Headteacher Designate - Higham Lane North Academy (opening September 2025 as part of CEAT)

About the Role

Higham Lane North Academy is delighted to welcome applications for the post of Headteacher Designate to start January 2025.

Higham Lane North Academy will be a 11-16 secondary school, set on an attractive site on the Warwickshire-Leicestershire border, fantastically located and easily accessible due to excellent road, train and bus connections. It is planned to open in September 2025 and building has already commenced on the site. It is planned to grow to 900 pupils in total when full.

Important Information

The provisional opening date for Higham Lane North Academy has been confirmed as September 2025. This role will commence on 1 January 2025 in line with typical appointment timeframes of Headteacher Designates at free schools given the work involved prior to opening. The appointment is conditional on the Trust entering into the funding agreement with the DfE and the school opening.

Central England Academy Trust is currently made up of three schools, Oak Wood Primary, Oak Wood Secondary School and Higham Lane School and we have recently been asked to sponsor another school in the surrounding area.

Higham Lane North Academy is approximately half a mile from Higham Lane School, which is an Ofsted Outstanding high-performing school in the local area and a pillar of the community. We see outstanding synergies across the two schools given their proximity, sharing expertise and resources.

We are strongly committed to ensuring that all of the young people in our care make excellent academic progress and we take great pride in securing both impressive progress and high attainment for our students, whatever their starting points.

Staff well-being, welfare and professional development are priorities which are underpinned by our Trust core values of collaboration, equity, achievement and trust. We fervently believe that if we get it right for staff then we then get it right for pupils. 

Our offer to you

At Central England Academy Trust, our staff are our most precious resource. Our offer to staff includes: -

• Competitive remuneration package;

• A generous defined benefit pension scheme;

• Excellent continuous professional development;

• Bespoke training and support from the Trust team to meet your needs;

• We provide a supportive Employee Assistance Programme, providing practical and

emotional support

• Employee benefits scheme, offering discount on every day and lifestyle essentials.

• Free, onsite parking

• Subsidised eye care for extended users of VDU.

• Gym memberships scheme

• Cycle to work scheme

Key Requirements

Applications are invited from suitably-qualified, experienced and enthusiastic individuals to provide outstanding leadership and management of the school and designated aspects of the Trust’s work to secure sustainable success and ensure the highest standards of curriculum experience, teaching and learning, behaviour, attendance, safeguarding and personal development for its pupils.

To meet the expectations of the prevailing Headteachers’ Standards (currently Headteachers’ Standards 2020). These standards underpin best practice and will shape the professional and personal development of the Headteacher Designate to raise standards and support the successful implementation of whole school initiatives and priorities.

How to apply

Please complete the Application Form accompanying this information, as well as the Equality Details Form, that you will also find on the TES website and email them to recruitment@oakwoodschools.co.uk indicating in the message title the post that you are applying for before the deadline noted below. If you would like to arrange an informal discussion with the CEO about this post, please contact Amy Pearson, PA to the CEO, on 024 7674 0901.

The closing date for applications is 9am, Tuesday 4th June 2024 (If you encounter a problem in meeting this deadline, please contact us on the number above). 

Successfully shortlisted candidates notified of shortlisting decision: 5 June 2024.

Selection activities and interviews for shortlisted candidates: 11/12 June 2024.

Additional Information:

Please note our clear expectations regarding personal and professional conduct of staff and the safeguarding of students:

·      To have total regard for the need to safeguards students' wellbeing, in accordance with statutory provisions.

·      To have proper and professional regard for the ethos, policies and practices of the school, and maintain high standards in their own attendance and punctuality.

·      To have an understanding of, and always act within, the statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and responsibilities.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff to share this commitment. All successful applicants will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and will also be taken through the School's vetting procedure. Central England Academy Trust is also strongly committed to protecting personal data.  Our Privacy Notice, which can be found under the GDPR section on the Trust website, describes why and how we collect and use personal data and provides information about individuals’ rights.