Head of Education and Early Years

*This role will cover the West Education Quadrant (Epping, Harlow and Uttlesford) and will involve going out to schools and home working as well as coming into the office for meetings, which could be at Goodman House, Harlow and County Hall, Chelmsford.

Job start: January 2022 or earlier.

Essex County Council (ECC) is one of the largest and most dynamic local authorities in the UK, serving a population of 2 million residents, and has a very successful track record of delivering transformational change. ECC anticipated change was needed in the public sector and has worked to deliver better quality at lower cost. We have an ambitious transformation agenda – one with the scope to reach every part of the council. We are changing the way we think, the way we work, and the ways in which we deliver our services. We are committed to becoming a place where individuals, partners and communities feel proud to play their role and genuinely want to belong. We’re immensely proud of our flexible working options.

ECC has transformed how it delivers education services across one of the largest counties in the country in order to continue to improve and to ensure the best possible outcomes for every single child and young person. We are determined to build on our journey of improvement which has seen 88% of schools being rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, and to focus more effectively on areas such as our more vulnerable children and young people to ensure Essex provides a wholly inclusive education which can meet the needs of all of our children and young people.

Key to our approach is a decision to bring together our services and group our expertise around schools in geographical quadrants – allowing us to focus on local detail whilst delivering a joined-up approach on a county-wide scale. As a result, there is an Assistant Director of Education for each of our four quadrants, who deliver locally but collaborate effectively to deliver our holistic Education agenda. The Head of Education and Early Years post reports into the Assistant Director.

This role leads and manages a geographically based early years, childcare settings, attendance and school effectiveness workforce, to ensure the highest outcomes are delivered for all children and young people across the quadrant. The role will require monitoring, challenging, and supporting to empower education leaders and providers. The role will have accountability for all education provision within the quadrant.

This leader will be passionate about education and the opportunities it creates, with extensive experience as a Head teacher or Deputy Head teacher, as well as significant experience in developing quality improvement frameworks to enhance education standards and drive the achievement of a good or outstanding Ofsted rating across education provision. A proven track record of leading change is also key to the success of this role.

Key Accountabilities

• Responsible for leading improvement in Early Years Childcare Settings, schools and other educational providers across a quadrant of Essex; hold a matrix lead across the quadrant teams.
• Accountable for delivering the education strategy and overall performance of the quadrant.
• Responsible for leading the development of school partnerships as part of the School Partnership Strategy, to share expertise, improve outcomes and broker support
• Contribute to meeting income generation targets by maximising traded opportunities with schools.
• Effective leadership of the Early Years and School Effectiveness teams, working collaboratively with schools and settings to identify areas for improvement, find solutions and provide support.
• Responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of schools to manage attendance and reduce exclusions, offering advice and guidance and developing plans to assist them.
• Responsible for collaborating with the SEND Quadrant Manager and to strategically influence inclusive practice in schools and school partnerships. Manage the strategic development of intensive school improvement support to Essex schools identified as underperforming to make rapid improvement. Broker targeted school improvement programmes, which ensure rapid progress to at least a good Ofsted rating.
• Responsible for ensuring innovative approaches are widely shared to improve quality of practice and effective partnerships.
• Responsible for the delivery of a robust monitoring of school performance and the outcomes of support and challenge, as a key driver in ensuring all Essex schools achieve a good or outstanding rating.
• Responsible for embedding safeguarding procedures across schools and settings within a quadrant area to ensure the protection of vulnerable children from Early Years to post 16.

Knowledge, skills, and experience

• Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or equivalent with extensive experience preferably as a Head teacher or Deputy head teacher in education.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge of legislative framework in relevant professional area.
• Experience at senior leadership level within an education setting, preferably in the roles of Head teacher or Deputy Head teacher. Ofsted training is desirable.
• Deep understanding gained through significant experience in developing solutions to improve standards within Early Years, schools, and other educational providers.
• Exemplar leadership and behavioural skills with the ability to focus on results, forging a strong workforce team from diverse backgrounds to achieve strategic objectives.
• Experience, knowledge and understanding of school practice and management of provision for pupils with the full range of education needs.
• Proven track record of building effective partnership and inter agency working, which is collaborative and influential in supporting the achievement of strategic objectives.
• Proven ability of proactively influencing, leading and delivering major cultural and organisational change in a complex environment.

This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced high-level Education professional to really make their mark, through driving innovation, commerciality, and strategic thinking, all whilst delivering the service that the children of our county deserve.

If you would like to have an informal conversation, please contact Nicola Woolf 07872 869522 (Assistant Director of Education - West).

Closing date: 4 July 2021.

Interviews will take place week commencing 12th July.

To apply please click here https://www.workingforessex.com/apply/head-of-education-and-early-years-west-essex-1903/

As part of employment with Essex County Council should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please visit: https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. For more information please use the following link: https://www.workingforessex.com/working-here/pay-reward/

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk or call us on 0333 013 5888. Lines are open Monday to Friday between 08:30 - 16:30.