33 days remaining to apply

  • Start date details

    September 2025

  • Closing date

    14 April 2025 at 12pm (midday)

  • Date listed

    11 March 2025

Job details

Job role

  • Headteacher

Visa sponsorship

Visas cannot be sponsored

Working pattern

Full time

Contract type

Permanent

Full-time equivalent salary

£81,441.00 - £94,332.00 Annually (FTE) L21 - L27

Headteacher job summary

Are you an experienced educational leader looking for an exciting opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of our children?

White Meadows Primary Academy is a thriving three form entry school, with Nursery (from two years and above), which serves the community of Littlehampton in West Sussex. We occupy a large school site with expansive and attractive grounds including our own onsite swimming pool.

Our children are at the heart of everything we do, and we believe in nurturing the unique talents of each and every one of them through our mission statement of ‘Laying The Foundations For Life’. We are passionate about fostering a lifelong love of learning in our children and preparing them for a bright future.

We also place great importance on supporting our children and families in this unique community. Our approach is based on a highly effective blend of supportive and therapeutic strategies mixed with high expectations of behaviour and attitudes.

The staff at White Meadows are approachable, supportive, and dedicated to ensuring that children have the best possible start in life. We celebrate individuality and strive to make every child’s educational journey a positive and inspirational experience. Our inclusive classrooms support children of all abilities.

We have a purposeful, well designed and thoughtful curriculum which develops foundational skills in core subjects for all pupils. However in line with our mission statement our curriculum goes well beyond the expected ensuring for example that children learn to swim from Nursery upwards. They also learn about the importance of looking after the environment through a wide range of opportunities. We want our children to acquire targeted and transferable skills whilst learning critical and broad banks of knowledge which allow them to fully prepare for the next stages of their learning journey.

Distinctive enrichment opportunities are woven throughout the school; they explicitly link to learning where cultural awareness and capital is built upon and solidified. This also includes our 11 promises of experiences that the children will have before they leave our school (fondly known as 11 before 11). We believe that preparing pupils for the next stage of their learning, and for a place in modern Britain, is about developing the whole child with character, virtues and values to withstand the winds of change and positively impact on society.

What we are looking for in our next Headteacher:

We are seeking a highly effective, experienced and skilful senior leader with the passion, drive, and enthusiasm to build on our considerable strengths. You will lead, motivate, develop, and inspire a team of staff and governors who are committed to providing pupils with a wide range of enriching experiences. We welcome applications from existing headteachers and deputy headteachers who can demonstrate the potential to lead a large and complex school.

You will have a clear understanding of what it takes for a school to maintain the highest standards of teaching and learning, whilst having the expertise to embed a culture of continuous improvement. Additionally, you will demonstrate the ability to manage, prioritise, and organise your workload, show flexibility and resilience, and recognise the need for pastoral care for all members of the school community.

Community engagement and outreach are important at White Meadows, and we seek a headteacher who will work to further raise the school's profile in the local community to improve family engagement and pupil attendance.

A commitment to supporting wellbeing and mental health is essential.

We are a caring employer who invests in the future of our employees, as only through their excellence can we deliver excellence for the children and families we serve. For more information about the school, please visit our website - https://whitemeadowsacademy.org/

As a member of REAch2 Academy Trust, a national family of primary academies, White Meadows is committed to raising standards and achieving excellence for all pupils, regardless of their background or circumstances. The Trust provides a strong culture of collaboration and support, with high expectations for staff and pupils alike.

The application process and timetable


Why work with us


There are over 60 schools within the Trust which means we can offer opportunities including:


▶️Collaboration across other REAch2 schools, both locally and nationally.

▶️ Specialist curriculum support and training from our Trust experts - providing a flightpath for professional development

▶️ A  support package for staff wellbeing

You’ll be working for a Trust with big ambitions for all our schools to be 'great'. We want to be national leaders in sustainability; to transform our teaching and learning through digital transformation and to ensure social justice is at the heart of what we do.

    Safeguarding, Safer Recruitment and Data Protection 

    At REAch2 we recognise that those who work in an academy are in a unique position in their care of children. The responsibility for all staff to safeguard pupils and promote their welfare, as stated in Section 175 of the Education Act (2002) is one that is central to our ethos, our policies and our actions. All children are deserving of the highest levels of care and safeguarding, regardless of their individual characteristics or circumstances, and we are committed to applying our policies to ensure effective levels of safeguarding and care are afforded to all our pupils.  

    We will seek to recruit the best applicant for the job based on the abilities, qualifications, experience as measured against the job description and person specification. The recruitment and selection of staff will be conducted in a professional, timely and responsive manner and in compliance with current employment legislation, and relevant safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance. An enhanced DBS disclosure will be requested for all successful candidates, including a Children's Barred List check if the role meets the criteria for regulated activity.

    For more information about our safer recruitment processes, please click here for our Safer Recruitment Policy.

     All information is stored securely, and any information supplied by unsuccessful candidates will be destroyed through a confidential waste system six months after the decision has been communicated, in accordance with our information and records retention policy. 

    The Trust ensures all applicant data is stored and processed appropriately. For further details on how your information will be managed during the recruitment process please refer to our Privacy Notice for Job Applications.  

    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 are not accepted.

    Visas cannot be sponsored.
    View advert on school website (opens in new tab)
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    About White Meadows Primary Academy

    School type
    Academy, ages 2 to 11
    Education phase
    Primary
    School size
    632 pupils enrolled
    Age range
    2 to 11
    Ofsted report
    View Ofsted report

    School location

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