Headteacher

Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB1 1PY

13 days remaining to apply

• Job start date

  1 September 2025

• Closing date

  7 March 2025 at 12pm (midday)

• Date listed

  14 February 2025

Job details

• Job role:
  • Headteacher
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Key stage: Key stage 3, Key stage 4
• Working pattern: Full time: 32.436 hours per week
• Contract type: Permanent
• Pay scale: Leadership Spine Points: Group 6 Range L27 – L31 £93,399 - £104,040
• Additional allowances:

  Recruitment & Retention payment negotiable for suitably ; experienced candidate

What skills and experience we're looking for

As Headteacher, you will:

School Culture

• Recognise the authority of the Bishop in relation to the provision of education in the Diocese and work within the school and parish community to create and promote an educational vision and values for the school which take account of the school’s Catholic mission and of the diversity, values and experiences of the school and the community it serves
• Establish and sustain the school’s ethos and strategic direction in partnership with the trust and others responsible for governance and through consultation with the school community
• Create a culture where pupils experience a positive and enriching school life
• Build a school culture and curriculum based on Gospel values, the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, which take account of the richness and diversity of the school’s communities
• Uphold ambitious educational standards which prepare pupils from all backgrounds for their next phase of education and life
• Hold and articulate clear Catholic values, promote positive and respectful relationships across the school community and a safe, orderly and inclusive environment
• Ensure a culture of high staff professionalism

• Teaching

  • Establish and sustain high-quality, expert teaching across all subjects and phases, built on an evidence-informed understanding of effective teaching and how pupils learn
  • Ensure the curriculum, and its delivery, is in accordance with the teachings and doctrines of the Catholic Church. Ensure quality provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education in line with the distinctive Catholic nature, purpose and aims of the school
  • Ensure teaching is underpinned by high levels of subject expertise and approaches which respect the distinct nature of subject disciplines or specialist domains

  Curriculum and assessment

  • Ensure a broad, structured and coherent curriculum entitlement which sets out the knowledge, skills and values that will be taught
  • Ensure arrangements for the daily Act of Collective Worship and the spiritual life of the school. Ensure the diocesan policy for Religious Education is fulfilled
  • Establish effective curricular leadership, developing subject leaders with high levels of relevant expertise with access to professional networks and communities
  • Ensure that all pupils are taught to read through the provision of evidence-informed approaches to reading, particularly the use of systematic synthetic phonics in schools that teach early reading
  • Ensure valid, reliable and proportionate approaches are used when assessing pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the curriculum

  Behaviour

  • Establish and sustain high expectations of behaviour for all pupils, built upon relationships, rules and routines, which are understood clearly by all staff and pupils
  • Ensure high standards of pupil behaviour and courteous conduct in accordance with the school’s behaviour policy
  • Implement consistent, fair and respectful approaches to managing behaviour
  • Ensure that adults within the school model and teach the behaviour of a good citizen

    Additional and special educational needs and disabilities

    • Ensure the school holds ambitious expectations for all pupils with additional and special educational needs and disabilities
    • Establish and sustain culture and practices that enable pupils to access the curriculum and learn effectively
    • Ensure the school works effectively in partnership with parents, carers and professionals, to identify the additional need sand special educational needs and disabilities of pupils, providing support and adaptation where appropriate
    • Ensure the school fulfils its statutory duties with regard to the SEND code of practice

    Professional development

    • Create an ethos based on Catholic values within which all staff are motivated and supported to develop their own skills and subject knowledge, and to support each other.
    • Ensure staff have access to high-quality, sustained professional development opportunities, aligned to balance the priorities of whole-school improvement, team and individual needs
    • Prioritise the professional development of staff, ensuring effective planning, delivery and evaluation which is consistent with the approaches laid out in the standard for teachers’ professional development
    • Ensure that professional development opportunities draw on expert provision from beyond the school, as well as within it, including nationally recognised career and professional frameworks and programmes to build capacity and support succession planning

    Organisational management

    • Ensure the protection and safety of pupils and staff through effective approaches to safeguarding, as part of the duty of care
    • Prioritise and allocate financial resources appropriately, ensuring efficiency, effectiveness and probity in the use of public funds
    • Ensure staff are deployed and managed well with due attention paid to workload
    • Establish and oversee systems, processes and policies that enable the school to operate effectively and efficiently
    • Ensure rigorous approaches to identifying, managing and mitigating risk

    Continuous school improvement

    • Make use of effective and proportional processes of evaluation to identify and analyse complex or persistent problems and barriers which limit school effectiveness, and identify priority areas for improvement
    • Develop appropriate evidence-informed strategies for improvement as part of well-targeted plans which are realistic, timely, appropriately sequenced and suited to the school’s context
    • Ensure careful and effective implementation of improvement strategies, which lead to sustained school improvement over time

    Working in partnership

    • Forge constructive relationships beyond the school, working in partnership with parents, carers and the local community
    • Commit their school to work successfully with other schools and organisations in a climate of mutual challenge and support
    • Establish and maintain working relationships with fellow professionals and colleagues across other public services to improve educational outcomes for all pupils

    Governance and accountability

    • Understand and welcome the role of effective governance, upholding their obligation to give account and accept responsibility as set out in the Trust’s Scheme of Delegation
    • Establish and sustain professional working relationship with those responsible for governance
    • Ensure that staff know and understand their professional responsibilities and are held to account
    • Ensure the school effectively and efficiently operates within the required regulatory frameworks and meets all statutory duties
    
    

What the school offers its staff

• A Board of Directors, and LGB who have high expectations in delivering the strategic direction of the school and are positive and supportive;
• A stable and effective leadership team committed to setting and delivering ambitious goals
• A strong, supportive and dedicated staff team;
• As part of the Trust, support from the Central team;
• Committed students who are eager to learn, in an atmosphere where they all feel valued and respected;
• The opportunity to make a real difference to lives of the pupils and community we serve;
• The opportunity to play a pivotal role in achieving school improvement;

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

Apply for the job by following the link below.

CVs are not accepted.

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.

Additional documents

If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.

Headteacher Recruitment Pack - OLSJ.pdf - 1.58 MB (opens in new tab)

About Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy

• School type: Academy, Roman Catholic, ages 11 to 16
• Education phase: Secondary
• School size: 821 pupils enrolled
• Age range: 11 to 16
• Ofsted report: View Ofsted report (opens in new tab)
• Email address: careers@romerocat.com
• Phone number: 01282 855500
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/our-lady-and-st-john-catholic-college-blackburn (opens in new tab)

Our Lady’s & St John is a large and friendly school, under the Trusteeship of the Salford Diocese and part of the Romero Catholic Academy Trust. Our school aims to be a “Caring Catholic Community” centred on Christ, where our faith and values guide everything we do.

Arranging a visit to Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy

To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email careers@romerocat.com.

School location

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