Welcome

Thank you for your interest in our school.

Brownhill School is currently part of the Brownhill Learning Community, which is a federation of a Pupil Referral Service for Rochdale and an 87 place SEMH special school for KS2, 3 and 4. All of our students have an EHCP with SEMH as their primary needs.

The special school is currently on 2 sites – our main site at Heights Lane, Rochdale, with a small satellite site for 2 key stage 2 classes at Darnhill in Heywood, which is currently shared with the Pupil Referral Service.

In September 2025 the whole school will be relocated to an expanded and refurbished Darnhill site where all students will be located, whilst the Pupil Referral Service will move into the vacated Heights Lane site.

This is an exciting opportunity for us to expand and enhance what we offer to our students and the community of Rochdale and marks a clear step forward towards a new future for this school after a turbulent period of time.

In recent years the school has faced numerous changes of leadership, structural changes, financial pressures, and a challenging Ofsted inspection. These changes will conclude with its defederation from the Pupil Referral Service, after which time both will be independent of each other whilst remaining as local authority maintained institutions and part of the wider Rochdale family of schools.

From September the school will have a capacity of 100 learners, with a view to expanding further as we develop the school, its site, and the quality of our offer to the students. The leadership structure, which is new from September 2025, will comprise of 2 deputy headteachers and 2 assistant headteachers, which will include assigned responsibilities for curriculum, behaviour and SEND. The full staffing structure has also been reviewed and updated as part of the defederation process.

Due to the turbulent period the school has encountered, the LA in partnership with the DfE have put in place an Interim Executive Board, whose role is to stabilise the school, provide clear leadership and navigate through the defederation process. This positive step is already showing impact and it is envisaged that within 12 months the school will transition to a more traditional governing board as it grows and starts to thrive under the leadership of a new headteacher.

We are excited for the new school and would like to hear from candidates who share our optimism and who have the leadership experience, passion for creating fantastic opportunities for our cohort of young people, vision and motivation to lead the school to a bright and successful future. If you feel that this is the post for you then please contact Martin Blair at Hays Leadership on 07736791138 or at martin.blair@hays.com for a private and confidential discussion about the role or to arrange a visit to the school.

We look forward to receiving your application and learning more about how your leadership could shape the next chapter of our school’s success.

Chris Forrest

Chair of the IEB, Brownhill School