Headteacher

Location: Bolton

Contract: Permanent, full-time.

Start: September 2024

Starting Salary: up to £114,240 (Range is L31-L37, from £98,616 to £114,240) depending upon the applicant’s skills and experience.

Relocation: A relocation allowance, which is usually tax free under Inland Revenue regulations, may be available where the employee’s new home is reasonably close to the workplace and their former home is not. 

Pension: Teachers’ Pension Scheme

We are excited to announce an opportunity for an exceptional leader with the right blend of skills, talents, experience, and values to become the next Headteacher of Sharples School in Bolton.

About the school:

Sharples School is a large (1200 student), successful, and vibrant, Ofsted Grade 2 ‘Good’, 11-16 mixed, multi-cultural secondary school. We are a community-based school, serving local families. We provide a high academic standard of education in a nurturing, and inclusive environment where evidence-based practice, skill, hard work and dedication lead to exceptional student achievements - in 2023, our Progress 8 score was +0.82. Our academy is committed to inclusivity and aims to provide barrier-free education for all.

In November 2023, Sharples School became the Gold Winner of the Pearson Teaching Award for ‘Secondary School of the Year - Making a Difference.’ The award recognises the strength of our provision and the commitment of our learning community.

Our most recent Ofsted report described Sharples as ‘a good school where attainment is high, and many students make outstanding progress’ and as a school with ‘outstanding teaching at both key stages.’

About the opportunity:

This is an exciting opportunity to build on the success of a large, developing, and well-regarded community school with excellent facilities and dedicated staff. We are proud to be the only Specialist Science College in Bolton and to have facilities including a swimming pool and Health Hub. The vast majority of Sharples’ pupils go on to further education at 16 and large numbers enter higher education at 18. The school has a Pupil Admission Number of 240, with a 10-form entry, attracting pupils across the full ability range, and has, at present, 1210 pupils on roll, drawn from the local area – Astley Bridge, Halliwell, Hall I’th’ Wood, Castle Hill, Tonge Moor and The Valley.

We have a diverse school community; 61.8% are from ethnic minority backgrounds; 30.3% of our students attract pupil premium funding, 22% of our pupils are eligible for free school meals and 3% have Educational Health Care Plans. Nonetheless, we successfully teach a curriculum that offers both breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding. Students study the full National Curriculum at Key Stage 3 (Year 7, 8 and 9) and we aim to enrich our students with powerful, foundational knowledge that builds into their subjects at Years 10 and 11. At Key Stage 4 our curriculum embraces a strong academic core and high value vocational courses leading to those positive post-16 pathways.

The challenge for our new Headteacher will be to preserve the excellent curriculum, community integration and fantastic staff team, whilst seeking out those continuous improvements that will lead us to outstanding.

The role should have great appeal to:

• An existing headteacher who is looking for a new challenge but wants to lead a school making an enormous contribution to its local area, and where the school is on the cusp of outstanding. The new Headteacher will have the ideas, strategies, and experience to make that final push.
• A Head of School who has developed their leadership skills under the guidance of an Executive Head, and now feels able to apply their ability to full Headship of a 'Good', and high-performing Academy.
• A Deputy Headteacher who has taken time to reflect on what makes and maintains real quality in the context of an 11-16 school, and what constitutes a great curriculum for young people in modern Britain. You understand how really effective pastoral care contributes to outcomes, and you are never satisfied with any outcomes that are second-best.
• Someone with a collegiate and team-focused leadership style, who is able to get the best out of others, who delegates when appropriate, leads without fear or favour, supports others always, but looks everywhere for systems, procedures, processes, and methods that can be improved.
• Someone who understands the transformative effect of good education on a community and wants to be a pivotal part in ensuring its delivery in our town.

Anyone interested in the role is more than welcome to contact our advisers ASDTi on 07736 775776 to arrange a visit to the school or talk about the opportunity.

Further details and a full application pack are available from our advisers ASDTi by visiting and downloading from our website via the button below or calling 07736 775776.

ASDTi are available on our behalf during evenings and weekends as well, and would be pleased to discuss your requirements.

Closing date for applications: 29th March 2024 at 10am. 

Interviews will be held on 22nd and 23rd April 2024.

Sharples School has a strong commitment to Equal Opportunities, Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Successful candidates will be subject to enhanced checks by the Disclosure & Barring Service.