Headteacher - Winterbourne Valley CE VA First School

The children, staff and governors of Winterbourne Valley CE VA First School seek an inspiring, dynamic leader for our popular and successful village school, building on strong foundations to further develop our practice and provision. 

Our school is a happy, busy place where children thrive, and staff are experienced and dedicated. Children learn within Christian values, beliefs and practices to be part of the wider world, where care and respect for one another and their environment are embedded daily in school life.

We are seeking an experienced and inspirational leader who: 

• has a strong regard for safeguarding and the health, safety and well-being of our school community

• has recent experience of successful strategic leadership in a school setting

• has high expectations for teaching and learning and is committed to ensuring all children thrive and achieve

• is innovative, organised and passionate about standards and school improvement

• is an outstanding practitioner who is committed to developing and enriching the curriculum

• has good interpersonal and team-working skills and is able to build and maintain positive relationships 

• will uphold and value the Christian ethos of our school

• has the skills to manage the school budget

• is committed to partnership-working

We offer:

• a friendly and caring community ethos

• children who enjoy coming to school and are eager to learn

• dedicated, creative and talented staff who are committed to providing a quality education for every child
• strong links with our church community
• a local area that provides rich resources for teaching and learning

We look forward to receiving applications from candidates whose personal qualities, values and experiences meet the requirements of the job description and person specification, set out in our Headteacher Recruitment pack.

Next Steps:

Visits to the school, in advance of application, are strongly encouraged and can be arranged by appointment on 24th or 27th February. Please contact Jude Shaw Gore, School Secretary, tel. 01305 889297 or email [email protected]  if you have any queries, or to arrange a visit.

Applications can be made via the application form on https://jobs.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/ 

Winterbourne Valley CE VA First School values the diversity of our workforce and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.

Winterbourne Valley CE VA First School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people; this is a commitment which we expect all staff and volunteers to share. The successful candidate will be required to have a Disclosure and Barring Service check in line with the Governments safer recruitment guidelines.

The pro rata salary shown is based on the number of hours and weeks worked and includes appropriate paid annual leave and bank holiday entitlements.

The salary quoted is the annual salary for the position at the time of advert. The salary will be paid in equal monthly instalments and will be adjusted at the start of employment and again if leaving part way through the school year to ensure the correct salary is received for the work completed in an academic year.

This role is UK based and your Right to Work will need to be established as part of the appointment process.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The amendments to the ROA 1974 (Exceptions Order 1975, (2013 and 2020)) provide that when applying for certain jobs and activities, certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’, so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. The MOJ’s guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications and related exceptions and further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide.

Keeping Children Safe in Education

Winterbourne Valley CE VA First School will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates. This check will be part of a safeguarding check, and the search will purely be based on whether an individual is suitable to work with children. All aspects of social media and internet searches will be conducted. As care must be taken to avoid unconscious bias and any risk of discrimination, a person who will not on the appointment panel will conduct the searches and will only share information if and when findings are relevant and of concern.