Assistant Headteacher: Formal Curriculum, Assessment and KS3 Achievement

Salary:                        £66,919 to £72,162

Range:                        Leadership Pay Range Points 13 to 16

Start Date:                1st September 2025

Contract Type:         Full Time

Contract Term:        Permanent

Suitable for ECT:      No

Closing Date:           Tuesday 6th May - Midday

Interview Date:       TBC (provisional dates) 8th / 9th May 2025

Wilmslow High School

School age range: 11-18

Number on roll: approx. 2,200 (including 500 sixth form)

We are seeking to appoint an exceptional Assistant Headteacher to join the Senior Leadership Team of our vibrant, high-performing and welcoming school. This is a unique opportunity to help shape the future of a school described by Ofsted as “a place where students are inspired to be successful in all that they do.”

As Assistant Headteacher, you will play a pivotal role in the strategic leadership of the school’s curriculum and assessment frameworks. Your remit will include:

• Leading the continued development and refinement of a broad and balanced curriculum that supports all learners to know and remember more.
• Driving excellence in assessment practices to inform planning, monitor progress, and challenge underachievement.
• Being tenacious in the pursuit of closing attainment and progress gaps, particularly for our most disadvantaged and vulnerable students.
• Championing high-quality teaching, learning and intervention strategies that support all students – including those with SEND – to succeed academically and personally.
• Working collaboratively with subject leaders and the wider staff to ensure a cohesive, knowledge-rich approach across all key stages.
• Promoting a culture of high aspiration and continuous improvement.

Our 'Whole Curriculum' recognises our school’s unique local context; the disparity between disadvantaged students and those from affluent backgrounds can, at times, be polarising. Therefore, the successful candidate will be acutely aware of this from the outset, and be able to demonstrate a track record of leading students from all backgrounds to reach their full potential.

In what context this track record has been forged, we don’t mind – just as long as you can demonstrate your ability to help students make more progress than most would believe possible.

Please be specific in your application about your record in this area. Similarly, we are looking for someone who genuinely loves their subject and is a first-rate classroom practitioner with the ability to inspire colleagues to improve their own practice.

If you would like to join a forward-thinking, research driven school committed to the pursuit of excellence and have the skills and tenacity to really make a difference for young people, we would welcome your application.

We offer a happy and caring environment rooted in our core values, in which staff and students can flourish, whilst challenging ourselves to pursue excellence for all our students. The school is set in extensive grounds, ideally positioned between the thriving city of Manchester and the open countryside of the Peak District.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff to respect this commitment. A consideration of the person’s suitability to work alongside children is part of the selection process. 

If invited for interview, you will be:

• asked to complete a self-declaration form answering questions in relation to any criminal record or other information that would make them unsuitable to work with children.
• subject to an online search. This is to help identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and are publicly available online, which we may wish to explore at interview.

If successful, you will be subject to:

• an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service.
• pre-employment checks which will include References, Health, Right to Work in UK, DBS and a Declaration that neither they nor anyone who lives in the same household is a disqualified person under the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2009.

Current or previous employers will be contacted and information requested will include:

• Disciplinary offences relating to children, including any for which the penalty is ‘time expired’
• Whether the applicant has been the subject of any child protection concerns