Staffordshire County Council is seeking an exceptional and experienced specialist teacher to lead our large, diverse and highly regarded Specialist Teaching Support Service (STSS). This is a rare opportunity to shape inclusive practice at scale and make a tangible difference for children and young people across Staffordshire.
The Specialist Teaching Support Service is a centrally based children and young peoples' service serving Staffordshire. Our expert teams work alongside settings, families and partners to strengthen inclusion and improve outcomes for children and young people. As Head of STSS, you will provide strategic leadership to the 3 specialist teams:
* Deaf / Hearing Inclusion Team
* Vision Inclusion Team
* Autism Inclusion Team
With the Education White Paper and SEND reforms gathering pace, particularly the proposed Experts at Hand' strategy, this is a once-in-a-generation chance for a Head of Specialist Teaching to build on the outstanding foundations created by the previous post holder and lead Staffordshire STSS into the next era of SEND and inclusion.
Main Responsibilities
You will:
* provide strategic leadership within the Specialist Teaching Teams, including HI, VI, autism and MSI.
* supervise and mentor the deputy heads (Lead Specialist Teachers) of HI, VI and AIT; plan and account for the expenditure of the Service budget in accordance with County Council financial regulations.
* identify, plan and implement service priorities through the Service Development Plan including strategic management of referrals, staff deployment, training, business planning and use of resources.
* oversee measures to ensure quality assurance such as data collection, consultations and evaluations in order to report outcomes to NatSIP, SCC, stakeholders and partners.
* oversee the professional development/performance management/MPC/appraisal system for all staff.
* work collaboratively and maintain effective systems of communication with partners, agencies and parents in order to provide a seamless pathway for CYP.
* support the Head of SEND in the strategic oversight of the service.
* be responsible for Health and Safety issues within the Specialist Teaching Teams and undertake team risk assessments, where appropriate.
* be the lead officer in Child Protection/Safeguarding issues.
* contribute to national data collection and research initiatives for pupil outcomes, benchmarking etc. and Freedom of Information requests.
* represent the county at meetings of local and national boards.
* be responsible for the development and delivery of commissioning and traded aspects of the service delivery.
Ideal Candidate
You will:
* have a strong commitment to leadership, inclusion, and improving outcomes for children and young people.
* hold QTS and substantial additional SEND qualifications (for example, the mandatory qualification as a Teacher of the Deaf and/or Teacher of the Vision Impaired, or autism).
* have significant management and leadership experience within an educational or Local Authority setting.
We are aiming to appoint for September 2026.
Interviews will be held in person in Stafford on Tuesday 19 May 2026.
This post is being recruited on Teachers' Terms and Conditions.
Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and communities.
This position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and filtered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application.
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