Headteacher
Southgate School
Enfield
- Expiring soon
- Salary:
- L35 to L39
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Start date:
- 1st September 2025
- Apply by:
- 17 February 2025
Job overview
Middlesex Learning Trust are seeking to appoint a suitably experienced and inspirational Headteacher to lead Southgate School, a popular and successful Academy, situated in the London Borough of Enfield, with excellent transport links to the centre of London. Southgate School joined Middlesex Learning Trust (MLT) in 2018 and is an integral and highly valued partner school. The Trust is comprised of three large secondary schools and has its own School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) which trains 40 teachers every year. We are ambitious for all students and work to ensure that every child achieves their potential.
Within MLT, exceptional leaders, high-quality teachers and support staff help transform the life changes of students and make a real difference to their communities. Trust Headteachers have extensive opportunities to collaborate and work with other Headteachers and Senior Leaders within and beyond the Trust. We place an emphasis on strong relationships and excellent professional development opportunities.
Applications are welcomed from experienced Headteachers or ambitious Deputy Headteachers with the necessary qualities and skills to lead our school in the next, exciting stage of its development. Southgate School is an 11-18 co-educational school which aspires to be an outstanding centre of excellence for its students through delivering the best possible education for every student. Our strapline ‘Excellence for All’ exemplifies our commitment to enabling students of all abilities and backgrounds to succeed across a broad and balanced curriculum.
We have high expectations of all members of the school community. A talented, cohesive and committed staff provide encouragement and support for all students. Our excellent pastoral care provision ensures a safe and supportive environment that is conducive to high quality teaching and learning. We value extracurricular provision highly and enrichment is strong. At the centre of it all, staff/student relationships are extremely positive.
We are seeking a Headteacher who will:
- Be an inspirational leader with outstanding communication skills and an ability to work successfully with all stakeholders;
- Be committed to raising educational standards, working collaboratively with the Trust on school improvement;
- Build on the excellent outcomes achieved by students across time;
- Continue to promote and develop an inclusive, wide and varied enrichment offer;
- Be able to contribute to and develop the vision and values of the school and the Trust; and
- Be able to demonstrate a track record of success in their current post.
This is an excellent opportunity for a suitably talented and motivated Senior Leader who is ambitious to lead our popular and highly regarded school.
Southgate School is a popular and thriving community school. Leaders have created an inclusive and caring environment, alongside the development of a broad and balanced curriculum, which values all subject disciplines, alongside high-quality teaching, learning and personal development. We are committed to staff wellbeing and have a Trust-wide People Strategy in place. There are many benefits for all staff working at Southgate School, including a Cycle to Work scheme, a fully equipped gym available for staff use, a Trust-wide People Strategy and access to an Employee Assistance Programme.
This appointment is supported by Peter Monk from ACSL's Leadership Appointment Service.
Interested candidates who wish to have a further conversation about the post are encouraged to contact Peter Monk at peter.monk@ascl.org.uk who will arrange an informal telephone conversation about this opportunity.
We welcome visits to our school; please contact Zoe Merritt at zoe.merritt@middlesexlearningtrust.org.uk to arrange an informal visit to the school. These will take place on Monday 3rd and Monday 10th February 2025.
Please ensure you reference the application pack when completing your supporting statement. The statement should be no longer that 1500 words.
This position is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure check under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Middlesex Learning Trust and Southgate School are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
About Southgate School
Southgate School is an extremely popular and oversubscribed school with an excellent reputation in Cockfosters, North London. Our school is on the border of Barnet and Enfield, a relatively prosperous area that falls within the Outer London weighting for teachers. Every year our examination results demonstrate high performance at all levels and significantly above national outcomes. Our students either go to their first choice of university or to high quality apprenticeships. We support all aspects of the curriculum and are particularly proud of our high-profile performing arts: our regular music concerts, drama performances and art exhibitions from our talented students.
We have an established reputation for academic excellence and the quality of our pastoral care, with visitors always commenting on the happy atmosphere. Ofsted noted in 2019 that all students they met agreed: “There is never a day that I don’t want to come to school.”
We are part of Middlesex Learning Trust (MLT) – a Multi-Academy Trust consisting of three large secondary schools. The key purpose of MLT is to deliver the best possible education for our students, to enable them to maximise their progress, academically, socially and emotionally, ready to take their place in society as positive and successful adults. The Trust and its schools have a long history of maximising the potential of every child. Within the Trust, there is a profound commitment to fostering high aspirations in all students in order to secure the very best outcomes for them regardless of their background. We are committed to this moral purpose and support each other to secure the very best educational outcomes. Collaboration lies at the heart of Teaching and Learning within the Trust, with opportunities for shared professional development, planning, research and moderation that strengthens the Teaching and Learning in individual schools. An MLT Teacher magazine is published four times a year showcasing best practice within Trust schools, and an evidence-informed Trust Teaching and Learning Handbook is used across the schools to support excellent and up-to-date classroom practice. A Talent Management Framework is also in place to support staff development which includes residency opportunities within and across Trust schools. http://www.middlesexlearningtrust.org.uk/
Teaching and Learning at Southgate School is focused on our ‘Non-negotiables’, the five pillars of quality first teaching at Southgate School. These include high quality questioning, challenge for all, high impact feedback, metacognition and clear objectives and outcomes. We encourage students to be independent and to aim high; we make sure students feel consistently challenged as we know that they learn well and make most progress when they are thinking hard. Our Teaching and Learning Team are dedicated to supporting teachers to improve their practice with regular inspiring training and strategies based on current research in the education community. We encourage teachers to develop and show off their ideas and expertise with our regular Show and Share sessions, sharing good practice with all staff. We also offer the suite of NPQs to our staff including the NPQSL, NPQLT and NPQ in Leading Behaviour and Culture, working with a lead provider Ambition. The MLT Talent Management Framework supports teachers at all stages of their careers and offers them a wide range of opportunities to develop.
Our induction for new staff is supportive and ambitious: all new staff receive training on our ‘Non-negotiables’, our school vision of Excellence For All, as well as what it means to be a member of staff at our school. We then offer a programme of training sessions for our new teachers as well as teachers from the thirteen schools that are part of the Southgate Learning Alliance. We work with Ambition and the North West London Teaching School Hub to support ECTs in their first years of teaching to make sure teachers new to the profession make the most of the fantastic training resources provided as well as offering high quality coaching and mentoring from our experienced and dedicated team.
We are a welcoming school community where colleagues are valued and supported. Our recent staff survey showed that overwhelmingly staff are pleased with the work environment and the leadership of their school; our aim is that our staff enjoy their work. However, it is the students themselves who really make the school a pleasure to work in. Time and again they are our best ambassadors: young people who want to get on in life and who take their learning seriously. They are at the heart of all that we strive to do.
More information about our school is available on our website or please contact us to arrange a visit.
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