Estates Director - The Cranmer Education Trust

We are excited to announce an opportunity for an exceptional Estates/ Facilities/ School Business professional, with the right blend of skills, talents, experience, and values to become the Estates Director of The Cranmer Education Trust, based at The Blue Coat School, Oldham, Greater Manchester.

The Cranmer Education Trust is a strong and growing multi-academy trust based in Oldham and Rochdale, with partnerships that extend into Tameside, Manchester, Stockport and beyond in the East Greater Manchester/Pennine/Lancashire region. We are completely committed to our local and regional area and the diverse communities served by our schools.

We are at an exciting point in our development. From 1st April 2025 the Trust will include five large secondary schools, one with a Sixth-Form of 440 recruiting from across the borough, five primaries (two of which are two-form entry), the Manchester Nexus SCITT (which trains 50-60 new teachers every year - both secondary and primary), the East Manchester Teaching School Hub (which runs the Early Career Framework and National Professional Qualifications provision for (predominantly) Oldham and Tameside) and the Kinder Modern Languages Hub, one of only 14 Languages Hubs in England. This means that we will be educating more than 8,000 young people, employing more than 900 staff, and we will have a revenue exceeding £80M, plus the capital investment in our schools. By 2029, we plan to increase our family to 11,000 pupils.

We are proudly and fiercely independent and the size, cohesiveness and strength of our organisation will ensure that we remain so. What unites us is our shared commitment to ambition, excellence and community which is reinforced by clear systems, policies and procedures.

At this point in our growth, we want to appoint an Estates Director who will lead our estates strategy and management. We are ambitious for the environment; we firmly believe that the environment inspires students and staff and shows them that they are respected and valued. In recent years we have extended (in effect rebuilt) Mayfield Primary School to 2FE, undertaken major improvement works at St Anne’s CE Academy and Blue Coat, developed a new Reception class area at St George’s and built a brand-new free school, The Brian Clarke CE Academy.

We have exciting projects under development including expanding to a two-storey extension, one of our primary schools to a full form of entry, with a possible expansion to 2FE in the future. We are extending St Anne’s CE Academy and planning the replacement of a building in The Blue Coat School site. We work with an expert team of advisers and professionals and have developed strong relationships with LA Officers and the Diocesan Estates Office for work on our designated CE schools.  

Working with other senior directors on the executive team, the Estates Director leads on our estates strategy, planning and the major capital projects, supported by business and site managers in our schools. Smaller projects funded by devolved formula capital are managed by the schools themselves with the Estates Director advising, as necessary. As part of this role the Estates Director leads a network of our business managers, focusing particularly on estates, health and safety and operational issues.

We are looking for someone (such as a School Business Manager or equivalent) with a strong track record in estates management, preferably within the public sector, ideally across a number of sites and/or managing a wider facilities offer such as lettings and community use (in practice, business managers manage this in our schools, but our Estates Director needs to have an overview). Experience in school or trust business management, operations, estates will be very helpful. Knowledge of the MAT sector is important. The diploma in School Business Management is desirable but not essential. As a growing trust, we are looking for someone with the potential to become a deputy COO - who would retain the responsibility for estates and would bring their expertise in leadership and management to develop other growing leaders across the trust.

There is, of course, no requirement that you be a teacher.

The deadline for applications is 10am on Monday 18th November 2024.

Shortlisting and contacting candidates will be during the following week.

Interviews will be during week beginning 25th November 2024.

Start date: We would like the successful candidate to start as soon as possible, but we realise that notice periods can be variable, and we are prepared to discuss the best start date for the right candidate.

We offer:

• A competitive salary.
• Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
• 28 – 35 days leave per year.
• An element of flexible working, including WFH, subject to business need.
• A professional working environment based on the site of The Blue Coat School in Oldham, which is very accessible in the centre of Oldham. The trust offices are in the former vicarage, which has been renovated to house the central executive staff, our school improvement leadership and the Teaching School Hub and SCITT operational centre.
• Free parking on site. Travel to other sites across the trust will be required and these are all within a short travelling distance.

The appointment is, of course, subject to satisfactory references and a successful enhanced DBS Disclosure.

Further details and a full application pack are available from our advisers ASDTi by visiting and downloading from www.cranmerestates.info,  by e-mailing gm@asdti.com, or by calling 07736 775776.

Please note, however, that (in common with most UK Schools and Colleges) we cannot accept CVs, nor will we accept approaches from agencies.

ASDTi are available, on our behalf, during evenings and weekends as well as in the working day, and would be pleased to discuss your application, career or relocation expectations.