School Effectiveness Partner
Permanent, Full Time
£62,725 to £73,793 per annum
Location: Essex
Working Style: Community-based worker
The Opportunity
Essex County Council has embarked upon a programme of change for provision and services with the ambition to profoundly improve the outcomes and life experience of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Our vision is for a SEND system which identifies and assesses need at an earlier stage and which provides appropriate and impactful support without such high dependence on Essex County Council’s statutory services. We have a responsibility to deliver effective services and support in the most cost effective and impactful way.
The School Effectiveness Partner will empower school leaders to deepen accountable partnerships, delivering on their collective expertise and combined resources to enable all pupils to achieve their potential and ambitions. Monitoring, challenging and supporting school leaders in delivering high quality provision for all pupils within schools and partnerships, ensuring the Council meets its statutory responsibilities for school standards.
Ideally having worked as a Headteacher with significant expertise in developing quality improvement frameworks to enhance education standards and drive the achievement of a good or outstanding Ofsted rating.
Our Education Service covers the whole of the Essex County, and your base location for this role will be discussed during the interview process.
To read more about our business area, please visit: Education
Organisational Accountabilities
- Operational planning and performance review to maintain exceptional service delivery and ensure the political objectives and priorities of the council are met
- Working collaboratively within and across functions and thinking commercially to support the delivery of best possible outcomes for our customers on a financially sustainable basis
- Maintaining and nurturing collaborative relationships with other teams in the function and external organisations that support the delivery of annual plans
- Implementing changes and continually evaluating the service to improve the area of work, while maintaining continual delivery of the highest possible levels of service quality.
- Managing complex issues and resources to meet the needs of customers and deliver the best possible outcomes
- Effective utilisation of digital technologies and innovation across the function
- Celebrating Equality and Diversity and ensuring it is considered as part of all decisions taken
- Using professional expertise to translate goals and plans into ways of working that comply with relevant legislation and statutory requirements and manages a level of appropriate risk
- Delivering exemplar customer interactions to individuals and communities which support strong relationships and a reputation for achieving outcomes and resolving issues
Service/Functional Accountabilities
- Acts as the principle link between the local authority and agreed partnerships/schools contributing to school improvement across a quadrant of Essex.
- Responsible for supporting the maturity of school partnerships as part of the School Led Improvement Strategy, to share expertise, enhance learning outcomes and broker support.
- Work collaboratively with Early Years settings, schools, Teaching School Alliances and other educational providers, to identify areas for improvement, solutions and provide support for pupils across the 0-18 age range.
- Contribute to a robust system of monitoring school performance, to measure the effectiveness of schools to manage attendance and reduce exclusions, offering advice and guidance and developing supportive plans.
- Act as the representative of the Director of Education at Headteacher appointments in LA maintained schools and all Academy Headteacher appointments, as requested. Support, where requested and represent the Director of Education at Ofsted feedback.
- Responsible for challenging schools to have safeguarding procedures that ensure all pupils are safe and fully informed by the most recent statutory requirements.
- Responsible for providing intensive targeted school improvement support to enable Essex schools identified as underperforming, to make rapid improvement to good status.
- Promote and deliver traded services with schools, consider and recommend further commercial opportunities to achieve set income generation targets.
- Responsible for ensuring the most effective schools and Teaching School Alliances are leading improvement across all Essex schools, through the development and sharing of innovative approaches to improving the quality of teaching and learning.
- Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
The Experience You Will Bring
- Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and experience at school senior leadership level, preferably as a Headteacher or senior leadership experience within the LA.
- Continuing professional development and expert knowledge of legislative framework in relevant professional area.
- Excellent leadership and behavioural skills, with the ability to focus on results, forging a strong team from diverse backgrounds to achieve strategic objectives.
- Excellent communication skills with an ability to influence both strategically and corporately.
- Proven track record of using professional expertise to deliver strategic objectives and expected outcomes.
- Experience, knowledge and understanding of school practice and management of provision for pupils with the full range of education needs.
- Effective experience of partnership and inter agency working, including academy sponsors and Free Schools.
- Experience of effective analysis and management of data to support service evaluation and planning.
For all recruitment enquiries, including general questions, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk
If you have any questions about the role or the daily responsibilities of a School Effectiveness Partner, please contact Caroline Gibson, Head of Education and Early Years – Mid, at caroline.gibson@essex.gov.uk
Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.
Interviews
Interviews are due to take place week commencing 13th April 2026 at County Hall, Chelmsford with a view to start September 2026.
Why Essex?
As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone’s Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.
In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR) on our careers site.
Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.
Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.
At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.
As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service
Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
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