The Opportunity
Salary: SMG 4 up to £90,000 per annum
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: 37 hours per week, full time
Location: County Hall, Chichester
You will need to travel across the county to locations that are not always accessible by public transport.
Closing date: 17 March 2025
Interview date: 28 March 2025
Are you a strong leader who can inspire others, whilst improving the outcomes for children, young people, and their families?
Are you a forward thinker, committed to delivering innovative solutions?
Do you thrive through partnership and collaborative working?
WSCC are seeking a strategic leader to become Head of Service for Standards and Effectiveness.
As Head of Service, you will drive the modernisation of a number of key strands of the Standards and Effectiveness strategy, including continuity in high quality provision from early years to schools and into Post 16, raising standards and quality, and in delivering an improvement support model.
You will lead and manage teams in the Standards and Effectiveness Service, whilst working in collaboration with the wider local authority agenda, particularly alongside Communities and Place, Children's Social Care, and in partnership with Districts and Boroughs.
You will drive operational service improvements alongside meeting statutory obligations to schools and early years settings.
Key responsibilities of the role include:
* Providing strategic leadership to a diverse team ensuring the team delivers operational excellence to all providers within the context of the Education and Skills Strategy 2022-25 and national policy developments.
* Take the professional lead in working with colleagues to raise the quality and standards of overall educational provision in West Sussex including individual provider performance, and learner outcomes across all phases of learning and skills.
* Ensure that leaders, governors and owners of Early Years settings are held to account for their performance and that the local authority exercises its statutory powers of intervention wisely and successfully.
* Developing and implementing our strategy for improving provision and outcomes for all learners as part of the Education and Skills Strategy 2025-30 and driving system-wide behaviour change in the development of an inclusive culture for learning across all settings in accordance with our SEND & Inclusion Strategy.
* Provide the strategic leadership for the modernisation of our approach to effecting change and improvement, including targeted use of resources according to need in our schools and early years settings.
* Managing client relationships with schools, early years providers and FE Colleges, Ofsted, The RSC and our Multi Academy Trust partners.
* Working with the Districts and Boroughs to secure equality of education and learning opportunities for all children and young people across West Sussex.
* Developing the range of expertise amongst the internal Standards & Effectiveness team and, through commissioned expertise from our partners, ensure that West Sussex has access to, and utilises effectively the breadth of expertise required to support schools into the future.
About You
We are looking for a passionate and strategic leader that will build strong and trusting relationships with all our educational settings, and who will champion the rights of children, young people, and their families.
You will develop credibility, integrity, and courage to make difficult decisions and be accountable for the decisions you make.
Key Skills
* Excellent communication skills, both orally and in writing.
* Ability to influence, negotiate and establish credibility with Members and all relevant external stakeholders.
* Proven ability to manage significant budgets and available resources to deliver effective support.
* Ability to recruit, manage and motivate teams.
* Strong ability to understand and anticipate customer needs and respond accordingly.
* Ability to challenge existing practices and identify innovative solutions within the required framework.
Qualifications
* Degree and/or post graduate professional qualification.
* Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
Experience
* Up to date professional knowledge of the key areas of commercial operations, contracting, and transformational programmes.
* Experience of shaping solutions and managing provision in either the early years sector, schools, and Post 16.
* Comprehensive understanding of relevant public sector compliance frameworks.
* Driving licence to enable easy access to a range of sites across West Sussex.
For more information on the Key Skills, Qualifications and/or Experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached. Please refer to the key skills in your cover letter.
About Us
West Sussex County Council is a diverse organisation that provides services to more than 850,000 residents every day.
The Education and Skills Directorate sits within the broader Department of Children, Young People and Learning, and plays a crucial role in delivering the West Sussex Plan to provide our young people with the Best Start in Life.
The SEND & Inclusion Service brings together a range of specialist resources to support the drive for an inclusive educational culture across West Sussex education providers. It includes teams who deliver statutory services such as the creation and support for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), managing Fair Access, and the provision of an Educational Psychology Service.
Benefits
As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance, and are rewarded for the work they do.
For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.
Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including the following:
Further Information
The reference number for this role is CAFHE05637
For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Natalie Greene, Resourcing Specialist, at
To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter.
In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, five years referencing, and an occupational health check.
Equity, inclusion, and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.
Available documents
* Head of Service Standards_Effectiveness Job Description.pdf