Trust Strategic Lead for Vulnerable Pupils & Inclusive Practice

Outwood Grange Academies Trust, a leading and long-established multi-academy trust across the North of England, is offering an exceptional opportunity for a dynamic and visionary Trust Strategic Lead for Inclusive Practice and Vulnerable Pupils. This pivotal role offers the chance to shape the future of inclusive practice across our diverse family of schools, spanning the 3-18 age range.

Our family of schools is supported by our School Improvement Team, a collective of highly experienced professionals recognised as experts in their respective fields. These leaders bring a wealth of experience from senior leadership, subject specialisms, SEND, attendance and, family and community, each holding a trust-wide responsibility. Under the direction of the Executive Team, this team provides specialist support and additional capacity precisely where it's needed across the Trust.

As Trust Strategic Lead for Inclusive Practice and Vulnerable Pupils, your core mission will be to build and empower a dedicated team who will be unwavering champions for all vulnerable pupils. You will pioneer new ways of working with a clear focus on ensuring that through our overarching strategy, their voices, and those of their families, are not only heard but actively considered and their needs prioritised. This includes, but is not limited to, pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), Looked After Pupils, and Pupils with English as an Additional Language.

Imagine:

• Strategically leading and developing cross-phase collaboration to ensure seamless transitions and consistent support for all pupils, building upon the strong foundations of our existing School Improvement Team, with a particular emphasis on the needs of the most vulnerable.
• Establishing vibrant networks of practice, fostering a culture of school-to-school support and improvement, all with a laser-like focus on meeting individual needs and statutory requirements, and ensuring the lived experiences of vulnerable pupils inform our approaches.
• Building and empowering a team of specialist support and improvement partners, including experts in communication and interaction; SEMH; physical and sensory needs; cognition and learning; vulnerabilities; and SEND coordination. This team will be your driving force for ensuring that inclusion is embedded across our Trust. This includes building expertise across the whole workforce to effectively support all vulnerable learners. You will constantly evaluate our provision through specialist lenses and champion improvements that directly benefit our most vulnerable young people.
• Working closely with leaders, SENDCOs, and SEND/Inclusion colleagues to further enhance and strengthen existing provision, practice, and pedagogy across the Trust, identifying and learning from best practice both within and beyond our organisation, with a core focus on ensuring equity and access for all.
• Providing strategic oversight for our seven secondary-based Resourced Provisions, catering for a diverse range of needs including cognitive; physical and learning difficulties; speech and language; and hearing impairment, ensuring they are beacons of best practice in supporting vulnerable learners.
• Representing the Trust externally at both local and national levels, as a passionate advocate for inclusive practices and ensuring the needs of our most vulnerable children are at the forefront of educational discourse.

This is an exciting time to join Outwood Grange Academies Trust. We are refreshing and renewing our strategy with a clear ambition: to ensure every one of our schools stands as a beacon of sustainable excellence, delivering the very best for the children we serve. Your leadership in this role will be pivotal in ensuring that inclusion is not just an aspiration, but a demonstrable strength that underpins the very fabric of our Trust and our schools.

This key role offers a unique opportunity for an experienced SEND professional, potentially a SENDCO with experience leading SEND provision across a group of schools or a trust, to make a profound and lasting impact as the Trust Strategic Lead for Inclusive Practice and Vulnerable Pupils. The position requires flexibility and a willingness to work across any of the 42 schools within the Trust, under the direction of the Chief Executive of the Outwood Institute of Education.

Your dedication and vision will ensure that our schools are places where every child, particularly the most vulnerable, feels valued, supported, and empowered to thrive, every single day. Through placing students first, you will raise standards and transform lives. 

 

To view the Job Description and Person Specification, please click here

 

For an informal discussion, please contact Julie Slater, Chief Executive of the Outwood Institute of Education at J.Slater@outwood.com.

 

Closing date: 19 May 2025 at Midday

Interview date: 23 May 2025

 

Outwood Grange Academies Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All appointments are subject to an enhanced DBS check.

 
 

What will we do for you? 

• A competitive salary with pay progression 
• A fantastic pension and additional benefits  
• Flexible family friendly policies from day one 
• Wellbeing strategy and Employee Assistance Programme 
• Our Workload Charter with guaranteed CPD every week and  much more (for teaching roles)

Further information on employee benefits can be found here.

To find out more about working for Outwood and to read a message from our CEO please click here.

We reserve the right to close advertisements early. Advertisements will therefore close at 12 noon, either on the advertised closing date, or the day the decision has been taken to close the advertisement early.  

Outwood Grange Academies Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All appointments are made in accordance with safer recruitment practices and the statutory guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education. Online checks will be carried out on all shortlisted candidates, and all appointments are subject to an enhanced DBS check, satisfactory references and checks regarding suitability to work with children.