Executive Headteacher

This is an excellent opportunity to take on a truly unique role, leading and managing two successful and highly regarded small village schools and developing their continued integration and relationships with their wider communities. Each school has its own individual characteristics and sits at the centre of their community.

Currently rated by Ofsted as Good, you will lead and develop their relationship while embedding the recently formed Federation. Our schools benefit from excellent support, provided by the Governors (including 2 Methodist Foundation Governors) Local Authority Advisors and Swaledale Alliance.

Christian values are at the heart of school life at Melsonby and, although North and South Cowton is not a faith school, it has a close relationship with a local church.

Located close to the North Yorkshire market towns of Richmond and Northallerton and with Darlington to the north, we are surrounded by the outstanding natural beauty of North Yorkshire’s National Parks. In addition, we have excellent road connections north to Teesside and Durham, west to The Lake District and south to Harrogate, York, Leeds, and Selby. We also benefit from easy access to the east coast mainline from both Northallerton and Darlington.

As well as leading the schools to ever more integration, your remit will be to raise standards by developing collaboration and partnership across our schools and with the wider community.  You will also ensure our schools continue to challenge themselves in all aspects of school life, ensuring that pupil outcomes are maximised.

Working closely with each community, you’ll promote each school to ensure it remains highly visible and attractive to parents, maintain strong links with the church and develop local stakeholder networks to maximise influence and support.

A proven leader, team builder and communicator, you must be comfortable in developing and building networks, partnerships and collaborations with the whole school community. You will also have the skills and ability to effectively manage your time between our schools, to ensure that staff are supported, developed and integrate effectively into the wider team and that finances are effectively managed.

You’ll receive positive support from our governing body, all of whom are committed to providing a package of support to ensure your long term success.

It may not be possible to visit our schools in advance of your application and we will seek other ways of demonstrating how we work together to ensure the best possible outcomes for our children.

If you have any specific enquiries relating to the schools' buildings, layouts, etc., please email Steve Cooper at North Yorkshire County Council, who has been engaged to support us with recruitment to this key role. Alternatively, you can call him for an informal, confidential conversation on 07976 653898.

For more information and to apply, please visit our dedicated website: http://www.nyresourcing.co.uk/cowton-and-melsonby/

Key Dates

Closing date: Midnight, Sunday 27 September 2020
Shortlisting: Friday 2 October 2020
Assessment event: Monday 12 & Tuesday 13 October 2020