Welcome

Dear Candidate,

This is a wonderful opportunity for an aspirational, inspirational and experienced leader to take up the role of Head Teacher at a school with an incredibly exciting future.

Mary Elliot Special School has been through a difficult period; a March 2022 Ofsted inspection resulted in an inadequate grade, and a subsequent directive academy order. 

All of us at Thrive Education Partnership (TEP) jumped at the opportunity to support the school and the formality of Mary Elliot joining our existing four school family will be completed on April 1st, 2023. Whilst the past months have been difficult for all involved at Mary Elliot, through our initial school improvement work, we can clearly see the amazing potential that the school has; a relatively new purpose built school, a fully committed leadership team, a staff group craving an inspirational vision and, most importantly, a group of pupils eager for vibrant educational opportunities. With the full support of TEP, we are sure that the right candidate will be able to flourish and make a huge impact on the children and young people at Mary Elliot School and the wider community.

TEP is a values led organisation. Children and young people are at the forefront of our minds at all times. Our decisions are based on what is right and of most benefit for our pupils. We are different from many other multi-academy trusts. We pride ourselves on ensuring Head Teacher autonomy; we are not a corporate organisation. We are educationalists seeking to make a difference to a larger number of children and young people. We nurture our leaders; providing extensive support through mentoring, modelling and evidence based frameworks. We have a proven track record of school improvement within the special school sector and we are excited to work with you to achieve your own goals. 

Mary Elliot will be the fifth special needs academy within the Thrive family. All of our academies are very different both in terms of age range and profile of needs however, our vision is clear across all of our provisions:

“A community built on improving life chances for its young people within a culture of challenge, high expectations and values-based decision making”

TEP is a growing Multi-Academy Trust consisting of four special needs academies, an autism specific primary satellite provision and an SEMH/AS resource base within a large secondary mainstream school. TEP employs approximately 530 staff and supports approximately 850 pupils (2-19 years of age); annual turnover of TEP equates to over £20m.

If you are aligned with our vision and looking for an opportunity to build something special with the full support of an exciting MAT, then we would encourage you to engage further. 

You are very welcome to visit the school and if you feel inspired by what you have read and what you see, I would be delighted for you to submit an application. To arrange a visit, discuss the role in more detail in confidence or to make an application, please contact our recruitment partner Martin Blair at Hays Leadership on 07736791138 or at martin.blair@hays.com.

With very best wishes,

Richard Chapman 
CEO, Thrive Education Partnership