Deputy Headteacher - Pastoral

Woodstock House; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Woodstock House is seeking a Deputy Head Teacher - Pastoral who understands that behaviour is communication and relationships matter. You will lead the pastoral provision across the school, ensuring that our approach to behaviour, wellbeing, safeguarding and personal development is rooted in our SEND ethos.

You will work with the Headteacher and leadership team to develop and monitor pastoral strategy, support emotional regulation and build strong home–school links, guiding staff to deliver

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the school's pastoral strategy and provision.
• Promote a culture where pupils feel safe, respected and known as individuals.
• Lead on behaviour, ensuring high expectations while understanding underlying needs.
• Develop relational and restorative approaches to behaviour and regulation.
• Oversee attendance, behaviour, wellbeing and pastoral monitoring systems.
• Collaborate with the DSL and safeguarding team to protect pupils.

Job description

Our pupils are wonderfully individual. Some arrive at school ready to conquer the world; others may arrive having already used up most of their emotional energy before they've even found their classroom. Understanding the difference - and knowing what to do about it - is at the heart of what we do. We are looking for a pastoral leader who understands that behaviour is communication, relationships matter and knowing the child really matters. The role As Deputy Head Teacher - Pastoral, you will play a key role in creating a school where pupils feel safe, understood, valued and ready to learn. Working closely with the Headteacher and wider leadership team, you will lead the pastoral provision across the school, ensuring that our approach to behaviour, wellbeing, safeguarding and personal development is consistent, thoughtful and firmly rooted in our SEND ethos. You will help us to:

• Lead and develop the school's pastoral strategy and provision.
• Promote a culture where pupils feel safe, respected and known as individuals.
• Lead on behaviour, ensuring that expectations are high while recognising the underlying needs and individual circumstances of our pupils.
• Develop consistent, relational and restorative approaches to behaviour and regulation.
• Oversee systems for monitoring attendance, behaviour, wellbeing and pastoral concerns.
• Work closely with the DSL and safeguarding team to ensure pupils are protected and concerns are identified and acted upon appropriately.
• Support pupils with emotional regulation, resilience, friendships and social development.
• Work closely with families, helping to build positive and trusting relationships between home and school.
• Lead and support pastoral staff, tutors and other colleagues involved in pupil wellbeing.
• Work collaboratively with SEND, therapeutic and academic colleagues to ensure pupils receive joined-up support.
• Contribute to personal development, PSHE, careers and wider enrichment opportunities.
• Support pupils as they move through the school and prepare for their next steps beyond Year 13.
• Use pastoral information and data intelligently to identify patterns, respond to concerns and evaluate the effectiveness of our provision.
• Contribute to whole-school improvement and strategic leadership.
  You are an experienced teacher and pastoral leader who:
• Has a genuine passion for working with pupils with SEND and additional needs.
• Understands that excellent pastoral leadership starts with relationships.
• Can balance warmth with boundaries and compassion with high expectations.
• Is confident leading behaviour and pastoral systems in a complex school environment.
• Can remain calm when everyone else is having a slightly less calm day.
• Has strong safeguarding knowledge and understands the importance of professional curiosity.
• Is confident working with parents and carers, including when conversations are challenging.
• Enjoys developing staff and building confident, consistent pastoral practice.
• Can spot a pattern before it becomes a problem.
• Is organised, resilient and able to juggle the strategic with the very practical.
• Believes that pupils don't need adults to have all the answers - but they do need adults who will keep trying to find them.
• Has the judgement, humour and emotional intelligence needed to lead in a specialist SEND environment.
  Make a tangible difference to the lives of pupils who may have found school challenging elsewhere.
• Work with an experienced and supportive leadership team.
• Shape and develop the school's pastoral vision and practice.
• Work alongside teachers, SEND professionals and therapeutic colleagues as part of a genuinely collaborative team.
• Develop innovative approaches to behaviour, wellbeing and personal development.
• Build a culture in which pupils are understood rather than simply managed.
• Be part of a school where success might sometimes be an outstanding GCSE result - and sometimes be a pupil managing to walk through the door on a difficult morning.

And finally… We are looking for someone who is calm when things are complicated, curious when things don't make sense and relentlessly optimistic about young people. Someone who understands that sometimes the most important conversation of the day happens in a corridor, that a well-timed cup of tea can be surprisingly powerful, and that a pupil saying "I'm fine" doesn't necessarily mean they are. If you believe that good pastoral leadership changes lives, we'd love to hear from you. Come and help us create a school where every pupil feels that they belong.