The Grove Primary School

Welcome to our Staff Vacancies Page.

Contract - Permanent - Full-Time

Salary - L15-21, with flexibility for the right candidate

Start Date - 1 September 2024, or as soon as possible after this date

Closing Date - Midday, 13th May 2024
Interview Date - 21 May 2024

Application details - https://mynewterm.com/jobs/126255/EDV-2024-GPS-43429

About this Role

Based in the heart of Trowbridge, The Grove School has nearly 400 children and 60 staff, making it one of the largest primary schools in Wiltshire. The school has a happy and welcoming atmosphere and provides a safe, secure and stimulating environment where children enjoy their learning and thrive. We are proud of our school and committed to raising the attainment of all our children; it’s our aim to provide an environment where every child can flourish academically, socially and emotionally. We strive to ensure that children establish strong roots and develop healthy and adventurous wings.  

We are looking for a talented Headteacher who can lead and inspire the school community with passion and confidence at a time of exciting change. 

We are currently undertaking a fantastic building project, replacing old modular buildings with brand-new, state of the art facilities for children, staff, and those in our local community. The project will also facilitate the opening of a new Resource Base, which will provide 20 specialist places for children with communication and interaction needs.

In addition to the new buildings, the school is converting to academy status and joining the newly formed EQUA Mead Learning Trust on 1 June 2024. The Grove will be one of 18 schools in the new Trust, 16 of which will be primary schools.  We are looking for a Headteacher who is experienced in successfully leading schools through significant change and has a commitment to working collaboratively and decisively with colleagues across a Trust or federation. 

We foster a clear focus on continuous improvement to ensure that our children achieve the best possible outcomes in all areas of school life.  We pride ourselves on delivering meaningful, ongoing professional development to all staff.  We believe in capitalising on everyone’s talents and skills whilst encouraging each other to realise these.    

We recognise the current challenges facing school leaders and are committed to supporting our Headteacher to create an environment that provides every child with every chance.  Headteachers within the EQUA Mead Learning Trust and the wider Trowbridge locality enjoy development and supportive challenge opportunities within a collaborative network.  

Visits to the school are warmly welcomed, please contact us at finance@grove.wilts.sch.uk to arrange. 

We are looking for a Headteacher who will create an ethic of excellence and ambition for all children. 

Able to effectively motivate inspire and influence staff, pupils and stakeholders, they will assume responsibility for all aspects of school life.  This will include directing the school’s strategic planning, driving the implementation of a broad, well-sequenced, knowledge-rich curriculum and ensuring high-quality, inclusive teaching and learning across the school whilst promoting the safeguarding of all pupils and staff. 

The Headteacher will champion ethical, values-led leadership and nurture talent and expertise across the staff team. They will be someone who is:

• Committed to the school’s vision, purpose and values
• Able to lead, develop and inspire a strong team of leaders, teachers and support staff to deliver a culture of continuous school improvement
• Creative and dedicated, with the leadership qualities and flair to make great things happen and take the school to the next level
• A motivational leader who will work in partnership with our Trust
• Willing to share practice and to learn from others
• Self-motivated and ambitious, with a strong track record of professional learning
• An excellent, engaging communicator who can develop strong relationships with the school’s key stakeholders, including the children, parents, governors and the wider community 

To be effective and successful, you will be someone who:

• Has excellent knowledge and understanding of current educational priorities and challenges, and how to deliver a high-quality education to all children
• Will bring energy and creativity to drive curriculum innovation whilst maintaining existing effective practices
• Has a proven track record of achieving success and raising standards 
• Has the belief that every child can and will succeed 

Inclusion is at the heart of our organisation, and we cherish it in our staff just like we do in our children. We are committed to creating a workforce that is reflective of our community and welcome applications from anyone with the skills and experience to do the role they are applying to, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, disability or any other protected characteristic.  

(We reserve the right to close the post early if sufficient strong applications are received.)

This role will involve contact with children and the post holder will be engaged in regulated activity relevant to children and will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check before appointment is confirmed. We will only submit a DBS application to the relevant disclosure service when a position is accepted.  

This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow Safer Recruitment procedures and all interviews, regardless of role, will include questions about approaches to safeguarding. Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy is available on our website and follows all guidance in the most recent Keeping Children Safe in Education.  

All posts involving direct contact with children are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. However, amendments to the Exception Order 1975 (2013 & 2020) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’. These are not subject to disclosure to employers and cannot be taken into account. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found on the Ministry of Justice website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-guidance-on-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders-act-1974