Director of People

Role: Director of People

Location: Trust office with travel to school sites as required

Salary: Grade I (SCP 34 - 38) £43,693 - £47,754 FTE salary per annum

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours of work: Full time, 37 hours per week, all year round

An exciting, and rare opportunity has arisen to join our highly experienced senior team as our Director of People. 

At AtC all of our work is underpinned by the values of Achieve, Belong and Collaborate. 

As our Director of People, you will 

• Optimise the Trust's People Strategy to support Achievement: ensuring all employees have the knowledge, skills and character to shape future success for themselves and their world.
• Implement Belonging: supporting our schools and people through common purpose and shared values
• Work in Collaboration: Sharing good practice, delivering each of our People First strategies
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As Director of People, you will work alongside an experienced team with the support of our Chief Operations Officer. 

This is a new pivotal role designed to support our people plans and strategy, acting as a true business partner and the main point of contact for Human Resource queries across a group of schools and academies for our people and its HR functions.

The successful candidate will: 

• Lead key projects that support strategic objectives and our People Strategy, ensuring our people are at the forefront and our leaders are equipped to manage their teams effectively. 
• Support the Central HR / People Team in the operational delivery of the People Strategies, focusing on transformational change management, best practices, and high performance in attracting, developing, engaging, and retaining talent within our schools and academies. 
• Provide high-quality support to ensure all staff understand their roles, are developed and supported to reach their full potential, and contribute to improved outcomes for our children. 
• Lead on all People related casework processes and in the development of Trust wide People/HR Policies. 

Essential 

• Knowledge of schools/education sector 
• CIPD Level 5 qualification  or equivalent 
• Knowledge of people/workforce planning and development processes that align internal resources with strategies to meet current and future needs 
• Experience of operationally delivering strategies related to engagement, retention and strong case management

Desirable 

• Experience of policy making mechanisms at trust, local and national levels particularly as they relate to education delivery 
• Experience of people strategies within Education and working within a unionised environment 

At AtC we offer all of our employees

• Payment in line with NJC and access to the Local Government Pension Scheme
• 26 days holiday (rising to 31 after 5 years), plus Bank holidays, plus concession days as appropriate
• Opportunity to be part of a great team who work together with children at the heart of everything we do
• Access to Simply Health (an everyday healthcare benefit programme)
• Access to continuous professional development opportunities at all levels
• A bright, collaborative working environment with onsite parking, close to all major transport links

Further information regarding AtC can be found at our website: https://www.atctrust.org.uk/

If you wish to arrange an informal discussion regarding this position, please email cholden@atctrust.org.uk

Start Date: To be confirmed

Closing Date: 9 am Monday 10th February 2025

Provisional Interview Date: Thursday 13th February 2025

About the Trust

Achievement through Collaboration is a Trust with a purpose! We want our children, our staff and our schools to Achieve, Belong and Collaborate.  

To achieve our purpose, we know there are things we need to get right!

Through a clear definition and articulation of the values and beliefs of Achievement through Collaboration, we’ve built an organisation with children at the heart of everything we do. Our schools have the individuality to make the right choices for their pupils, staff and communities within a culture of collaboration.  

Our Trust Board owns the strategic plan, holding the executive team to account to deliver it whilst delegating the correct things to the Local Governing Bodies. LGBs are supported to build their role around the children, parents and staff of their individual school whilst expressing the “we” of the Trust. 

Key to maintaining our successful educational standards is a clear trust wide school improvement strategy/plan that meets the needs of every school wherever they are on their journey. Our Trust Wide strategy for capturing the most effective practice and transmitting it between more classrooms is in place and underpinned by a workforce talent management strategy that facilitates staff development and deployment.  

A strong central team connects the academies enabling leaders and teachers to concentrate on educational delivery. Achievement through Collaboration is financially stable which enables the strategic allocation of resources that enables standards to be maintained and improvements to be achieved.

We believe that all children, staff and schools benefit from belonging to a family of schools within a strong collaborative multi-academy trust. We are an outward organisation, we embrace innovation and opportunities that benefit our pupils. AtC has invested in staff to build capacity to collaborate with other schools and we are now actively looking to grow further.

If you share our values and are committed to ensuring that our children at Witton children have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills and character to shape future success for themselves and their world, we look forward to hearing from you.

Jane Chambers 

Chief Executive Officer

Safeguarding Information

AtC Trust and its Schools are committed to safeguarding children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service which will require you to disclose all unspent/unfiltered criminal convictions.

Achievement Through Collaboration Trust is also committed to promoting equality, challenging discrimination, and developing community cohesion. We welcome applications from all sections of the community.



We understand how important choosing the right school is and so, on behalf of our children and staff, we warmly invite you to visit our school and experience for yourself the quality of education we offer.