Head of School - Oxlow Bridge School

Location: Oxlow Bridge School, Wantz Rd, Dagenham RM10 8PP

Dates: Apply by Noon 04/12/24; Interviews 10/12/24; Start 1st April 2025 or as close to this as possible

Salary: Inner London Leadership Spine Group 5, Initial Range Points L18-24 (£85,092 - £97,068) - starting point to be agreed. 

Contract type: Full Time/Permanent

Partnership Learning, a successful Multi-Academy Trust, is seeking a Head of School for Oxlow Bridge School – a brand-new special school in Dagenham. This is an exceptional opportunity to play a leading role in setting up and managing a special school from its inception, ensuring that from day one it provides an outstanding learning and nurturing environment for its pupils.

The school will open in September 2025 in purpose-built accommodation. The school will provide 90 places for young people aged 4-19 with severe and complex learning difficulties and will build to capacity over a period of time, starting with 30 pupils in its first year of operation. Facilities will include a hydro-therapy pool with moveable floor, large adaptable classrooms, well-designed sensory outdoor areas and state of the art ICT. Most of the planned intake will fall within the category of having Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD).

In designing and shaping the curriculum for pupils at Oxlow Bridge there will be a need to recognise that all its pupils will have unique abilities and ways of learning. There will be no one set curriculum pathway that will work for all, and the curriculum framework will therefore need to be completely personalised and focus on the holistic needs of each individual.

For the first two years of the school’s operation, the postholder will benefit from the support of an Executive Head who is an experienced headteacher of an Outstanding special school catering for an intake similar to that planned for Oxlow Bridge. The Head of School will be responsible for all operational matters and will jointly develop the school’s curriculum, organisational structure and ethos with the Executive Head.

The successful applicant will be expected to take up post in April 2025 and will spend the Summer Term working alongside the Executive Head to ensure all is ready for a September 2025 opening, including finalising school policies and procedures, appointing staff, assessing the needs of each individual pupil and planning appropriate curriculum pathways.

Partnership Learning adheres to nationally agreed Terms and Conditions for teaching and leadership posts in its schools. Benefits include membership of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, a Staff Wellbeing Service and a Cycle to Work Scheme.

Applications can be made online only, by application form available at www.partnershiplearning.com - CVs will not be accepted.

Closing date:                                                                           Noon 04/12/24

Interview date (subject to confirmation):                                   10/12/24

Partnership Learning is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its pupils and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. An enhanced criminal record check via DBS will be undertaken for the successful candidate. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and a comprehensive screening process, including a disclosure check, will be undertaken on all applicants.