Director of Education, Culture & Skills Preston, North West England, England
Job description
Director of Education, Culture and Skills
Education & Children's Service
Preston, Lancashire (hybrid)
Salary: £98,919 to £107,384 (Grade D2) plus £5,300 Car Allowance
International Sponsorship – this role is not open to international sponsorship (Shortage Occupations only)
We are currently recruiting…
A Director of Education, Culture and Skills to work within the Education & Children's Service at Lancashire County Council.
We're incredibly proud of our Education & Children's Service and the dedicated teams that work within it who strive every day to make a difference to the lives of children, young people and their families in Lancashire. This role will be the strategic lead and responsible for supporting our teams specifically within Education, SEND, Early Help & Cultural Services. We were delighted with our most recent Ofsted Assessment (Nov 2022) which rated our Children's Service as "Good" across all areas and our intention is to continue to build on that attainment and aim towards "Outstanding". If you're passionate about making a tangible difference to the lives of those living in our communities and ensuring that everyone has equal access to education and cultural opportunities then this is the role for you.
What we are looking for…
Passion – you'll be passionate about ensuring each & every young person has the opportunity to maximise their potential irrespective of their age, ability, background or personal situation from early years, schools, libraries, and through to further education. No-one gets left behind & no one gets missed. You'll be ambitious for what we can achieve together by continuously improving and focussing on the strategic development of the service with a specific focus on delivering services for children with additional needs and ensuring that schools do the same. You'll be passionate about early help for families who are struggling with the aim of avoiding them entering the Children's Care System unless it's absolutely necessary; potentially providing them with tools and skills that their own parents may not have had, whilst keeping the child at the heart of each decision made
Inspirational Leadership – strategic leadership is a given at this level but we're looking for much more – it's about connections, relationships, challenge, resilience, inspiring our teams to strive for better for our families & themselves. You'll love transforming services, being able to articulate a vision with a confident & charismatic approach, using both data and emotional intelligence to drive decision making. We're looking for someone inspirational who can drive service excellence not just across Children's Services but also ensuring we provide the cultural enrichment through our libraries & museums that our communities require – this can range from encouraging pop concerts in libraries through to re-enactment days in our museums. We want someone with ambition for our services, for what can be achieved - an authentic leader who has the ability to inspire entire teams and take them on a journey to delivering outstanding and inclusive practice. We want empathy, unapologetic challenge, the ability to understand the educational landscape & future implications plus the importance of being the quality driver of school improvements
Collaborative – you'll be a credible, authentic leader who excels at building positive working relationships across a variety of partners from headteachers, schools, the police service, the NHS; delivering a true multiagency approach to inclusive, strengths-based practice. You'll have excellent communication and influencing skills, that secure level of confidence that specialist tacit knowledge and experience provides with the ability to share information across all levels tailoring your communication as required. You'll have the ability to influence decision makers from our Members to funding regulators, Ofsted inspectors to school leaders – collaborating with both internal teams and external agencies with the ability to appreciate how your team and your own decisions can impact the wider organisation. If this sounds like you and what you would like to achieve then come join us now…
What we have to offer…
Benefits: We have recently launched our new employee benefits platform which provides a range of discounts aiming to support our teams with the challenging cost of living whilst hopefully bringing some fun into the equation. There's discounts on your weekly shop plus discounts on cinema tickets, eating out and eating in, holidays, plus pampering and fitness for your mind, body & soul. We also have an excellent Employee Assistance Plan, Medicash, support groups, generous local government pension with shared contributory AVC's, cycle to work schemes and reimbursement for eye tests plus much more.
In addition, our core offer around supportive flexibility and the opportunity to create the work life balance you'll love, we provide up to 32 days annual leave plus bank holidays, 2 additional days at Christmas and then a further 20 days that can be purchased too. Add in any banked leave, and it can lead to a significant 14 week's annual leave, so hopefully supporting you enjoy what you love both in work and outside of it
Development: you'll get support and development along the journey – there will be time for supportive reflection and supervision for yourself, opportunities for personal growth, qualifications and development, multidisciplinary initiatives, mentoring, the opportunity to make a difference, feel valued and achieve the job satisfaction you've always wanted
Inclusivity: we are committed to creating and sustaining a diverse and inclusive working environment for all of our team. Our aim is to ensure that everyone is equally valued and respected and that our organisation is representative of all members of society, working in an environment where individual differences are celebrated. To support this, we would especially welcome applications if you are a person of colour, from the LGBTQ+ community or have a disability.
You will be required to provide a car for use in connection with the duties of this post and must be insured for business use. However, we may consider you if you cannot drive because of a disability.
How to apply…
Please feel free to contact us for an initial informal and confidential chat, contacting Ann Vallely (ED Senior PA) on 01772 530817 or [email protected] who will be able to arrange a time for you to speak to Jacqui Old CBE (ED Education & Children's Service).
Please download the candidate pack below which contains full details regarding the role and the information you r application should include, please submit your application to [email protected]
Candidate Pack
Job Description & Person Specification
Timeline for Information
We reserve the right to close down a vacancy early, before the closing date, if we receive sufficient applications.
