Director of People, Culture and Performance

Are you an experienced People professional with substantial senior leadership experience?

Have you been successful in developing and delivering a positive people & high-performance culture?

Do you make evidence based decisions to drive successful people (and in turn - business) outcomes?

Salary: £87,400 - £95,680 per annum [TCES Salary Band 1]

Location: Wimbledon, with regular visits to sites across London

Contract: Permanent, Full-time

We are seeking a highly experienced senior People / HR professional to lead, provide strategic direction to, and collaborate with, a growing People function. In this role you will champion our organisation's values, reform and transform our culture. Our aim is, over the next 3 - 5 years, to solidify our position as an employer of choice through high-quality employee engagement, a high-performance and people centric culture, and a growing inclusive working environment where staff development and career progression allows them to become experts in their field.

You will provide a high level of expertise in people focussed solutions, innovative people initiatives, so that all our staff, parents and pupils can have their voice heard, and directly influence the direction of our social enterprise.

The Complete Education Solution (TCES)

TCES is an independent social enterprise, meaning we strive to create wide-scale social impact through pioneering inclusive practices.

We provide specialist therapeutic education, supporting exceptional neurodiverse children and young people aged 7 to 19 who have special educational needs and disabilities typically associated with autism, social emotional and mental health needs, emotionally based school avoidance and associated conditions or behaviours.

The majority of our young people will have experienced multiple placement breakdowns and significant trauma, often resulting in behaviour that challenges. Without the right expert support and understanding these young people are not able to become independent adults and have control or say in their own life choices; this is where TCES' expertise in inclusion and therapeutic education is able to help.

On average young people will have been excluded from other provisions up to three times before reaching us and had significant periods out of education. This means there is a lot to unpick; we provide a safe environment, where pupils can develop, experience and feel secure, settled and stable. The key to our pupils' success, whatever that looks like for that individual, is the young person themselves - TCES and our staff support them (and their families) to find it through universal, targeted and intensive services.

TCES pupils learn at one of our two London based schools, at our Create Learning Primary service, through our Create in the Community service or within our Home Learning service; Create in the Community support our most complex and vulnerable pupils, with highly differentiated and personalised holistic therapeutic education programmes developed for each pupil focusing on developmental milestones. Create Learning Primary provide a highly nurturing environment which allows pupils to develop social and emotional skills to support them access small group education. Our Home Learning service currently provides virtual therapeutic education to pupils across the UK with highly complex school and social anxieties and avoidance. Pupils' journeys through their time at TCES are bespoke, but for those in our Create services who are ready, "step-down" into one of our main schools, our Sixth Form, or into mainstream provisions to continue their development to independence in adulthood.

Essential requirements to be successful in the role are:

• A champion of people with similar values to ours: Very high expectations; hard work; mutual respect and tolerance for all; authentic real inclusion; genuine pupil, parent and staff voice and participation; a 'we never give up' philosophy.
• Resilient and robust, role modelling professionalism.
• Substantial senior leadership experience with demonstrable strategic and operational experience across the range of HR & People specialisms, ideally within education, health, charity or public sector.
• Proven experience of managing and developing teams, inclusive of coaching and influencing staff to deliver new ways of working.
• Proven skills in operating at a strategic level as a collaborative and supportive member of a senior team, actively engaging in decision making leading to business outcomes.
• Experience of driving equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives to support best practice in this area.
• Proven skills in coaching & mentoring.
• Commercially astute and solutions focused.
• Proactive and innovative, collaborating with team members in other disciplines, whilst also with the ability to work flexibly and independently.

In return we offer:

• Competitive salary and terms and conditions, including 30 days annual leave (+ bank holidays), office close-down across Christmas, regular wellbeing days and company events.
• Private health insurance.
• An opportunity to make a real difference and join a leading provider of specialist education, directly contributing towards positive outcomes for pupils with neurodiversity.
• Excellent CPD opportunities with all staff provided an individual Learning & Development Plan to support career development, including opportunities for sponsorship in taking qualifications relevant to your role and career progression.
• Comprehensive induction process, including all pupil-facing staff supported in receiving the Level 3 Award in Therapeutic Education and Group Process.
• A range of employee support and wellbeing benefits including our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), counselling and contributions towards medical costs and an exclusive rewards platform.

Closing Date   11 April 2023

To apply

Apply using the online TES form or for more information contact recruitment@tces.org.uk  

TCES is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of pupils and expects all staff to share this commitment. The appointment is subject to all relevant checks such as references, medical clearance and a satisfactory enhanced DBS disclosure.