative self-improvement since 2018. All are locally based in Wokingham and Reading.

The Orchard Learning Alliance was formed in May 2022, when the Headteachers and Chairs of Governors of all 10 founding schools agreed a Vision, Mission & Values statement, and made a commitment to form a new multi-academy trust. From the outset we agreed the following guiding principles:

Autonomy: respecting and celebrating what makes our students, staff and school communities unique

Co-design: innovating through collaboration and consensus and sharing best practice to enhance provision

Excellence: empowering our school communities to constantly strive for improvement, placing it at the heart of our culture

We are a multi-academy trust of 10 schools (1 secondary, 8 Primary 1 junior & 1 Infants). We also have a Trust Partnership Agreement with three other schools which are all keen to join us. We serve a community of 4,600 students and 750 staff. All our schools in their most recent Ofsted have been judged as Good. Our schools are high-performing - with outcomes that are consistently above, and in many cases significantly above national outcomes.

While each of our schools is unique and while we celebrate each school’s unique identity within its own community, all our schools embrace inclusion and belonging. Three, and soon to be four of our schools include a Resource Base for children with Special Educational Needs.

We have retained school improvement as a core function of our Trust and our Headteachers and School Leaders are committed to collaboration, peer led support and challenge and professional development.

Main purpose

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the key leadership role of the Trust and is responsible for:

Leading and inspiring the Orchard Learning Alliance Multi-Academy Trust, developing strong relationships with the ten founding schools of the Trust and building capacity across the Trust team.

Working closely with the Chair of Trustees and the Board to inform and support their work, including the Board’s setting of the Trust’s vision and strategy.

Delivering the agreed strategy; overseeing all operations of the Trust - including enabling educational and organisational improvement at scale; ensuring sustainability, compliance, and mitigating risk.

Building strategic partnerships with a range of stakeholders to ensure both strong educational outcomes for pupils and the sustainable development of the Trust.

Timeline

Orchard Learning Alliance is committed to creating a diverse workforce. We will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, religion, belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity, age, disability, marriage or civil partnership.

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Commitment to safeguarding

Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.

Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.

Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children

You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.

Applying for the job

This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

About Orchard Learning Alliance

• Type: Multi-academy trust
• Website: Orchard Learning Alliance website
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/waingels-academies-trust

The Orchard Learning Alliance is a family of schools dedicated to providing the best possible educational experience and serving our communities through exceptional schools. We believe that education has the power to transform lives and that by working together, as a family of schools, we will enhance the life chances of all our children by equipping them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to thrive.

Head office location

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