Provision Manager in Milton Keynes

You’ll run the provision. Not from a distance, but day to day, on site, holding the standards, leading the team, and making sure every young person who walks through the door meets calm, structure, and a plan that fits them.

About Storyy Education: Storyy Education is a trauma-informed education partner working with schools, families, local authorities, and young people across the UK. We support young people whose learning has been disrupted by anxiety, exclusion, instability, SEMH needs, or systems that moved too fast for them, to restore readiness, rebuild structure, and re-engage with learning. Our work is grounded in one belief, that progress starts when young people feel safe enough to take the next step.

Across our sites, we run alternative provision, outreach, tuition, school-facing services, and specialist settings, all built on calm, consistency, and clarity. This role is based at our Milton Keynes provision. It’s a new site, and a real opportunity for the right person to shape how it runs from the start.

Where this role sits: This is a leadership role reporting directly into the Managing Director. There are no layers in between, so you’ll have real ownership, real visibility, and the autonomy to lead the provision the way it needs to be led.

• Effectively manage every aspect of the provision on site.
• Lead the delivery of an effective AP curriculum with clear intent, consistent implementation, and measurable impact.
• Take responsibility for safeguarding arrangements within the setting, including the role of Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
• Make sure every young person’s timetable, plan and support align, and that every member of staff is clear on the outcomes we’re working toward.
• Set and hold the culture of the provision. Care with clarity, calm with structure, ambition with realism.

What you’ll actually do:

• Lead the day-to-day running of the provision, including timetables, staff allocation, programmes, and resources.
• Plan and oversee the AP curriculum, ensuring it’s delivered consistently, monitored for impact, and adjusted when it isn’t working.
• Set personalised targets for every young person, with progress reported clearly and regularly to schools and families.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the provision’s model and practice, feeding insight back into the wider Storyy Education team.

Team leadership:

• Lead, supervise, and develop the staff team.
• Regular supervision meetings, appraisals, briefings, and team training.
• Monitor performance and follow due process where concerns arise.
• Coach the team in trauma-informed, restorative, and nurturing practice, including de-escalation and risk management.
• Run weekly case reviews so every young person is being properly thought about and planned for.

Student support and behaviour:

• Lead on the development and review of Positive Behaviour Support plans, tracking patterns and intervening early.
• Model behavioural intervention strategies based on careful assessment, not assumption.
• Support young people directly in building self-regulation, resilience, and the practical confidence to keep moving forward.

Safeguarding:

• Act as Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead for the provision.
• Write and maintain individual risk assessments and the vulnerable students list.
• Attend and contribute to safeguarding meetings (CIN, CP, strategy) and liaise with social care, schools, and other professionals.
• Make sure every member of staff is fully briefed and clear on their safeguarding responsibilities.
• Record concerns properly and immediately on CPOMS, and ensure the team does the same.

Referrals, attendance, and reporting:

• Manage all referrals into the provision, working with the wider team to ensure paperwork is in place and onboarding is timely.
• Monitor attendance closely.
• First‑day contact for any absence, with appropriate follow‑up and escalation.
• Oversee weekly progress reports and ensure schools, families, and external agencies receive accurate, timely communication.
• Lead and attend review meetings, making sure transitions are planned, not reactive.

Operations, budget, and health & safety:

• Manage the provision budget, ensuring best value and clean records passed to the Storyy Group finance lead.
• Lead on health & safety arrangements across the site, including first aid, checks, risk management plans, and risk assessments.
• Ensure robust off-site processes are in place, prioritising the safety of young people and staff.
• Represent the provision and Storyy Education with professionalism and humanity in every interaction.
• Work as a positive role model. The values and standards you set will shape the team’s.

The kind of person we’re looking for:

• Significant experience working with children and young people who have SEMH needs and display behaviours that challenge, ideally in AP, PRU, or SEND settings.
• Experience managing or supervising staff within a child-focused provision.
• A working understanding of AP guidance and DfE requirements.
• Experience as a budget holder.
• Strong knowledge of safeguarding legislation, procedures, and practice.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentational communication.
• A self‑starter with high standards of professional integrity.
• Resilient, determined, visible, and approachable.
• Confident working collaboratively across a multi‑disciplinary team.
• Higher education qualification in a relevant field (Education, Social Work, Youth Work) or equivalent experience.
• Full UK driving licence (or valid equivalent, converted within six months for non-UK licences) and business car insurance.
• Satisfactory Enhanced DBS check with Barred List, on the Update Service or willing to obtain.
• Level 3 DSL training and experience as a safeguarding lead.
• Leadership or training qualification.
• Demonstrable knowledge of trauma-informed, restorative, and nurturing approaches.
• Experience writing and implementing risk assessments.

How we work, in plain English:

• Be calm. Safety comes first.
• Be consistent. Show up, every time.
• Be collaborative. Progress is shared work.
• Be purposeful. Every action should move someone forward.

Pay and hours:

• Salary: £30,000 to £38,000 per year, dependent on experience.
• Full‑time, permanent, 52‑week contract.

What we offer:

• Real ownership. You’ll lead the provision, with direct access to the Managing Director and no layers in between.
• The chance to help shape a new site in partnership with Ascend Trust.
• Professional development and progression within Storyy Education and the wider Storyy Group.
• A team that takes the work seriously, and each other seriously, without taking itself too seriously.

Practical bits:

• Location: Wiltshire, on‑site.
• Work pattern: in person.
• Willingness to travel for meetings and training as required.
• Right to work in the UK: required.
• This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Why this work matters: Most of the young people who arrive at our provisions have been holding something heavy for a long time. They’ve often had their education interrupted by things that had nothing to do with whether they could learn, and a lot to do with whether they felt safe. The Provision Manager is the person who makes sure the place they walk into is calm, consistent, and built around them. Not perfect. Not soft. Steady, structured, and led by people who know what they’re doing. If that’s the kind of provision you want to build, and the kind of team you want to lead, we’d like to hear from you.

Safeguarding statement: Storyy Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, as outlined in Working Together to Safeguard Children. We apply robust recruitment and selection procedures to ensure that the people we appoint are right for the role, and that all candidates are appropriately screened prior to appointment.