Head of Primary Education - Chulmleigh Academy Trust

Devon County Council; Devon and Torbay; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

An educational institution in Devon is seeking a Head of Primary Education to lead three primary schools towards achieving high standards of teaching and student outcomes. The role requires an outstanding practitioner with headteacher experience who can develop strategic visions and foster partnerships within and outside the Trust. The ideal candidate will inspire excellence and be committed to promoting a safe and engaging learning environment while upholding the organization's values.

Qualifications

• Experience as a headteacher or head of a primary school.
• Demonstrable impact on school leadership.
• Ability to inspire and engage learners.

Responsibilities

• Create the strategic vision for the Academy Trust.
• Set high expectations and challenging targets for behaviour.
• Ensure quality of teaching and learning across the schools.
• Build partnerships with the Diocese of Exeter and external primary schools.

Skills

Outstanding teacher

Leadership at a senior level

Excellent relationships with parents

Partnerships with primary schools

Job description

Required from April 2026 or September 2026.

Chulmleigh Academy Trust is seeking to appoint a Head of Primary Education to build on the strong performance of the Trust Primary Schools and further their ambitions.

This is an exciting role within our Trust holding responsibility for the direction, standards, outcomes and quality of teaching across the three primary schools of Chulmleigh Academy Trust. Ideally, we would like the successful candidate to join the team from the spring term 2026. However, we are committed to appointing the very best candidate and will consider a September start date to achieve the right candidate.

We are seeking to appoint an outstanding practitioner able to lead by example. The successful candidate will have the potential to provide inspirational and strong leadership to enable the Trust to provide every pupil high quality education which promotes the highest possible standards of achievement and flourishing. We would welcome applications from candidates who have experience as a headteacher or head of a primary school.

Main responsibilities include :

• Working with the CEO / Headteacher, Senior Leadership Team and Directors to create the strategic vision for the Academy Trust and promote the vision, values and ethos to pupils, staff, directors, parents and wider community.
• Developing a clear way of doing things amongst and between the primary schools.
• Setting high expectations and challenging targets for behaviour in the primary schools.
• Being responsible for the direction, standards, outcomes and quality of teaching and learning across the three primary schools in the Trust.
• Ensuring the primary schools hold ambitious expectations for all pupils with additional and special educational needs and disabilities.

The successful candidate will :

• Be an outstanding teacher.
• Have experience of leadership at a senior level and can demonstrate their clear impact on the school.
• Establish excellent relationships with parents.
• Establish excellent partnerships with colleagues in the primary schools in the Trust in order to share expertise and sustain a relentless focus on excellent provision for children.
• Develop relationships with primary schools outside the Trust.

The successful candidate will share the values of the three primary schools of our Academy :

• Inspire - to provide rich experiences to inspire and engage our learners.
• Engage - to make learning contextual to our rural schools and relevant to our children’s experiences.
• Succeed - to provide a safe environment to allow our children to take risks, make mistakes and develop resilience.

The successful candidate will be expected to build on the emerging positive partnership with the Diocese of Exeter, Education Team and develop the role of the Trust lead in the Exeter Flourishing Partnership Programme.

As employers, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment and, in that regard, we have appropriate policies and procedures. All staff undertake a criminal record check via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and interviews will include questions about safeguarding children.

In line with Government guidance, we may carry out online searches against shortlisted applicants’ names as part of our due diligence checks.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity and access for all, irrespective of age, background, race, gender, religion, ability, disability or sexuality. We welcome applications for employment from the whole community.

The candidate pack and application form are available on our .

Your completed application form should be returned by email to .

We look forward to receiving your application. All applications will be acknowledged.