Chief Executive Officer

Lead our three schools in Nuneaton and Warwickshire with ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted ratings and drive initiatives to enhance our impact, forge new partnerships, and ensure compliance with sector policies and standards.

Who We Are

Central England Academy Trust provides excellent education to learners in Nuneaton and the surrounding areas. We have three schools: Oak Wood Primary School, Oak Wood Secondary School, and Higham Lane School. Together, we offer a comprehensive education to students aged 4 to 19 in both mainstream and SEN settings. We are a diverse Trust that celebrates individual learning needs, including profound, severe, and complex learning needs.

With our guiding principle of “Serving the Heart of England,” we prioritise families and collaborative partnerships with multi-agency professionals to ensure optimal outcomes for our students. By fostering a learning environment where high aspirations meet individualised support, we strive to empower every student to succeed and surpass expectations. Our dedicated team of staff and professionals bring a wealth of expertise and skills in education, ensuring that each student’s unique needs are addressed with precision and care.

At the heart of our organisation are our core values: Collaboration, Equity, Achievement, and Trust. These values underscore our commitment to serving every member of our community with fairness, respect, and inclusivity. We work closely with the local authority to meet the needs of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), ensuring that all students have equitable access to high quality education and opportunities for progress.

Following the retirement of our highly respected CEO, George Smith, we now seek an inspirational leader to take us into the next phase of Trust growth and development.

About the Role

CEAT is now looking for a new CEO who can uphold our commitment to delivering excellent outcomes for our learners across our three schools in Nuneaton and Warwickshire. Our journey has been one of dedication and investment, aiming to sustain our schools at Ofsted ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ ratings. More than just achieving ratings, we seek a CEO who understands our range of learners and leads our schools collaboratively with a highly skilled team of leaders.

There are six interlinked areas of our School Trust CEO’s core responsibilities. These are:

• Strategic leadership — trust values, culture and strategy
• Quality of education
• Finance, sustainability and compliance
• People strategy
• Governance and accountability
• System leadership and civic responsibility

Supported by a strong central leadership team, the CEO will oversee various departments, including quality of education and provision, finance, marketing, human resources, and data management. Our new CEO will be the accounting officer who must ensure that as a small Trust with healthy finances and ambitious growth goals, we remain financially stable whilst guiding strategic developments. They will also oversee financial reporting, ensuring accountability and value for money.

A second mainstream secondary school is scheduled to open in Nuneaton by September 2025, and both of our special schools have approved growth plans. Our Trust is renowned for outreach support, especially in SEND. Outreach provision is led by the Trust and School Development Director. The CEO will play a key role in marketing CEAT positively to enhance its reputation within the local and wider community.

The CEO will play a pivotal role in guiding the Trust to flourish amidst the evolving education landscape. They will lead initiatives to enhance our impact, forge new partnerships, and ensure compliance with sector policies and standards.

Critical to our success is maintaining educational excellence across a diverse portfolio of schools and outreach services. Whilst our school leaders will oversee their schools,Our CEO will provide strategic oversight and lead in ensuring that our quality assurance frameworks are successful and that we facilitate effective cross-organisational collaboration to drive continuous improvement across our schools.

Effective succession planning and resource allocation are key responsibilities, given our diverse educational offering serving nearly 2,000 learners. The CEO will embody our culture of excellence, leading staff to provide exceptional education for our learners and their families.

Who We Are Looking For

We are seeking a CEO who champions the learners of CEAT, making their needs a top priority in every decision. Our ideal candidate will have a deep understanding and genuine passion for the learners and communities we serve across Nuneaton and Warwickshire.

While we value diverse backgrounds, a sincere passion for education is essential. We are looking for a CEO with proven executive leadership skills and a collaborative approach that empowers, supports, and mentors others. Visibility and a leadership style focused on individuals’ needs will foster a culture of continuous improvement.

A proactive and detail-oriented approach to monitoring will be key in maintaining and enhancing the quality of education across our Trust. We had positive Ofsted monitoring visits in both SEN schools and are expecting an inspection in the mainstream secondary therefore an understanding of Ofsted and the frameworks is essential.

It will be important for our new CEO to foster a culture of collaboration with our high-performing board. We need a CEO who understands an effective governance dynamic and has experience of working with a board to leverage their expertise and commitment to CEAT. Given the dynamic nature of the education landscape, strong leadership skills in navigating challenges while upholding our values are essential. A strategic mindset and the ability to identify opportunities for growth and impact are desirable qualities.

We are looking for a CEO with a proven ability to build strong relationships with external stakeholders, including Warwickshire County Council, the Department for Education, and local schools. The ability to position CEAT as a leading educational institution within the community and beyond is highly valued.

Our new CEO should come with the ability to oversee organisational maturation that will help us as we enact on our planned growth. We need a leader who can ensure we are operationally robust, prosperous and able to continually meet the needs of all of our learners through our schools and outreach services.

Safeguarding our learners is paramount, requiring a CEO with up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding legislation in the UK education sector.

Candidates should hold or be working towards a leadership qualification such as an MBA, NPQH, or NPQEL.

Central England Academy Trust (CEAT) are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and  we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references before any final offer can be made.

Please click ‘Apply Now’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the job description and register your interest to apply.

Applications for this role close at 9 a.m. Monday 8th April 2024.