Headteacher

The core purpose of the Headteacher is to provide professional leadership and management for the school. This will promote a secure foundation from which to achieve high standards in all areas of the school’s work. To gain this success, the Headteacher must establish high quality education by effectively managing teaching and learning and using personalised learning to realise the potential of all pupils. The Headteacher should establish a culture that promotes excellence, equality and high expectations of all pupils.

The Headteacher is the leading professional in the school. The Headteacher provides vision, leadership and direction for the school and ensures that it is managed and organised to meet its aims and targets. The Headteacher, working with the School Committee and others, is responsible for evaluating the school’s performance to identify the priorities for continuous improvement and raising standards; ensuring equality of opportunity for all; developing policies and practices; ensuring that resources are efficiently and effectively used to achieve the school’s aims and objectives and for the day‑to‑day management, organisation and administration of the school.

The Headteacher, working with and through others, secures the commitment of the wider community to the school by developing and maintaining effective partnerships with, for example, schools, other services and agencies for children, the Local Authority, higher education institutions and employers. Through such partnerships and other activities, Headteachers play a key role in contributing to the development of the education system as a whole and collaborate with others to raise standards locally.

Drawing on the support provided by members of the school community, the Headteacher is responsible for creating a productive learning environment which is engaging and fulfilling for all pupils. Begin your journey with a team dedicated to empowering every student to achieve their full potential. If you share our values and have the vision and ambition to drive excellence, we want to hear from you.

Areté Learning Trust currently has 11 schools and educates over 7,000 young people in and around North Yorkshire from ages 2‑18. Our learners are at the heart of everything we do. At Areté Learning Trust we work together and collaborate to ensure that all of our learners and our staff team have the chance to reach their potential. Our Trust is committed to promoting:

• Health, happiness and wellbeing
• A safe, disciplined and supportive environment
• A love of learning through a passionate and committed approach
• High standards and expectations
• Integrity, kindness and good manners
• Respect for individuality and difference
• Collaborative working to secure excellence

We want everyone who works within ALT to feel valued and see how their work fits into the bigger picture. We seek employees who are prepared to take personal responsibility and constantly challenge the norm to improve performance. In return, we are committed to providing an empowering and supportive learning environment for all staff. Areté Learning Trust is committed to being the ‘Employer of Choice’. Essentially this means that we want our schools and our central team to be great places to work. We want our staff development opportunities to be first class and we want to enable staff who are ambitious to grow their careers with us. To give our learners the best education and opportunities we are committed to recruiting and retaining the very best people in all areas of our organisation.

Regardless of role, we seek staff who:

• Have high expectations of themselves and the people they work with.
• Are committed to our Trust values.
• Show initiative and are responsive to change.
• Have strong interpersonal skills with the ability to inspire and motivate others.
• Are creative in their approach to problem solving.
• Are able to influence effectively, whatever their role.
• Are team players.

We welcome applications from all backgrounds; for more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy statement. If you would like a confidential, informal conversation about this exciting opportunity, please contact Luke Bowers at info@theexcellencehub.co.uk or by phone 0345 257 0500. We look forward to receiving your application.

Please complete the online application form to apply for this role. All candidates are advised to refer to the job description and person specification within the Recruitment Pack before making an application. Applications via agencies will not be considered. Interviews will take place on Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th February 2026. We recognise that the scheduled interview dates may coincide with half term commitments for some candidates. Should this be the case, and you are unable to amend prior arrangements but wish to proceed with an application, please contact us to discuss this further.

The Areté Learning Trust is committed to safeguarding and protecting our children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All posts are subject to a safer recruitment process which includes enhanced criminal records and barring checks, scrutiny of employment history, robust referencing and other vetting checks. Online searches may be done as part of due diligence checks. Our safeguarding system is underpinned by a range of policies and procedures which encourage and promote safe working practice across the Trust. On joining you will be required to undergo continuous professional development to maintain safe working practice and to safeguard our children and young people. The Trust is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.