Headteacher
Whitstone, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 5PF19 days remaining to apply
Job start date
1 September 2025
Closing date
3 February 2025 at 12pm (midday)
Date listed
7 January 2025
Job details
Job role
- Headteacher
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Key stage
- Key stage 3, Key stage 4
Working pattern
- Full time
Contract type
- Permanent
Pay scale
- Leadership Scale Range 22 – 28
What skills and experience we're looking for
Strategic Direction
1. To provide strategic leadership that upholds and communicates the school’s vision, aligning it with its philosophy, aims, and targets. This vision should foster high standards of behaviour, academic achievement, and positive social development for all students, while reflecting the needs of the community and guiding the school’s direction.
2. Create and develop the strategic School Improvement Plan, which is underpinned by sound financial planning and management, identifies priorities and targets aimed at raising achievement and is critical to sustaining school improvement. Ensure that the school improvement plan is informed by thorough self-evaluation and that progress towards its targets and objectives is regularly reviewed.
3. Develop and ensure an ethos that supports effective teaching, learning, and achievement, with a strong focus on a broad and balanced curriculum and extracurricular activities. Enable students to make significant progress across academic, spiritual, moral, cultural, mental, and physical domains, preparing them for lifelong success.
4. Build strong partnerships with parents/carers, schools, and the local community, ensuring that all stakeholders are engaged and committed to the school's aims. Regular consultations and feedback should inform decision-making and policy development.
5. To consult, develop, implement, monitor, review and evaluate policies for the delivery of the overall aims and objectives, ensuring these take account of national trends, local and school data, and inspection and research finding.
6. To serve as a professional advisor to the Governing Body, providing them with the information needed to fulfil their strategic leadership role, offer support and challenge to the school’s work, and prepare evaluation documents and improvement plans that align with the school’s vision.
Learning and Teaching
1. Maximise progress throughout KS3 & KS4 by setting high expectations for both staff and students, fostering a culture of excellence
2. Determine, organise and implement a diverse, flexible appropriate curriculum for the school and implement an effective assessment framework.
3. Create and maintain a positive learning environment with a clear expectation of behaviour which promotes high standards, effective learning mutual respect.
4. Regularly monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching and learning, ensuring that professional standards are maintained and addressing any underperformance at all levels.
5. Assess, monitor, and evaluate the curriculum, identifying areas for improvement and cultivating a personalised learning culture that meets the diverse needs of students.
6. Produce and revise as appropriate a School Improvement Plan relevant to the needs and development of the students and of the potential resources available to the school.
7. Evaluate the quality of teaching and learning, including provision for Special Educational Needs, using data to drive strategies that promote inclusion, diversity, and accessibility for all students.
8. Foster strong partnerships with parents, carers, the community, and other schools, while creating valuable links with businesses, industry, and post-16 providers to enrich students' learning experiences, achievements, and personal development.
9. Participate, to such an extent as may be appropriate and in consultation with the Governing Body, in the teaching of students in the school, including the provision of cover for absent teachers.
Leading & Managing Staff
1. Take the lead in recruiting and selecting teaching and support staff, ensuring the appointment of the best candidates while upholding Equal Opportunities principles.
3. Oversee the effective allocation of work and supervision for all teaching and support staff, maximising their skills and contributions to enhance the quality of education and improve standards.
4. Implement and maintain robust systems for managing and inducting staff performance, including participation in the appraisal of both personal and staff performance, as appropriate.
5. Lead by example in promoting professional development, ensuring all staff have access to relevant advice, training, and development opportunities, particularly those identified through appraisal systems.
7. Ensure the fulfilment of professional duties and employment conditions as outlined in the STPC document, as well as national and local conditions of service for teachers and support staff.
8. Develop and maintain a decision-making structure that encourages staff participation, while establishing clear channels for communication and formal procedures to address issues and resolve conflicts.
9. Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with organisations representing teachers and support staff to ensure a collaborative working environment.
Finance and Deployment of Resources
1. Act as the Accounting Officer, meeting the requirements of the Academy Financial Handbook.
2. Establish clear priorities for expenditure, allocate funds strategically, and ensure the efficient administration and management of all resources, including staff.
3. Collaborate with the Business Manager, Trustees, and Academy accountants to prepare the annual budget, ensuring financial planning aligns with the school's goals and objectives.
4. Regularly monitor and review the budget to ensure financial stability and alignment with the school's priorities.
5. Ensure the security and effective management of the Academy’s buildings, grounds, and contents, adhering to Health and Safety regulations while supporting the needs of the curriculum.
6. Oversee the management, monitoring, and evaluation of resources to improve the quality of education, enhance student achievement, ensure operational efficiency, and secure value for money.
Community Engagement:
1. Strengthen relationships with parents, carers, and the local community to support student success.
2. Promote the school’s reputation and engage prospective families with its ethos and achievements.
3. Foster positive relationships with external agencies to enhance student support services.
Governance:
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Qualifications and Experience:
1. Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and leadership experience at a senior level.
2. Evidence of recent, relevant professional development in leadership and management.
Skills and Knowledge:
1. Proven ability to lead and inspire a secondary school community to achieve excellence.
2. Deep understanding of curriculum design, assessment practices, and effective teaching strategies.
3. Experience managing budgets and resources effectively to support student outcomes.
4. Strong communication and interpersonal skills, capable of building productive relationships with stakeholders.
5. Commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
Personal Attributes:
1. Integrity, resilience, and the ability to inspire trust and respect.
2. A passion for education and unwavering commitment to student success.
3. Reflective and open to feedback, with a focus on continuous personal and professional growth.
What the school offers its staff
Whitstone School offers the following in return:
Professional Development: Ongoing opportunities for Continuous Professional Development (CPD), inset days, and leadership progression programs.
Wellbeing Support: Wellbeing Week for all staff, CareFirst an Employee Assistance Programme.
Culture: A supportive, collaborative work environment that values diversity, enabling staff to thrive and bring their best selves to work.
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.
Upload additional documents
If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.
About Whitstone
- School type
- Academy, ages 11 to 16
- Education phase
- Secondary
- School size
- 584 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 16
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report (opens in new tab)
- School website
- Whitstone website (opens in new tab)
- Email address
- hr@whitstoneschool.org
- Phone number
- 01749 345555
At Whitstone School we are proud of the education we provide. We are an ambitious, comprehensive school with a strong sense of community and are striving to create a culture of continuous professional development for our staff. This is an exciting time for us; over the past few years the school has improved significantly. We are committed to raising standards even further; Whitstone is a brilliant school which deserves external recognition.
We are introducing an innovative and engaging CPD strategy, which highlights our strong commitment to the development of all of our staff. We are further developing our beautiful site and endeavouring to create leadership pathways for all staff.
Our students are keen to achieve and have excellent attitudes to learning. Engaging and effective teaching, academic rigour and high quality care and support ensure our students are happy, well-mannered and proud to be students here. Standards are very high; behaviour is very good and we insist on excellent levels of student engagement. We are a relatively small school, so staff know our students well and average class sizes are small. Students leave us well prepared for their futures, whatever their aspirations.
Individual talents are developed both in and out of the classroom and we offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities and trips. We have excellent facilities, including our on-site newly refurbished Leisure Centre and new Astroturf pitch. We are committed to staff well-being and free gym membership at our Leisure Centre is available to staff. Staff well-being is a key feature of all of our decision making.
Arranging a visit to Whitstone
To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email hr@whitstoneschool.org.
School location
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