Alternative Provision Practice Lead

Hull City Council; Hull and East Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

LGPS pension

Paid holidays

Training opportunities

Supportive culture

Job summary

Hull City Council seeks an ambitious Alternative Provision Lead to provide leadership across a network of AP providers. You will oversee commissioning, quality assurance and performance management to deliver outcomes for vulnerable children and families.

You will manage a small team of Education Officers and work with schools, SEND services and partners to strengthen inclusion, reduce exclusions and improve reintegration into mainstream education where possible.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading change and driving improvement.
• Experience in commissioning, quality assurance and performance management.
• Ability to oversee multi‑agency collaboration with schools, SEND and partners.
• Experience supervising staff and building effective teams.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of Alternative Provision contracts and ensure compliance.
• Lead audits of alternative provision and report on findings.
• Drive reintegration pathways from AP to mainstream education.
• Coordinate with schools, families and providers to secure positive outcomes.
• Support SEND reforms and strategic leadership of citywide initiatives.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Performance management

Contract management

Partnership working

Job description

This is a Full Time, Permanent position.

We are seeking an ambitious, experienced and passionate leader. As Alternative Provision Lead, you will provide leadership, oversight and challenge across a diverse network of Alternative Provision providers. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring the Local Authority meets its statutory responsibilities and delivers provision in line with Department for Education guidance, ensuring some of the city's most vulnerable children achieve the best possible outcomes.

You will lead on the commissioning, quality assurance and performance management of Alternative Provision services, ensuring agreed Key Performance Indicators are achieved and that provision delivers measurable impact for children and young people.

Managing a team of two Quality of Education Officers, you will oversee the monitoring of individual pupil journeys and ensure children, young people and families receive consistent support throughout their placement. Working collaboratively with schools, Alternative Provision settings, SEND services and wider partners, you will champion a coordinated, child-centred approach.

A key priority of the role will be strengthening inclusion across the education system. Working closely with primary and secondary outreach services, you will develop a joined-up approach to early intervention and support, working alongside school leaders to build capacity, reduce exclusions and enable more children and young people to remain successfully in mainstream education wherever possible.

You will have proven experience of leading change, driving improvement through performance management and building effective partnerships that deliver better outcomes for children and families.

This is a unique opportunity to influence strategy, shape services and make a lasting difference to the lives of children and young people across the city.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all employees to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check and all relevant pre-employment checks.

If the postholder requires a Standard or Enhanced DBS disclosure the candidate is required to declare full details of everything on their criminal record unless the conviction/s and/or caution/s are considered protected in line with filtering rules for DBS checks.

ROLE AND PURPOSE

Reporting to the Head of Access and Inclusion, the post holder will provide leadership, challenge and support to both registered and non-school settings to ensure that statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014, SEND Code of Practice and Equality Act 2010 are consistently understood and applied, enabling needs to be met at the earliest opportunity. Ensure compliance with exclusion legislation and Section 19 duties and sufficiency of places to ensure the Local Authority can meet 6th day provision

To lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of alternative provision standards and inclusive practice across alternative provision settings, ensuring that children and young people receive timely, effective support through high-quality ordinarily available provision and the graduated response.

To manage and monitor Alternative Provision (AP) contracts on behalf of the Local Authority, ensuring providers deliver high-quality educational outcomes, meet contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), safeguard children and young people, and support successful reintegration into mainstream education wherever appropriate.

The postholder will drive performance improvement, provide robust contract oversight, and work collaboratively with schools, families, providers, and multi-agency partners to secure positive outcomes for vulnerable children.

Working collaboratively with schools, academies, post-16 settings and wider partners, the post holder will champion inclusion and support the implementation of national SEND reforms in Hull. In partnership with Statutory SEND services, the post holder will provide strategic leadership of the city’s Experts at Hand offer.

The post-holder will ensure that parents, carers and young people are meaningfully engaged in shaping services, preparing quarterly reports for stakeholders, including the Department for Education, the SEND Strategic Board and the Learning Partnership.

The post holder will work directly with Headteachers, Trust Leaders, SENCOs and governing bodies to improve standards within alternative provisions. Through effective partnership working, performance monitoring and quality assurance activity, the post holder will promote a culture of inclusion, early intervention and accountability for outcomes across the education system.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Manage a portfolio of Alternative Provision contracts, ensuring compliance with contractual agreements, statutory requirements, and local authority expectations.

Working with the Head of Access and Inclusion, support the successful delivery of the SEND Reform Plan which is jointly owned across the SEND partnership.

Lead and coordinate audits of alternative provision to ensure the interventions applied support re-integration. Identify strengths, areas for development and emerging trends across the city.

Build and maintain strong relationships with schools and partners to identify and remove barriers to successful reintegration from alternative provision to mainstream.

Promote coproduction so that children, young people and their families remain central to the design and delivery of alternative provision and support strategies.

Lead the AP network partnership ensuring effective cross border arrangements are in place. Embedding practice standards and a shared vision for alternative provisions through the city’s network of providers ensuring children benefit from the right service at the right time through a holistic approach to meeting their needs.

Manage the Quality of Education Officers and develop their practice in supporting successful transitions between Alternative provisions and/or post 16 settings.

Oversee and monitor reintegration pathways for children and young people placed in Alternative Provision. Ensure every child has a clear reintegration plan with measurable targets and review milestones.

Challenge delays or barriers that impact timely reintegration into mainstream education or appropriate long-term placements.

Ensure alterative provision providers deliver value for money through effective contract management ensuring placement numbers and delivery is aligned to contract specifications

Act as the education representative on panels associated with the placement and allocation of children in alternative provisions and non-schools.

Liaison with the council’s finance and legal services to ensure contract compliance.

GRADES 10.

Pay Ranges:

Job Classifications:

3- Not Politically Restricted - Designated As Not Politically Sensitive (Politically Restricted Posts), 5- Enhanced Childrens Barring List - (Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)), Casual - (Travel Allowance Policy), No - (Statutory Post)

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:

• - An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• - Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
• - Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
• - Supportive and forward-thinking culture

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

We adopt a 'name blind' approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.

We are committed to "our values" at the Council of People First, Respect, Learning, Ambition and Partnership. If these align with you then we welcome your application.