The Council promotes and enables a collaborative, self improving approach, with strong partnerships between individual schools, encouraging cluster working, and drawing on the resources of the local authority itself.
The key educational priorities for the role are:
Overall improvement has continued at a steady rate in recent years, and we are totally focused on continuing this trajectory. This role will lead on driving better attainment and outcomes, working at a system level to create improvement capacity within schools.
The relationship with the EAS is a very positive one, and the systems by which their resources are introduced and used to support effective self-improvement are well-established.
This role is also responsible for the client functions for Culture & Leisure, which was placed into an arms length trust (Aneurin Leisure Trust) in 2014, and has recently agreed a new five year contract to operate a range of facilities in the Borough. It is responsible for
Many of Blaenau Gwent’s leisure facilities share sites with secondary schools, and there is a clear and vital link with active, healthy schools and libraries, for example.
We are not expecting that all candidates will have previous leisure management experience, and there is already a very strong management and leadership team (including trustees) in place; rather, the expectation is that the Corporate Director for Education will embrace the synergy between the organisations, and work productively to achieve a clear set of shared priorities. They will sit on a new Strategic Partnership Board, which will oversee the maintenance and future growth of the leisure and culture sector in the area.
Our profile at a regional and national level is good, and we want to maintain our reputation as a high-performing organisation which makes steady, well-evidenced progress. Candidates will need to show that they understand and can fulfil this element of the leadership role, continuing to keep us involved at a strategic, influential level both regionally and nationally.