Trust Leader - School Improvement
Archway Learning Trust
Nottingham
- Salary:
- Competitive
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Apply by:
- 30 April 2026
Job overview
At Archway, we are driven by a simple and powerful ambition: to secure excellence for every child. As we continue to strengthen and grow across all phases of education, we are seeking an exceptional senior leader to join our Central Education Team as a Trust Leader - School Improvement. This is a pivotal and influential role at the heart of our mission to deliver transformational, inclusive education across our academies.
About the Role
This is a significant and exciting opportunity for an experienced, values-driven leader with proven Secondary Headship experience (although we welcome applications with cross phase experience).
As a Trust Leader, you will operate with both strategic reach and deep professional credibility, working closely with Principals and senior leaders to secure sustainable school improvement. You will act as a trusted partner - offering incisive challenge, high-quality support, and confident leadership - ensuring that improvement is not only achieved but truly embedded and owned by school leaders themselves.
You will lead and collaborate with a dynamic team of Vice and Assistant Principals for School Improvement, as well as Trust specialists, all within a forward-thinking Central Education Team shaped by professional trust, evidence-informed practice, and system leadership.
About you
First and foremost, you are an experienced and influential leader, with exceptional educational knowledge and the ability to expertly interpret and navigate today’s educational landscape. You hold a deep understanding of the responsibilities, accountabilities, and statutory duties inherent in this role - and you bring clarity, integrity, and calm leadership to complex, fast-moving contexts.
You thrive in innovative environments, build highly effective relationships, and demonstrate sensitivity to the needs of all stakeholders. You are a strong strategic thinker who is equally willing to roll up your sleeves and get involved in day-to-day operations when needed.
Driven by a strong moral purpose, you are passionate about equity, inclusion, and ensuring the very best for every child and every adult across our Trust. You continuously seek ways to improve your own performance and that of others, contributing to a highly effective, sustainable, and ambitious organisation.
Why Join Archway?
This role offers a unique opportunity to make a whole-system impact - strengthening leadership, raising outcomes, and ensuring excellence across multiple school contexts. You will be part of a collaborative and aspirational team, shaping Trust-wide strategy while maintaining purposeful, transparent relationships with senior leaders in our academies.
If you see the bigger picture, thrive on complexity, and are motivated by the chance to transform outcomes at scale, we would be delighted to hear from you.
We warmly invite you to get in touch for an informal and confidential conversation about the role.
We look forward to hearing how your experience, expertise, and values align with our mission and the next phase of our development.
For more information about Archway Learning Trust and the vacancy, please visit https://www.archwaytrust.co.uk/vacancies/
Closing date: 9am on Thurday 30 April 2026.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is subject to the satisfactory completion of an enhanced DBS check, Barred List check, the receipt of satisfactory references, online searches and any other statutory checks that are required for the post. We are an equal opportunities employer.
About Archway Learning Trust
- Archway Learning Trust
- Aspley Lane, Aspley, Nottingham
- Nottinghamshire
- NG8 5GY
- United Kingdom
Archway Learning Trust, previously Bluecoat Academies Trust, was formed in April 2014 as a result of the very long and successful history of Bluecoat Academy. We are based in the heart of the city of Nottingham, providing high quality learning experiences for students from the ages of 3 – 18.
With the success of Bluecoat Primary and the development of our primary offer, Archway has been asked to support and work in partnership with a number of primaries across the region. This, along with more primaries joining the Trust, has enabled us to create an exceptional primary Senior Leadership Team to support Leaders in our schools.
Our Trust is made up of both Church of England academies and schools of no designated religious character. This unique blend has created a distinctive family of schools that are bound together through a passionate belief in the transformational power of education for every child.
Click here to learn more about our family of schools.
Our aim as a Trust is to shine a spotlight nationally and internationally on our inclusive ethos so that more schools and academies can be encouraged to take up our approach to inclusive, enriching, knowledge based teaching, preparing young people for lifelong learning based firmly on our Christian principles. All academies retain a high level of autonomy and individual character – understanding their own local context to best serve their community. In turn, it is our responsibility centrally to provide high quality support services, so that leaders at a local level can focus their efforts on shaping teaching and learning opportunities that are of the highest quality and continually improving.
It is our people that make our Trust – and we invest heavily into our colleagues to ensure they feel recognised, supported and developed. CPD and career development play a key role and the growth of our Trust is a truly exciting time for prospective candidates who are looking to further their careers in a dynamic learning community that has opportunity at every point to share and learn from each other in order to become the best that we can be.
It is our aspiration to be recognised as an employer of choice and to support this we work hard to develop our “Archway People Offer” and as part of this we have shaped an employee benefit package for colleagues including discounted travel, shopping and gym memberships. We also offer access to health and medical services and a cycle to work scheme. To hear directly from our colleagues about what makes Archway Learning Trust different click here.
We are proud of our diverse student population and passionate to create a staff team reflective of this diversity. We actively welcome applications from all backgrounds and you can be assured of a warm welcome at Archway.
To find out more about why you should work at Archway and the benefits we offer, please follow the links:
Join Us - Archway Learning Trust (archwaytrust.co.uk)
Archway Benefits - Archway Learning Trust (archwaytrust.co.uk)
Please note that you are wholly responsible for fact checking in respect of the information provided by schools. Please also check for the latest visa and work permit requirements that may apply. Tes is not responsible for the content of advertisements or the policies adopted by advertising schools. Tes asks that all schools follow Tes' Fair Recruitment Policy.