What skills and experience we're looking for
Are you an organised and approachable individual?
Then this will be the job for you.
This post provides a unique opportunity to work within a high-performing and growing 11 to 18 grammar school with a large sixth-form and exceptional students.
We are delighted to have been named “Secondary School Of The Year”, “Soaring 57 places in the UK rankings to 77” out of approximately 6000 secondary schools (state and independent) in the latest Sunday Times Parent Power Guide.
About Us:
At Heckmondwike Grammar School, our motivation is for our students to enjoy their school days and to become thoughtful, articulate, confident and responsible members of society. In order to achieve this, we rely on our staff to work closely with students, parents and teachers to provide a supportive community, keeping the well-being of our students at the forefront of everything we do.
The Role:
The Pastoral Leader is a pivotal role, working closely with the Assistant Headteacher for Post-16 to ensure the seamless operation of our Sixth Form. This dynamic position combines all aspects of pastoral leadership, with responsibility for Post 16 Attendance, Behaviour and Wellbeing. The main focus of the role is to remove barriers to learning and achievement, to ensure that all students achieve their full potential. The successful candidate will require highly effective relationships with students, staff and parents, high levels of organisation and time management, alongside emotional intelligence, and empathy for student welfare and achievement.
In addition, the role extends to supporting our recruitment and progression process, including shortlisting and interviewing prospective students, supporting with university applications, and attending results days to ensure successful recruitment and progression.
With a commitment to confidentiality, discretion, and a passion for supporting student success, the Pastoral Leader is an essential member of our Sixth Form team.
Responsibilities
Specific responsibilities are set out in a detailed job description.
What will you bring to the role?
• A highly organised, decisive, emotionally intelligent and enthusiastic professional who can work calmly,efficiently and effectively as part of a team and who works well under pressure and on their own initiative;
• Someone who has understanding of and empathy for the individual needs of students.
• A dynamic, motivated individual, with a ‘can-do’ attitude who is able to enthuse, inspire, support and challenge students and staff.
• A clear and effective communicator, with excellent listening skills, who is able to converse with students, staff and other professionals with precision, professionalism and confidence.
Protection of children:
Disclosure of criminal background of those with access to children.
All posts involving direct contact with children are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. However, amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013 & 2020) provide that certain convictions and cautions are ‘protected’. These are not subject to disclosure to employers and cannot be taken into account. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found on
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide details of unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered prior to the date of the interview. You may be asked for further information about your criminal history during the recruitment process. If your application is successful, this self-disclosure information will be checked against information from the Disclosure and Barring Service before your appointment is confirmed.
Safeguarding Statement:
Heckmondwike Grammar School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its students and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
What the school offers its staff
Heckmondwike Grammar School is a unique school, with students who are eager to learn, keen to know more and want to enjoy their educational experiences. It is exceptional in many ways: a very diverse school community that produces results of the highest quality. We work effectively with the young people, really care about them and their futures and have an ultimate success measure of enabling them to proceed to where they want to go.
Excellent relationships between staff and students are the norm, expectations are high and students perform very well as a consequence.
We also offer a competitive salary and membership to a Local Government pension scheme.
If you are interested in this position then please visit the vacancies section of our website
Completed applications should be sent by email to: recruitment@heckgrammar.co.uk.
Further information about the school is available on the school website
Commitment to safeguarding
Safeguarding Statement: Heckmondwike Grammar School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its students and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. Full details regarding our Safeguarding Procedures can be found on our website in the Safeguarding section, alternatively, please contact Recruitment to obtain a copy.