The Blackdown Education Partnership is a high performing trust created by the merger of two founding trusts which shared some important similar values. Put simply, we believe that collaboration, partnership working and sharing our best ideas will enable us to enact our core values of:
• Equity
• Opportunity
• Community
and provide educational experiences and opportunities that enable our pupils to thrive and achieve in our school.
We are currently reimagining our strategic plan which will shape the work of the Trust over the next 2-5 years. This will focus on 4 key strategic drivers to deliver an ambitious vision for the next stage of our improvement journey. One of these is an intentional approach to inclusion and equity.
This post, which is new to the Trust is a key part of this strategy. We are in the process of developing specialist provision at 2 of our secondaries and we have on site AP in a number of the other schools. We are aware that this will be an area of development over the coming months and years and are looking for an individual who can support our school leaders to develop high quality inclusive spaces that better meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable pupils.
Our schools are all characterised by a strong ethos, ambitious culture and compassionate environment which together drive success. We are lucky enough to employ brilliant people who share our vision, many of whom have started careers with us and stayed to progress these careers. We want people to join us who believe that, whatever their role, they can make a difference to the life chances of pupils. We are totally committed therefore to helping all our staff thrive and fulfil their professional ambitions. A large number of colleagues are currently undertaking leadership development training which ranges from the full suite of NPQs to some more bespoke leadership programmes run through our outstanding network of partners.
If you are keen to find out more about the role, our CEO will be holding a series of information sessions over Teams where she will outline the key requirements of the post and be available to answer any questions. You can book into one of these slots by contacting Paula Gibson, contact details are available within the recruitment pack.
Times available are;
• Monday 23rd March – 4.30 – 5.00pm
• Wednesday 25th March - 10.00 - 10.30am
• Tuesday 31st March – 1.30 - 2.00pm
We are looking for an individual who shares the same vision and values – if you believe that you have the skills, drive and vision to help us achieve our aims we would be delighted to receive your application.
Closing date: Monday 20th April 2026
Interviews: Thursday 23rd April 2026 (first stage interviews – online)
Tuesday 28th April 2026 (second stage interviews – Orchard Grove Primary School)
This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 under the Exceptions Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020). This means that both spent and unspent convictions and cautions may need to be disclosed. However, certain convictions and cautions are considered ‘protected’ under filtering rules and do not need to be disclosed. Guidance on what should be disclosed can be found on the Ministry of Justice website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-guidance-on-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders-act-1974
Blackdown Education Partnership is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We particularly welcome applications from underrepresented groups including ethnicity, gender, transgender, age, disability, sexuality or religion.
The successful candidate will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure via the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS). As part of our due diligence process when shortlisting, we may carry out an online search of publicly available material to identify any incidents or issues which we might want to explore with the applicant at interview.
References: References will be taken up on short-listed candidates that will include questions about past disciplinary actions or allegations in relation to behaviour with children, previous employers may be approached for information to verify particular experiences or qualifications before interview.
Data Protection Act: Information held by Blackdown Education Partnership complies with and is stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. If your application is successful, the information you have provided in the ‘Personal Details’ section will be used for payroll purposes and may be disclosed to the Inland Revenue. It will be disclosed within the school for security and administration.
BEP Privacy Statement–Recruitment: Please see our website for further information.