Lead Teacher at the Key

Coventry City Council; Greater London; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Part time

Job summary

Coventry City Council's Keys Service is recruiting a Teacher in Charge to lead provision for pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. The role focuses on strategic leadership, nurturing environments, and collaboration with families and partners to reintegrate pupils into mainstream school.

The post requires resilience, empathy, and a consistent approach to pupil management, with leadership experience in a primary setting being desirable.

Qualifications

• Experience of supporting children with a range of social, emotional and mental health needs in a primary school or a primary service setting.
• Leadership experience within a primary school setting is desirable.
• The ability to foster strong relationships with colleagues, pupils, parents, carers and schools is essential.
• All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are not offering sponsorship for this role.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop provision for pupils with SEMH needs as part of the Keys Service, ensuring learners receive effective support to overcome barriers to learning and reintegrate into their mainstream school.
• The Teacher in Charge will provide strategic leadership, create a nurturing environment, direct intervention, staff training, and collaborate with families and external agencies under the Intervention Manager.

Job description

The Keys and educational settings throughout the city, Coventry

Contract Type: Term Time Only

Salary Range: TMS/UPS + TLR and additional allowances (e.g. SEN/TLR) for relevant experience

In line with our One Coventry Values, we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our residents so that equity and respect remains at the heart of everything we do.

Our Values are:

• Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
• Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
• Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
• Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
• Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
• Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.

The Keys Service provides a mainstream intervention for primary-aged pupils who are struggling to meet the behavioural expectations of their school. Pupils are identified as requiring support with their social, emotional and mental health and require individualised intervention to enable successful reintegration back to their mainstream school.

The Keys provide short-term, intensive support in small group classes with all staff working very closely with the mainstream school, families, services and pupils to enable successful reintegration.

We offer a broad and balanced creative curriculum which is adapted to ensure that the children experience successful outcomes; heavily based around nurture, safety and individualised learning to identify and support barriers to learning and help to close gaps.

We work towards children successfully returning to their mainstream school following a personalised re-integration programme planned by Key and school staff, parents and pupils.

You will work as part of a service within the social, emotional, mental health and learning team (SEMH & Learning), part of Coventry's highly respected SEND Support Service.

We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create an inclusive workplace culture that is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias.

What is the job role?

To lead and develop provision for pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs as part of the Keys Service, ensuring that all learners receive effective support to overcome barriers to learning, identify individual needs, improve emotional wellbeing, achieve positive outcomes, and reintegrate and access their mainstream school effectively. Working closely with schools, families and partner agencies, you will play a key role in supporting pupils, providing expert guidance and modelling effective strategies that promote positive outcomes.

The Teacher in Charge will provide strategic leadership, create and promote a nurturing environment, direct intervention, staff training, and collaborative working with families and external agencies under the guidance of the Intervention Manager.

This is a rewarding opportunity for an innovative practitioner who is dedicated to raising aspirations, removing barriers to learning and ensuring every child has the opportunity to succeed.

All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role.

Who are we looking for?

We are seeking an excellent, dedicated and creative practitioner. You will be resilient and empathetic, have a consistent approach to pupil management as well as the insight to nurture the potential in pupils experiencing significant difficulties. You will have experience of supporting children with a range of social, emotional and mental health needs in a primary school or a primary service setting. Leadership experience within a primary school setting is desirable. The ability to foster strong relationships with colleagues, pupils, parents, carers and schools is essential.

We offer:

• A supportive network of colleagues.
• An opportunity to make a difference to children and families.
• The chance to have a key role in creatively shaping provision within an established and well-respected setting.

Discussions and visits to the site are warmly welcomed and encouraged.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

We recognise that you might use AI tools to help with your application. While these tools can be useful, please make sure that all information you provide about your experience, skills, and qualifications is accurate. What matters most to us is hearing about your experience and the achievements that truly reflect you!

Interview date

Stage 1: Classroom observation on 12 October 2026.

Candidates who are successful at this stage will be invited to attend Stage 2: Panel Interview on 14 October 2026.

About Coventry

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - The Keys and educational settings throughout the city

Salary Range TMS/UPS + TLR and additional allowances (e.g. SEN/TLR) for relevant experience

Job Category Special Educational Needs

Location The Keys and educational settings throughout the city