Headteacher

St. John’s School and College are looking to recruit an inspirational Headteacher for St. John’s School (Seaford)

St. John’s is a national charity established in 1886 working with young people with autism and other similar complex needs that promotes the education and wellbeing of 7 to 25-year-olds. St. John’s runs a non-maintained Residential Special School (7-19) in Seaford, East Sussex and a Specialist FE College (19-25) in Brighton, as well as Adult Residential provision.

St. John’s School is in the charming seaside town of Seaford, surrounded by a beautiful setting near the South Downs National Park. The School works closely with our College located in the cosmopolitan and inclusive city of Brighton and Hove. The School provides specialist education that includes speech, language and occupational therapy which is integrated into the curriculum. We have an outstanding Positive Behaviour Team, supported by Clinical Psychologists.

With this, St. John’s is proud to offer excellent care provision, wellbeing services and employability programmes that help our learners to develop life skills, social skills and academic outcomes relevant to their needs.  We prepare them well for their transition to social care, college or other further education, and employment.

Although the School is an integral part of the wider Charity, the Headteacher has their own delegated budget and reports to their own Chair and Governing Body.

We believe that all our learners should, and can, fulfil their potential in life. Our approach is based around developing and achieving five important outcomes:

• Well-being
• Communication
• Skills
• Independence
• Employability.

The current Headteacher is retiring after bringing substantial improvements to our curriculum offer and we are looking for another similarly inspirational Headteacher to take us on the next stage of our journey.

Our ideal new Headteacher will be:

• An exceptional and dynamic individual with strong leadership skills
• A leader to a multi-professional team of experts in the special educational needs of 30 young people aged 7- 19 years who have autism and other similar complex needs or behaviours
• Comfortable working with the CEO and a highly effective Charity SLT to grow the school to 40 learners in the next three years
• Ideally already a Senior Leader with substantial SEND experience (gained in a mainstream or specialist setting) and/ or have experience in leading in a similar school or college
• Possess the vision to unlock the talents of our learners and transform their lives
• An experienced and well qualified teacher with energy and drive who will consolidate and develop the excellent work of their predecessor
• Ready to lead by example in the classroom
• Expert in the new EIF and its implications for our young people’s learning
• A provider of inspirational and vibrant leadership to a team of teachers, speech, language, and occupational therapists, medical, care, development, and support staff to maintain the highest standards of teaching, learning and care
• Able to add value and experience to the wider Charity SLT - so being a strong team player is vital.

When we asked our learners what they wanted from their new headteacher, they told us they wanted someone who is ‘ very well qualified ‘ and ‘ kind, mostly fun but a little strict ‘ and someone who ‘ takes what learners say seriously ‘ . If you also fit these criteria then we look forward to hearing from you.

We are particularly interested in meeting candidates who have substantial experience and expertise in bringing out the best from young people with more complex communication, sensory and behavioural needs. 

Advert closing date: Monday 24th January 2022

Informal Queries:

For candidates who wish to have an informal chat with our CEO, please contact our Leadership and Governance Manager, Csilla Vekony, on csilla.vekony@st-johns.co.uk or 077 36 925 196.

Visiting the School:

In order to reduce changes to routines for the young people at the school and also to manage visitor numbers whilst Covid-19 infection is still in the community, candidates who wish to visit the School can do this on the dates below:

• Tuesday 14th January 2022 from 10.00am to 12:00pm; or
• Friday 21st January 2022 from 10:00am to 12:00pm 

Interview Dates:

Interviews with the governor panel will be held on the below dates:

• Thursday 10th February 2022
• Friday 11th February 2022.

For more information about who we are and what we do, please visit our website: www.st-johns.co.uk/

St. John’s is committed to the safeguarding and protection of young people, vulnerable adults and children. Employment will be subject to the receipt of two satisfactory professional references, an enhanced DBS certificate and occupational health clearance. We actively encourage people from a variety of backgrounds with different experiences, skills, and stories to join our staff team and influence and develop our working practice. We are particularly keen to hear from people who are currently underrepresented in our staff team and will invite for interview all candidates who meet the role criteria and identify as disabled and/or from a Black, Asian, or minority ethnic background. St. John’s School and College are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, caring responsibilities, disability, gender, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientations.