Start date: 1 September 2025
Cherry Oak School
60, Frederick Road
Selly Oak
Birmingham
B29 6PB
Telephone number: 0121 464 2037
Contact email: recruitment@cherryoak.bham.sch.uk
Contract type: Permanent
Federation of Cherry Oak School, Victoria School and Victoria College
Assistant Headteacher (Behaviour, Assessment & Student Outcomes)
Based at Cherry Oak School, 60 Frederick Road, Birmingham B29 6PB.
The Federation comprises two special schools and one 19-25 specialist College in South Birmingham. The schools are LA maintained, whilst the College is an Independent Specialist Provider, with its own Board of Trustees. We are rightly proud of our Federation and this is an exciting opportunity to support the leadership of a vibrant, highly committed and caring school community, where children are at the very heart of all that we do.
About Cherry Oak School
Cherry Oak is recognised by Ofsted as a “good” primary special school for children aged 3-11 years and is based in Selly Oak. Our pupils have speech, language and communication difficulties and/or cognition and learning difficulties. Approximately half of our pupils are diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum. All have Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), and are referred to the school via Birmingham City Council’s Special Education Needs assessment and review service, known as SENAR. We cater for 111 pupils.
About Victoria School
Victoria School is an all age 2-19 special school based in Northfield; supporting pupils with cognition and learning needs, profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), physical disabilities and complex medical health and learning needs. It caters for 228 pupils and was recognised by Ofsted as having “good” and “outstanding” provision in its most recent inspection.
About Victoria College
Victoria College is based on the same site as Victoria School in Northfield. It supports young people with PMLD and complex medical and health needs. The college opened in 2013 and has 27 learners on roll. It was deemed to be rated as “good” overall in its latest Ofsted inspection.
The Federation’s vision is to ‘inspire and empower students through collaborative working and to promote their holistic development.” Our values statement is “We R.I.S.E Together – Respect, Inspire, Support, Empower”.
The board of governors is seeking to appoint an inspirational assistant headteacher to join our committed staff team at Cherry Oak School, who will work in collaboration with the executive headteacher, head of school and wider senior leadership team.
Our recent Ofsted inspection (March 2024) found that:
* pupils enjoy their learning and are happy at school
* from the very start in the early years, the school takes time to support children, families and carers with this important transition
* the school has created a carefully planned curriculum across all subject areas. The knowledge and skills that leaders want pupils to learn are planned to build in a logical order over time
Our students have told us the following:
* I think our school is amazing, because I can learn things and become successful in my future
* I think it's good that we have a school for children with Autism, so we have somewhere to go and do things like Sensory Integration and play that can help us
The successful candidate will:
* promote outstanding classroom practice for students with severe cognition and learning difficulties and speech, language and communication difficulties
* communicate the shared vision, ethos and strategic plan for Cherry Oak School that inspires and motivates all stakeholders
* play a leading role in school improvement and self-evaluation
* promote a culture of inclusion within the school where all views are valued and taken into account
* be an excellent role model, exemplifying a high standard of teaching and learning and promoting high expectations for all students and staff
* support the process for monitoring and evaluation of teaching and learning throughout the school
* build a collaborative learning culture within the Federation and beyond to establish effective learning communities and partnerships
* undertake up to a 0.4 (2 day) teaching commitment, as relevant to the role and directed by the head of school
Cherry Oak School and the Federation offers:
* an opportunity to work with our fantastic pupils and staff team
* a happy and caring community that always puts our pupils first
* a highly motivated staff team who are committed to getting the very best outcomes for our pupils
* excellent opportunities to further develop your leadership skills and career pathway
* a commitment to continuing professional development
* a strong and supportive governing body
* a culture of promoting positive mental health and wellbeing through a well-planned strategy
You are actively encouraged to visit the school for a tour and to contact us to discuss the role prior to submitting your application. Please contact Emma Eaton (head of school) to arrange an informal visit to the school on 07872 831 376 or email e.eaton@cherryoak.bham.sch.uk.
How to apply
If you wish to discover more details about this exciting opportunity, please request an information pack and application form by emailing recruitment@cherryoak.bham.sch.uk or download from the Cherry Oak School website.
Interviews: Wednesday 21 May 2025
This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to all necessary pre-employment checks, including: an enhanced DBS; Prohibition check; Childcare Disqualification (where applicable); qualifications (where applicable); medical fitness; identity and right to work. All applicants will be required to provide two suitable references.
Rehabilitation of offenders: This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020. Further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide.
An online search will also be carried out as part of due diligence on all short-listed candidates.
#J-18808-Ljbffr