Post-16 Lead Teacher in Stockport

Salary: £32,916 – £51,048 per annum (MPS/UPS) + £3,527 – £8,611 per annum (TLR 2)

Hours: 32.5 per week

Location: Main campus – primary responsibility at Cheadle satellite site

Start date: September 2026

Core Purpose of the Role

Deliver high‑quality, highly adapted education to a Post‑16 class, many of whom have complex medical needs and acute behavioural challenges. Lead the strategic development, operational delivery and multi‑agency coordination of the Post‑16 pathway to ensure safe, dignified and enriching transitions into adult life, supported living, further education or work.

Leadership & Phase Management (TLR Accountabilities)

• Develop and implement a bespoke Post‑16 curriculum focused on the four Preparation for Adulthood (PfA) outcomes: Employment/Purposeful Activity, Independent Living, Community Inclusion, and Health.
• Ensure full compliance with the SEND Code of Practice, emphasising student voice, self‑advocacy and person‑centred planning.
• Monitor, analyse and evaluate teaching, learning and therapeutic integration across the Post‑16 phase and use findings for continuous improvement.
• Lead and steer the overall school careers strategy.
• Act as the primary liaison for the complex transitions process, working closely with local authorities, adult social care, health services, commissioning teams and colleges.
• Coordinate robust, safe and highly personalised transition pathways, tracking destination data and optimising outcomes.
• Manage and develop relationships with external providers to deliver meaningful, safe work‑experience, community‑based learning and sensory integration opportunities for highly complex profiles.
• Assume operational leadership of the Post‑16 satellite provision at Cheadle while ensuring smooth operation of main‑site classes.
• Line‑manage, deploy and coach teaching assistants and support staff within the Post‑16 phase to ensure high standards of care, medical oversight and Positive Behavioural Support (PBS).
• Lead a team that fosters a culture of reflective practice, psychological safety and emotional resilience in debriefing after high‑level behavioural incidents.

Teaching, Learning & Class Management (Core MPS/UPS)

• Plan and deliver an individualised, sensory‑rich, functional curriculum for a designated class group with severe cognitive, medical and behavioural barriers.
• Integrate individual EHCP outcomes, Speech and Language Therapy targets and Occupational Therapy plans seamlessly into daily teaching.
• Use specialised small‑step assessment to measure, celebrate and report student progress.

Complex Health, Safety & Behaviour Management

• Maintain a highly organised, safe and low‑arousal classroom environment.
• Oversee and implement Individual Support Plans (PBS) with the Head of Student Support, ensuring proactive de‑escalation strategies and strict last‑resort use of restrictive interventions.
• Collaborate daily with the on‑site clinical nursing team to execute individual healthcare plans, medication protocols and specialised feeding/mobility procedures safely and with absolute dignity.

Whole‑School Responsibilities

Safeguarding

• Maintain an unshakeable commitment to safeguarding vulnerable young adults, keeping meticulously up‑to‑date with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidelines and reporting procedures.

Parental Partnership

• Build deeply empathetic, clear and trusting relationships with parents and carers during the anxious transition period into adulthood.

Professional Standards

• Meet the UK Teachers’ Standards in full and, if on the UPS scale, demonstrate a sustained substantial contribution to the wider school community.

Contextual Note for Candidates

Unlike a mainstream TLR role centred around an academic subject, this Post‑16 Lead role is highly operational and relational. Success is measured not just by classroom delivery but by the ability to navigate adult care systems, secure safe destinations for highly complex young people and build resilient compassionate class teams.