Job Description
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We are looking for an ambitious, values-led Assistant Headteacher who can make behaviour, attendance progress and personal excellence the central drivers of school improvement
Contract: Permanent, Full Time
Salary: Leadership Scale - depending on experience
Start Date: 1st January 2027
Location: St. George's School, Colchester
Are you an inspirational school leader who believes that excellent behaviour and attendance unlock exceptional learning?
We are seeking an ambitious, dynamic and highly motivated Assistant Headteacher to join our large and thriving primary school and lead our strategic work on behaviour, attendance, progress and personal excellence.
This is a key leadership role for a colleague who understands that every minute in school matters, every interaction matters and every child deserves the opportunity to succeed.
Our vision is simple: Excellent behaviour, excellent attendance and excellent learning go hand in hand. We want our pupils to develop the habits, attitudes and character that enable them to flourish academically and personally.
The Role
As the Assistant Headteacher, you will play a significant role in shaping the culture and direction of the school. You will lead and develop a consistent, relational and aspirational approach to:
- Behaviour and attitudes - establishing consistently high expectations and ensuring that pupils understand, meet and take ownership of them
- Attendance and punctuality - driving a whole school culture where attending every day and being ready to learn is the norm
- Progress and achievement - ensuring that strong behaviour and attendance translateinto improved learning and outcomes for every pupil
- Personal excellence - developing pupils' resilience, confidence, independencem, responsibility and pride in themselves and their school
- Inclusion and pastoral support - working closely with families, staff and external partners to remove barriers to attendance, engagement and achievement
- Staff development - coaching and supporting colleagues so that expectations, routines and responses are consistently implemented across the school
- School improvement - using data, evidence and professional insight to identify priorities, evaluate impact and secure sustainable improvement
You will work closely with the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team to ensure that our pupils experience a calm, purposeful and ambitious learning environment, where high expectations are matched by strong relationships and effective support.
We are looking for someone who
- Is an excellent primary practitioner and inspirational leader
- Has a proven track record of improving behaviour, attendance and pupil outcomes
- Believes passionately in the potential of every child
- Can establish clear expectations while building positive, respectful relationships
- Is confident using attendance, behaviour and attainment data to identify patterns, target support and measure impact
- Understand that behaviour is not simply about compliance but about culture, relationships, routines and readiness to learn
- Has the determination to challenge low expectations and the empathy to understand the barriers children and families may face
- Can inspire staff, pupils and families around a shared vision of personal excellence
- Is highly organised, reflective and solution-focused
- Has the credibility, resilience and emotional intelligence to lead change in a large and complex primary setting
What we can offer you
You will join a school that is ambitious for its children and staff. We will provide:
- A genuine strategic leadership role with the opportunity to shape whole-school culture
- A supportive and ambitious Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team
- A school community committed to high expectations, inclusion and personal excellence
- Opportunities for professional development and leadership growth
- A collaborative environment where ideas, innovation and professional challenge are welcomed
- The opportunity to make a significant and measurable difference to the lives and futures of our pupils
Our Vision
Dream, Reach, Achieve, Grow, Opportunity, Nurture.
We want our pupils to leave us not only with strong academic foundations but with character, confidence and habits needed to succeed in the next stage of their education and beyond. For us, attendance is more than a percentage. Behaviour is more than a system. Progress is more than a data point.
They are interconnected.
When children attend, they belong.
When they belong, they engage.
When they engage, they learn.
When they learn, they progress.
And when they develop the habits of excellence, they thrive.
If you are an ambitious leader who wants to make that difference, we would love to hear from you.
Visits to the school
We warmly welcome visits from prospective applicants. This is an opportunity to meet our leadership team, see our school in action and learn more about our vision for behaviour, attendance and personal excellence.
To arrange a visit, please contact the school office on 01206 506800
Closing Date: 18th October 2026
Interview Dates: 22nd/23rd October 2026
Start Date: 1st January 2026
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to appropriate safeguarding checks, including an enhanced DBS check.
Information about the School
We are passionate about our school. Why? … you ask.
It’s simple really. St. George’s School is at the heart our community. It is a well-established school with a sense of pride, community spirit and values. It is also a school which is proud to be pushing forward; developing increasingly effective teaching and learning strategies that support all of our children … a truly inclusive place to be.
We are focused on improving many aspects of school life. We promote a love of reading for all children, grow skilled writers and mathematicians and support children effectively in both their learning and well-being. We aim to provide an engaging curriculum for all our young learners through interest, breadth and depth, and offer excellent facilities.
Our school is one that has been on an exciting journey of development. Formed from previous separate infant and junior schools in 2021, our newly formed primary school serves the community of New Town and beyond, and is committed to be inclusive of all.
Many of our classrooms are newly refurbished and are lovely places to teach and learn. With capacity for 680 children, including our own nursery, we are one of the largest primary settings in the area, and provide a true team ethos in which to grow professionally.
However, we still have much to do and believe that, by working in partnership to achieve a common purpose, we can continue to provide a school that is at the cutting edge of educational practice. We are graded 'Good' by Ofsted (2023) and are an Inclusion Quality Mark Centre of Excellence. In the last available value added benchmarks we were one of the highest rated schools in the locality.
We know that success is drawn from professional cooperation and partnership. We are therefore trustees of the Child First Trust, participants in Partners in Excellence (PiXL) and active members of a local schools’ partnership, newly launched in April this year. These networks enable teachers and leaders to learn from each other, and provide mutual support across schools. We encourage our teachers to develop themselves further through national qualifications, and give them a real and meaningful voice in the advancement of our practice and curriculum offer. Professionally, it is a great place to be.
So, as you can see, we really are passionate about our school and recognise that through enabling inspirational teaching, learning and leadership, we will set the school well on the way to improving further still.
The Headteacher and Governing Body