Director of Education, Inclusion and Skills

Hours: 37

We are seeking to appoint a Director to lead the development and delivery of a truly inclusive strategic vision for communities, schools and further education across Bristol.

Bristol can be the best place to grow up in. It is a young city with vibrant, diverse and energetic communities and a thriving economic outlook. Children are the future of our city and we want to help them achieve, thrive and become actively engaged citizens. However not all children have equal experiences of living in and growing up in Bristol. Existing inequalities have been amplified by the lasting impacts of the pandemic and current national cost of living crisis. Attendance at school is a concern in the city as is the performance of specific groups in education. In common with many areas of the country some groups of children face barriers to achievement including children with Special Educational Needs, those who are living in deprivation, in care and/or who are from some racially minoritised communities. We are committed to working with services and communities across Bristol so that we all support these children and their families first with the right services at the right time and in a way that is sustainable.

The role that settings, schools and colleges play and how they work together in the local community is central to the vision of our city as a place of ambition, fairness and equity. We know that the quality of teaching and learning are the most important factor in making sure the most vulnerable children can achieve at least as well as their peers. We know that if we focus on the most vulnerable, all children do better. Schools can’t do this alone, the role of the community is vital, our population is changing rapidly and in these very financially challenged times we can only deliver effective services for children and families if we work together across the city in neighbourhoods to develop a clear plan and provide the right support as early as possible.

This is our ambition for education, inclusion and skills in Bristol: to work with early years settings, schools, academy trusts and our post 16 sector, in the local community with the local authority and wider partners to set a clear ambition for all of Bristol’s children in a way that drives swift transformational change for the most vulnerable.

We are seeking a candidate who can lead and drive this vision to deliver a community led model of collaboration working with services, settings, schools and services across the city. We want someone who can lead clearly and positively to engage the whole city in this vision, who can drive the delivery of services within the Council, is astute in budgetary management, can own our safeguarding responsibilities and making sure we fulfil our legal and moral obligations.

Your application should demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria, particularly in relation to your experience of the following:

• Demonstrate an understanding of early intervention working with community services alongside schools to support families and students to be resilient and to close gaps.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the challenges across the education spectrum, particularly special educational needs and alternative learning provision.
• Skilled leader with track record of achieving desired outcomes by working / negotiating with stakeholders and by motivating team and internal colleagues to give their best.
• Knowledge and understanding of the challenges diverse cities like Bristol and the wider public sector face alongside the policy and governance requirements across the function.
• Strong operational management ability with track record of leading, motivating and managing teams through change to achieve sustained levels of high performance.
• The ability to build strong partnerships with school leaders across the city.