Director of Secondary Education

Wellspring Academy Trust is seeking a strategic and values-driven Director of Secondary Education to join an exceptional team, leading on the development of its secondary academies.

Location: Flexible, with the expectation of regular travel around the Wellspring region: South, West and North Yorkshire, North and North East Lincolnshire, and Lincolnshire. The Trust’s Head Office is located in Barnsley, South Yorkshire

Salary: : L43 + £12,500 (all year round, Teachers’ Terms and Conditions)

Closing date: 9 a.m. Monday 20th October

Who we are

Wellspring Academy Trust is a thriving family of schools with a strong sense of purpose. We are proud to serve 33 academies across primary, secondary, special, and alternative provision. Since welcoming our first school in 2013, we have developed into a dynamic community supporting children and families in eight local authority areas, including South, West and North Yorkshire, North and North East Lincolnshire, and Lincolnshire.

We are committed to our vision: to transform lives by raising aspirations and broadening opportunities for every young person and the communities around them. We believe that all children, whatever their starting point, are entitled to an excellent education and the chance to experience joy, success, and ambition in their lives.

At Wellspring, we do not impose a “one size fits all” model. We celebrate the distinctiveness of each of our schools, empowering leaders to shape provision around the unique needs of their communities. Our approach has proven its effectiveness over time, fostering strong, resilient schools that combine autonomy with the collective strength of the Trust.

We are driven by social purpose. We champion inclusive education, stronger communities, and improved life chances. Education is the most powerful vehicle for social justice, and through equity, we enable better outcomes for all.

About the role

The Director of Secondary Education is a senior executive role, reporting directly to the Chief Executive and working as part of the Trust’s School Improvement Directorate and central leadership team.

You will hold strategic responsibility for leading our drive for excellence in our secondary academies, ensuring that they are equipped to provide an outstanding education for their students and meet needs in their communities.

At the strategic level, you will help shape the Trust’s secondary education strategy, working closely with headteachers and their teams to set high aspirations, demand excellence of one another and drive vision for an exceptional secondary education provision. At the operational level, you will work in partnership with school leaders to ensure that the curriculum offer, resourcing, support for day-to-day teaching, learning, and pastoral care are of the highest quality.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Providing strategic leadership and oversight of secondary education across the Trust.
• Supporting headteachers to secure strong, inclusive school cultures, raise ambitions and aspirations and improve outcomes.
• Leading on curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, ensuring alignment with the Trust’s values and ambitions.
• Developing networks of practice across secondary academies, enabling collaboration, sharing of expertise, and collective problem-solving.
• Monitoring and evaluating school performance, using data intelligently to inform improvement and secure the appropriate accountabilities.
• Building leadership pipeline capacity, supporting and developing future leaders.
• Working with the CEO and executive team to align secondary education with Trust-wide priorities, including equity, inclusion and community impact.
• Representing Wellspring externally, building partnerships with local authorities, regional bodies and national agencies.

The Director of Secondary Education will also play a full role in the Trust’s senior leadership tier, contributing to strategic decision-making across all phases and ensuring that Wellspring’s values and ambitions are realised in practice.

Who we are looking for

We are seeking an experienced, strategic, and values-driven educational leader who shares our belief in the transformative power of education and our unwavering commitment to inclusion and equity. This is an opportunity for a leader who not only understands the complexities of secondary education but who is also passionate about making a profound and lasting difference to the lives of children and young people. That might, at times, require a little bit of thinking outside of the box.

The successful candidate will be someone capable of inspiring confidence in colleagues. You will bring a proven ability to lead, support, guide, challenge and deliver. You will be a leader who can galvanise others around a shared purpose and ensure that high expectations are consistently translated into sustainable performance.

Your professional background will demonstrate provenance in secondary education school leadership. This credibility will allow you to lead with authority, while your capacity for empathy and your alignment with Wellspring’s values will ensure that you lead with integrity and purpose.

You will have a viewpoint on curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment in secondary education. You will bring strong analytical skills and the confidence to decision-make. You will be working at pace and at supporting leaders in making evidence, values and ambitions-informed decisions about the future direction of their schools.

We are seeking someone who understands how to build capacity across a system, equipping others with the skills, confidence, and resilience they need to succeed. You will be an accomplished role-model, as well as being a clear and decisive manager, able to nurture emerging leaders while also raising established colleagues to the highest standards of professional conduct and performance.

You will need to work effectively with colleagues across Wellspring and build productive relationships with external partners and stakeholders. So, this role requires excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Your influence will be rooted in integrity, your collaboration in mutual respect, and your leadership in a clear sense of shared purpose.

This role is for a leader who combines strategic foresight with practical insight; someone who can think long-term while remaining grounded in the everyday realities of school life. Above all, we are looking for a leader who shares our conviction that education has the power to transform lives and who is motivated by a deep sense of social purpose. This is an opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of secondary education at Wellspring, ensuring that our schools deliver excellence for every young person we serve.

Peridot Partners and Wellspring Academy Trust are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and our client expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references before any final offer can be made.

Please click ‘Apply Now’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the job description and register your interest to apply.

Applications for this role close at 9 a.m. Monday 20th October.