Head of School Development Services

Are you passionate about working to support children and young people to live happy and successful lives, and dedicated to making a difference?

Do you have a track record of delivering effective school development and improvement in education settings and at a local education system level?

About the team and role:
This is a new role where you will:

• lead the effective delivery of the county council's statutory and non-statutory school improvement service offer for local authority-maintained schools
• work with system leaders to strengthen the county council's work with schools and MATs to drive inclusive practice across the local education system
• have oversight of the financial health of local authority-maintained schools and ensure that those in, or at risk of, financial deficit have access to appropriate intervention and support

About you:
As a member of the Education Directorate's senior leadership team, you will work collaboratively and closely with fellow Heads of Service and the Director and Assistant Director of Education, leading your service delivery to play its role in promoting and supporting education settings in creating and sustaining a high quality and inclusive local education system.

You will have:

• strategic experience of improving and developing early years, school and college performance, governance, curriculum and assessment design, and provision
• a clear vision for effective school improvement, intervention and support models for individual schools, groups of schools, and at a system level, recognising the LA's role as a system leader in the collective stewardship of local performance
• experience of leading major change projects, taking your teams with you, and you will provide ambitious and credible leadership when working with senior leaders in both the maintained, academy and independent school sectors
• a good understanding of school finances and budgeting, as well as the ability to identify schools at risk of deficit and be able to provide suitable support and intervention
• a good working knowledge of the statutory and legislative requirements on the LA as regards safeguarding and school performance, with the ability to ensure the LA's statutory duties are met

You will champion a culture of inclusion, wellbeing and excellence, with the skills to undertake appropriate organisation and administration.
You will work collaboratively and constructively, across directorate or team boundaries, to implement the directorate's strategic direction.
Your career to date will demonstrate a commitment to customer service excellence as well as the ability to within the council's policies and procedures, recognising that the council is a political organisation.

Your experience will include:

• leadership in the education sector which has led to positive outcomes for children, young people and families
• effective working across organisational boundaries and use of influence within multi-agency settings which has led to improved outcomes for children, young people and families
• implementing strategies for service development which has led to quality improvement
• developing/leading changes in services and/or policies that have led to service improvements
• managing high performing and creative teams and services and successful experience of managing the range of personnel issues
• substantial successful financial management
• effective partnership work with parents, children, young people and families or institutions to develop and improve service provision within a political framework and briefing elected members

About us:

The Education Directorate sits within the wider Children's Services directorate alongside Children's Social Care and Early Help and is comprised of the following service areas:

• Special Educational Needs Service - EHCP statutory caseworker service; the Advisory Teacher Service; the Education Psychology Service; the Specialist Commissioning Team
• Inclusion Service - focused on attendance and access to education, including Section 19 duties and Children Missing Education
• School Development Service - focused on direct support to schools around school development and quality of education, both for maintained schools and as a traded service offer to the whole education system
• Education, Planning and Infrastructure - focused sufficiency - Early Years and school building projects, Home to School Transport, school place planning and admissions
• Early Years Service - focused on supporting and ensuring the quality and sufficiency of early years childcare settings, including the extended entitlements, wraparound care and Breakfast Clubs
• The Virtual School - educational support for children in care
• Post-16 Team - focused on post-16 education, training and into-employment support and SEND post 16 pathways
• Traded Services - the management and development of services offered to educational settings by the council

The Education directorate works closely with services both within the wider Children's Services and the council's corporate service areas. We are committed to providing high quality services to children, young people and their families.

Hybrid working arrangements are available for this role, giving the opportunity to work in a way that suits you, balancing the service need and individual choice, with a mix of remote working, visiting education settings and office working.

In return for your hard work, you will receive the following:

• flexible and agile working opportunities
• 30 days annual leave
• option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year (pro rata for part-time staff)
• family friendly benefits to help support you and your family
• career development and qualification opportunities
• supportive and positive working environment with regular, robust supervision
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential, counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day, online and by telephone
• an in-house Occupational Health service Employee discount scheme
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Gloucestershire Salary Sacrifice Green Car Scheme (T&Cs apply)
• links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) network and the Young Employees Network

How to apply:

If you feel you have the skills, desire and experience required to make a positive difference then apply via our website here: Head of School Development Services Job Details Gloucestershire County/Gloucester City Councils

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Kirsten Harrison, The Director of Education by emailing her executive support:

Interviews will be held in person at Shire Hall, Gloucester on Friday 14th February 2025.

Short-listed candidates will be contacted by e-mail and invited to interview week commencing by Friday 7th February 2025.