Head Teacher

The Beckmead Trust is seeking to appoint an outstanding professional to be the Head Teacher of a new Free School in Hailsham.

The school will be for children and young people identified as having Social, Emotional and Mental Health issues (SEMH). There will be 80 places; pupils will range from 4 to 16 years of age.

The school is located in Reef Way on the outskirts of Hailsham. The building is a wonderful design offering a great opportunity to nurture disadvantaged pupils and offer them the specialist teaching and breadth of curriculum they deserve. The site offers a wonderful variety of play, sport and recreational facilities and is superbly situated for access to community resources such as the leisure centre.

The school will open in September 2020 with the Head Teacher in post from January 2020 to lead family and pupil engagement, establish networks with agencies involved with the pupils, continue and develop partnerships with the Local Authority, and, with the support of The Beckmead Trust, manage recruitment, agree budgets and stock the school with the appropriate curriculum and resources.

The schools within The Beckmead Trust place nurture, play, empathy and love at the heart of everything they do. We define nurture as ‘caring for the children deeply enough to enact non-punitive boundaries irrespective of how difficult this may be’. Everyone within the Beckmead Family is expected to work, communicate and behave in a therapeutic way and to model high expectations at all times.

As the Head Teacher of the new school you will be expected to value and look after all members of the school community spending time in and around the classrooms every day. You will model outstanding, child centred care and pedagogy, have sky-high expectations of the children, your colleagues and yourself and be a fluent, experienced practitioner in the field of challenging behaviour.

Applicants will be expected to visit some of the Trust’s existing provision in Croydon. There will be a two-day selection process for shortlisted applicants in September. On appointment the successful applicant must be prepared to travel occasionally between East Sussex, Croydon and Essex to learn from and share excellent practice.

To discuss this further or arrange a visit to Croydon please contact. llane@beckmead.croydon.sch.uk   Liz Lane PA to Dr Jonty Clark OBE, CEO The Beckmead Trust.

To request an application pack and apply for this position, please email Leadership.Recruitment@eastsussex.gov.uk

Please note that recruitment packs for this vacancy will only be provided directly to an individual considering applying to our school for this opportunity. This school does not enter into business with Recruitment Agencies, or other commercial organisations, on behalf of their clients seeking employment.

Please do not apply for this position via the TES online application process, please follow the instructions in the advert and obtain and return a completed application form from the Leadership Recruitment Team.

Closing date: Sunday 15th September 2019.
Shortlisting: Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 18th September 2019.
Interviews week beginning:  Monday 23rd September 2019.

This post is covered by the Childcare Disqualification Regulations 2018.

The school will need to ensure that they are not knowingly employing a person who is disqualified under the 2018 Regulations in connection with relevant childcare provision. Accordingly, the successful candidate will be required to demonstrate to the school, by completing a self-declaration form as part of the pre-employment checks process, that they have not been disqualified under the 2018 Regulations.

If the preferred candidate is found to be disqualified under the 2018 Regulations, the offer of employment will be subject to the application by the preferred candidate to Ofsted for a waiver and the receipt of a waiver from Ofsted.

The Beckmead Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment. All successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service checks along with other relevant employment checks.