Headteacher

Water Street Community Primary School, North Yorkshire 

Post: Headteacher 

Number on Roll: 210

Commencing: September 2023

Salary: L14 (£61,042) – L21 (£72,483)

Contract Term: Permanent 

Water Street is a friendly, welcoming, child-centred primary school in the beautiful small market town of Skipton in North Yorkshire on the edge of the picturesque Yorkshire Dales. Known as the “Gateway to the Dales” it has won many awards in the past for being the happiest, friendliest, most courteous, and best place to live. At our school we provide a safe and purposeful environment, within which each pupil is valued and motivated to strive for excellence. At Water Street we see the diversity in our community as a strength of the school and we aim to ensure that every pupil is challenged and supported to achieve their potential.

Our Opportunity 

As Headteacher at Water Street you will be leading a team of motivated, enthusiastic and skilled staff, fully committed to moving the school forward on the next stage of our journey of continuous improvement.

It is an exciting opportunity for the new Headteacher who, as a dynamic, innovative, and experienced professional, will lead the school to continue to be outstanding and to fully meet the needs of the community it serves in an ever-changing educational landscape. Your remit will be to raise standards by developing the school, with an ability to effect change and to work collaboratively with colleagues, in the school, across the school, with the wider community and have the children at the heart of everything you do. 

About You

To be successful, you must be able to demonstrate success in continuous improvement or leading a significant whole-school development. You should have strong leadership and communication skills, adaptable to all levels and ages and should be equally comfortable in a teaching environment, guiding the school through the administrative and financial landscape and the ongoing challenges which that brings, whilst supporting the staff team. Someone who will actively model and promote the school’s values and Water Street collective determination that no child should be ‘left behind’.

You will: 

• Be a committed leader with excellent interpersonal skills who can motivate and manage all stakeholders, effectively shaping and delivering the strategic plan.
• Be an inspirational and dynamic leader who actively encourages and respects the views of others.
• Have a continuing drive to reflect, learn and strive for positive development, for themselves, their staff team, the children and our school as a whole.
• Bring fresh ideas to deal with challenging issues.
• Have the ability to step into a teaching environment should the need arise
• Possess diplomacy, impartiality, ability to reflect, understanding of current educational climate, enthusiasm, awareness of the individual, focus and ability to work hard and set example.
• Have an in-depth knowledge and experience of safeguarding guidance. You will apply this knowledge to help maintain safeguarding procedures and policies, as well as being approachable for all staff to alert and discuss any safeguarding issues or concerns on a day-to-day basis
• Demonstrate an understanding of the needs of young people, social, physical and emotional alongside educational needs, and ensure that the school provides a rounded provision to nurture them.
• Be collaborative and outward looking, developing partnerships for the benefit of the school and the wider educational community
• Demonstrate superb leadership skills with ability to challenge robustly and constructively.
• Be someone who recognises the importance of maintaining the school’s existing values while instilling their own leadership and identity.
• Be an outstanding teaching practitioner able to set and achieve ambitious goals and continually seek to raise standards and promote our vision, values and aims in a way that is relevant and inspiring to all.
• Be able to consider and shape how we can adapt our practices innovatively to promote and enhance the wellbeing of our staff team.
• Be someone who is capable of and confident in, making difficult decisions and asking challenging questions in order to seek the best possible outcome for our school as a whole.
• Have an ability to take tough decisions especially around financial resilience
• Possess the communication skills and personality to build strong relationships with the staff and parents.
• Possess the people skills to continue the successful relationships with parents and carers and continue to offer a supportive environment for the staff whilst continuing to lead from the front.

We can offer you:

• An excellent opportunity to provide strategic leadership and direction whilst building upon the high standards already in place.
• A happy, caring and supportive school, with well-behaved pupils who respect each other and have a thirst for learning.
• An ambitious curriculum, which aims to give every pupil a love for learning and enriching opportunities.
• A Governing Body that is committed to providing support on all matters, including more sensitive or difficult issues - this includes the wellbeing of all staff members – and who are experienced, committed and passionate about our school and ensuring our pupils reach their potential.
• Support from our dedicated staff team, North Yorkshire Senior Education Advisor and from the Craven Partnership

If you feel ready to be our next Headteacher and you can bring your experience, enthusiasm, drive, commitment, and energy to deliver our vision for our wonderful children and motivated staff, we would love to hear from you.

For more information about this exciting opportunity and how to apply (and view the Job Description and Person Specification) please visit our dedicated campaign site – https://nyresourcing.co.uk/water-street-primary-school-headteacher/

 For an informal, confidential conversation about the role please call Julie Crichton on 07816251317 or email Julie.crichton@northyorks.gov.uk. Julie has been engaged to support us with recruitment to this key role.

Key dates:

School Visits: School visits are actively encouraged, to arrange a visit by appointment only please contact Susan Overson at Water Street School directly - sbm@waterstreetschool.org.uk

Application closing date: Midnight, Sunday 15th January

Shortlisting: Thursday 19th January

Interviews: Tuesday 24th - Wednesday 25th January

When applying please take into account the following:

Supporting Information

The supporting information section of your application should clearly evidence your ability to meet the requirements we have outlined in the person specification. This will be used to shortlist applicants for this role and therefore it is imperative that you provide evidence as requested.

References

When completing your application, please provide two employment references.

Safeguarding

Our school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post will be subject to undertaking an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.

This post is subject to satisfactory references and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service criminal records check for work with children. An online search may be undertaken as part of the recruitment process on information available in the public domain. Candidates should disclose anything that may be relevant in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education.”

North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) advertise vacancies on behalf of schools and external organisations (third parties) in North Yorkshire. NYCC are not responsible for the recruitment/employment practices of third parties and accept no liability in relation to the vacancy and any subsequent recruitment/employment processes.