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Principal of Dorton College of Further Education Royal Society for Blind Children
The education arm of the Royal Society for Blind Children, Dorton College of Further Education, seeks an experienced, values-led and operationally-focused leader to support its future success.
* Location: Orpington, Bromley, Greater London
Using our Orpington site as the focal point for our delivery, we offer day provision for vision impaired 16-25-year-olds, many of whom have additional needs, whilst partnering with a range of mainstream providers to give blind and vision impaired (VI) young people the opportunity to achieve their ambitions.
This is an exciting time for the charity and especially for our education team, who continue to support our students to achieve fantastic outcomes. Developments within our team, caused by both our success and our future ambitions, mean we now seek an experienced, values-led and operationally-focused leader to join us as our new Principal.
About the role
Our college has been led since 2017 by Josie Grainger-Francova, who has served as both the Education Director for RSBC as well as the Principal of Dorton College.
Due to our ambitions for the years ahead, we are adjusting our leadership structure, which will see Josie continue as our Education Director – overseeing the growth and expansion of the charity’s educational provision – whilst appointing a new Principal who will hold the operational responsibility for our Orpington VI Hub and partnership delivery across Dorton College.
Our new Principal will be the designated leader of Dorton College, responsible for all key organisational functions. You will be involved in the development of our curriculum, ensuring that each student has a learning journey that is bespoke to them and meets their needs and ambitions.
You will oversee our finances (current annual turnover c.£1.4m), ensuring that we receive the relevant funding whilst investigating new ways through which we could generate further funding. You will safeguard our resources, ensuring that we are using these efficiently to deliver high-quality education in a safe environment using the best materials and technology available.
Alongside this, it will be your responsibility to ensure that the appropriate contracts and service level agreements are in place with our partners’ colleges, that the quality of their provision remains high and that they are supported by your team wherever needed, in line with our agreements.
You will lead efforts to sustain the strong relationships we have with our partners’ colleges whilst overseeing activities that continue to build our reputation across London and the South East. We plan to increase our recruitment numbers in the years ahead, and your leadership in this will be pivotal.
You will collaborate with Josie to identify new ways to build our reputation across the education sector, create more partnerships and expand our provision. You will also engage with our Board of Governors whilst immersing yourself in the wider work of RSBC wherever possible.
Who we are looking for
Our new Principal will have experience as a senior leader within a SEND – and preferably a VI setting. This could be through leadership within a specialist post-16 education setting similar to ours — or perhaps through being a senior manager in a mainstream setting where you have overseen the delivery of provision to support young people with a range of additional needs.
Regardless of your current setting, you will need to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of specialist provision, the challenges faced by our sector, and the opportunities that we may be able to grasp.
You will have experience of, and be happy working in, an ever-changing professional environment. Our ambitions for growth will mean there will be a need to work flexibly at pace to ensure we can maximise opportunities when they arise.
With our staff team being split across different sites – some in Orpington and others working remotely – you will need to ensure that our staff feel valued and cared for. You will do this by being a values-led, empathetic leader who can share our vision with your team and motivate them to join us on our journey in the year ahead.
You will also bring credibility as a sector expert and use this to develop relationships with our partners, ensuring that they continue to work with determination to provide our young people with every opportunity they need to reach their full potential.
Perhaps most importantly, you will be an advocate for our students and their families. You will recognise the challenges and barriers they face and work with passion and dedication to support them in overcoming these so that they may lead the most happy and independent life possible.
Peridot Partners and the Royal Society for Blind Children are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and our client expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references before any final offer can be made.
For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
If you would like to know more about this role please contact Dan Baxter
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