Director of Primary Education

Heartwood Learning Trust, York, YO30 6ZS

31 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  January 2027

• Closing date

  11 October 2026 at 11:59pm

• Date listed

  9 September 2026

Job details

• Job role:
  • Other leadership role
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full time equivalent salary: £93,423.00 - £100,540.00 Annually (Actual) Leadership Scale Points 25 to 28

Director of Primary Education job summary

This is an exciting opportunity to join our Executive Team as the Director of Primary Education. We have six fantastic primary schools in our Trust that our Principals have taken on a significant improvement journey over the last five years and we want to continue building on our strong practice.

If you are passionate about driving inclusion and great outcomes within a values driven Trust, then this could be the role for you. We work collaboratively to develop pedagogy and curriculum whilst ensuring that our schools maintain their own distinct identities and most importantly, serve their communities. Our primary schools enjoy working together and we also have some very effective cross-phase collaboration.

Heartwood Learning Trust has fourteen Academies and Schools located across York, Hull and North Yorkshire, comprising six secondary, six primary and two alternative provison settings. Three of our primary schools and two of our secondary schools are Church schools. Our Trust’s values of Respect, Teamwork and Kindness underpin the vision ‘Life in all its fullness - a place to thrive’ and are central to all Trust activities and aims.

In this pivotal leadership role, you will hold strategic and operational oversight for the educational standards, school improvement, and leadership capacity across our six primary schools. Reporting directly to the Executive Director of Education, you will work closely with our primary Principals, balancing robust challenge and professional mentoring, coaching and guidance. Significant experience as a Principal in primary education with a demonstrable record of improving educational quality and pupil outcomes is considered essential for this role.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership, challenge, and support across all six Trust primary schools to ensure a high-quality, ambitious curriculum.

• Drive the Trust-wide primary school improvement strategy, translating organisational priorities into measurable, sustainable outcomes.

• Develop leadership capacity, robust succession planning, and high-quality professional development across the primary phase.

• Rigorously use performance data and quality assurance frameworks to identify priorities, mitigate risks, and evaluate educational impact.

• Promote a culture of deep collaboration, inclusion, and equity, specifically focusing on improving outcomes for disadvantaged and vulnerable children.

• Contribute actively to the wider strategic growth of the Trust as a core member of the Executive Team.

We can offer:

• Experienced and supportive leadership with a collaborative approach

• An established, experienced and strong central team that works closely with stakeholders across our schools/academies.

• A commitment to continuing professional development

• Structured support to unlock talent

• Teachers Pension Scheme

• Occupational Health Support

• Employee Assistance Programme

• Cycle to Work scheme

If you are interested, please get in touch. An informal chat with Edward Vickerman, our Executive Director of Education is encouraged and can be arranged via recruitment@hlt.academy

Job Details

Hours of Work: 1.0 FTE

Position Type: Permanent Post

Line Manager: Executive Director of Education

Travel Required: Yes

The salary is dependent on current qualifications and experience, please see the attached job description for more information.

Application Process

Please complete the online application form to apply for this role. All candidates are advised to refer to the job description and person specification before making an application. You should use the information supplied with in the Job Description & Person Specification to make the best of your application by identifying some specific pieces of work you may have undertaken in any of these areas. Your application may be viewed in regard to some or all of the skill specific areas over the course of the selection process. Applications via agencies will not be considered.

Interviews will take place as soon as possible after the closing date.

We are committed to safeguarding and protecting our children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All posts are subject to a safer recruitment process which includes enhanced criminal records and barring checks, scrutiny of employment history, robust referencing and other vetting checks.

Our safeguarding system is underpinned by a range of policies and procedures which encourage and promote safe working practice across the Trust. On joining you will be required to undergo continuous professional development to maintain safe working practice and to safeguard our children and young people.

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

Hope Sentamu Learning Trust is committed to safeguarding and protecting our children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All posts are subject to a safer recruitment process which includes enhanced criminal records and barring checks, scrutiny of employment history, robust referencing and other vetting checks.

Our safeguarding system is underpinned by a range of policies and procedures which encourage and promote safe working practice across the Trust. On joining you will be required to undergo continuous professional development to maintain safe working practice and to safeguard our children and young people.

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 Heartwood Learning Trust

• Type: Multi-academy trust
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/hope-sentamu-learning-trust

Thank you for showing an interest in joining our community of schools at Hope Sentamu Learning Trust.

Our vision is really very simple. We aspire to provide a place children and young people can thrive - life in all its fullness, a place to thrive. Our values are Kindness, Respect and Teamwork.

Here are our commitments:
A respectful and inclusive community, with a culture of thankfulness and appreciation, where we celebrate equality and diversity.
High quality first teaching across all of our schools, in every learning session, without exception.
A broad and balanced educational offer which develops all pupils academically, practically, emotionally, socially and spiritually, leading to great outcomes.
Resilient, sustainable and ethical leadership at all levels of the organisation.

Our Trust comprises of primary and secondary schools as well as alternative provisions. We are a community of fourteen schools, located across York, Hull and North Yorkshire. Our schools are supported by a central operations team and a central school improvement team.

Each one of our schools has its own distinctive character, identity and strengths which it brings to the table so that we all benefit from each other. Collaboration is at the heart of the way that we work across the Trust as every school has something to give and every school needs some help. This resonates with our Trust vision and values.

We are a new Trust, following a recent merger between Hope Learning Trust and Sentamu Academy Learning Trust in September 2021, so this is a very exciting time in our development. I am a big believer in building strong foundations so that we can concentrate on providing the best possible experiences and provision for the children and young people. It makes sense for us to do some things consistently so that we can do the basics really well. Colleagues from across the Trust have the opportunity to get involved in the development of Trust strategy so that our consistent ways of working and areas that we have alignment are developed at grass roots level. We see the alignment of key strategies across the Trust as an ever growing strength and way forward. This approach will get stronger and stronger as we develop and provides excellent career development opportunities for colleagues in all roles at all levels. Our school leaders play an important role in promoting a positive and collaborative culture across the Trust whilst delivering on the key Trust strategies within their schools.

Head office location

Get a job alert when similar jobs are listed

Find more school jobs in York