Corporate Director for Children & Education Services

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Job Description

Lead Transformational Change as Corporate Director for Children & Education Services

Job: Corporate Director for Children & Education Services
Grade: Chief Officer
Salary: £142,950 to £166,434

Location: Loxley House, Nottingham ️

Thank you for your interest in joining Nottingham City Council. We have already launched an exciting period of transformation across the Council, aligned to our recent Improvement Plan. We are committed to overcoming the challenges of recent years whilst setting an ambitious, forward-thinking course for the city's future. With a clear vision and a strong resolve, we are determined to create lasting, positive change, ensuring Nottingham thrives and continues to serve its residents with excellence.

Children and Education Services in Nottingham City Council provide a wide range of services to families, from integrated mental health services, a growing range of educational attendance and engagement in learning projects, and all the core statutory services. It's a directorate with big ambition, clear commitment, and a track record of doing good things for families. The service has not been defined by the Council's financial challenges and is getting ready for reform in children's services by launching a comprehensive and expansive early help offer, building on the best of its existing model. Improvement work continues with the fulsome support of partners who are fully engaged in the vision for children and families.

It's no surprise then that colleagues within the directorate want to welcome a Corporate Director who recognises their quiet strengths, who sees where there is more to do and who can lead them firmly forward and beyond the next full Ofsted re-inspection. We're looking for an experienced and effective leader of change with a track record of delivering high-performing services.

Role Overview:

As the Corporate Director for Children & Education Services, you will be at the helm of driving the strategic direction and transformative change across all services for children and young people. Your leadership will place the outcomes of our children at the heart of everything we do. You will be responsible for leading innovation, driving service improvements, and ensuring that all children - particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds - can flourish in a modern, high-performing service.

This role demands a visible and accountable leader who will work collaboratively with colleagues, stakeholders, and the Corporate Leadership Team to instil a culture of continuous improvement, inclusivity, and high standards. You will manage large-scale transformation projects, balance efficiency challenges, and ensure the effective financial management of services. Above all, you will be the driving force in championing the Council's vision, ensuring our children's services meet the highest standards and deliver the best outcomes for the people of Nottingham.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and inspire Children's and Education Services, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective services that make a meaningful impact.
• Spearhead the transformation of services by introducing innovative strategies focused on early intervention, education excellence, and cohesive service delivery.
• Serve as the Statutory Director of Children's Services, ensuring full compliance with relevant legislation and delivering on statutory requirements to safeguard children.
• Build and maintain robust partnerships with the council, schools, universities, community organisations, and statutory bodies, ensuring effective collaboration across all sectors.
• Oversee resources with an emphasis on financial sustainability, driving cost savings while ensuring a high level of governance and accountability.
• Lead key corporate projects and initiatives, using data-driven insights to steer service improvement and deliver sustainable, positive change for Nottingham's citizens.

Strategic Leadership Expectations:

• Inspire and motivate your teams by articulating a clear vision and strategic direction, fostering a sense of purpose and commitment.
• Cultivate a culture of innovation, agility, and high performance, adapting to emerging challenges and changing needs.
• Lead collaboration across departments and external partners to ensure that we deliver impactful outcomes for the people of Nottingham.
• Champion equality, diversity, and inclusion, ensuring that our services are reflective of and meet the diverse needs of the city's population.
• Provide visible, empowering leadership across all levels of the organisation, supporting and developing teams to reach their full potential.

About You:

• Professional Experience: Extensive experience in a senior leadership role within children's services, including a proven track record in transforming and improving services. This includes experience in statutory roles such as the Statutory Director of Children's Services (DCS).
• Knowledge of Legislation: The post holder needs to have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the Children Act 2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children, and other relevant statutory and regulatory frameworks governing children's services.
• Leadership Expertise: The role requires someone with a high level of leadership capability, particularly in managing change, transformation, and service improvement in a public sector environment.
• Key Professional Responsibilities: The role expects the post holder to act as the Statutory Director of Children's Services (DCS), which would typically require formal qualifications or professional accreditation in social work or a related field (e.g., social work degree, management qualification, or similar).

Closing date: 24th January 2025
To apply: Send Expression of Interest and CV to Lucy Wesson, Senior HR Business Partner - Recruitment at lucy.wesson@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

You can find the job description for this post here

At Nottingham City Council we believe that work is what you do, not where you do it. We offer different working arrangements, depending on the role, including hybrid working. Further information on Worker Types and what these mean in terms of how and where you work can be found on the additional information for applicants page.

For informal enquiries please contact Lucy Wesson at lucy.wesson@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Please note there may be occasions where we close the advert before the closing date and we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Interviews will be held: To Be Confirmed

If you have any technical issues when completing your application, please contact our Employee Service Centre: https://emss.freshdesk.com/support/home

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About Us

Thank you for your interest in working for Nottingham City Council. As one of the largest employers in Nottingham we offer a wide range of roles across a range of services. In return for your skill, drive and commitment to serving the people of Nottingham, we can help you to develop an exciting and rewarding career, with access to the following benefits.

In addition to working within a great team and a competitive salary you will have access to:

• 26 days annual leave (rising to 33 days after 5 years' service) + bank holidays with the ability to buy additional leave annually
• Access to a generous, defined benefit pension scheme offering 17.9%
• Smart Working - to support your work life balance
• Health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Discounted membership at selected local sports and fitness centres, cinema, shopping and much more!

Nottingham City Council is committed to recruiting a talented workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We are a fair and inclusive employer and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and with different abilities. We recruit for diversity and value difference.

We particularly want to hear from you if you are from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic community, identify within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community (LGBT) and if you are Disabled - these groups of people are underrepresented in our workforce, and we'd like to reflect our local population more through our recruitment processes.

We are supportive of flexible working arrangements wherever possible and we would encourage you to discuss this with us during the selection process, should this be something you are interested in.