Do you want to lead the development of the vocational curriculum within the UK’s first secure school setting?

We are offering an exciting opportunity for a Head of Vocational Pathways to join the leadership team in leading and running the UK’s first secure school. Oasis Restore represents a revolution in youth justice: an opportunity for children within the criminal justice system to experience a truly restorative environment, that creates the potential for them to thrive in the future. The Head of Vocational Pathways will lead the design of a vocational curriculum offer that embeds hope, stability, and opportunity for children in our care. Come and develop your career within an organisation dedicated to transforming lives.

The role and what we are looking for

Your role as the Head of Vocational Pathways will be integral to the progress of all children at Oasis Restore, to deliver highly aspirational educational outcomes. You will be responsible for the design of a vocational curriculum offer that is developed to meet the needs of our children, provides the opportunity to explore their passions and prepares them for successful transitions out of Oasis Restore. You will be responsible for leading the curriculum across Art, Music, ICT, Construction, Design and Technology, Media and Performance, Hair and Beauty, Hospitality and Catering and Sport. You will coordinate the internal and external verification and ensure the highest quality, and fit for purpose delivery of these subjects.

Supported by a team of professionals, you will play a key role in coordinating the work of your team and specialist health to assess and devise strategies to successfully engage children in their own learning journeys. You will lead a team to deliver tailored support to all students, across the home and school, to prepare them for successful transitions into the next phase of their journey.

You will be a champion of restorative practice, placing relational connection at the heart of everything you do.

Our Secure School

Oasis Restore is the UK’s first secure school that is a proof-of-concept policy initiative funded by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Youth Custody Service. Oasis Restore’s mission is to transform the life chances of children aged 12-18 years in the criminal justice system through delivering psychologically informed, integrated practice that centres on trusted, safe relationships between staff and children. Oasis Restore is a learning community that embeds hope, stability, and opportunity for children beyond the secure school. To read more about us please visit our website www.oasisrestore.org.

Benefits to Staff

As a newly established subsidiary of the Oasis Charitable Trust, you enjoy the benefit of being part of a national organisation that aims to support all staff to reach their full potential and a once in a lifetime opportunity to create, develop and grow a new collaborative and innovative values-based organisation.

• Class sizes of approximately 5 children, with 2 additional support staff
• A minimum of 15% planning, preparation, and assessment time (PPA)
• Reduced teacher workload, exams and at home marking expectation
• A mixture of one to one and group reflective practise, coaching & supervision sessions as well as regular line management.
• Experience an Appraisal policy that decouples pay and performance.
• An elected staff forum to listen to, and act on, staff feedback
• Access to a competitive defined benefit pension scheme (either the Teachers Pensions Scheme or Local Government Pension Scheme subject to individual scheme rules).
• 40 days annual leave including bank holidays (see application pack for staff working pattern)
• Subject to meeting basic eligibility criteria, be entitled to up to 8 weeks full-pay and 18 weeks half-pay paid maternity/adoption/shared parental leave (based broadly on the NHS Employers scheme).
• Subject to meeting basic eligibility criteria be entitled to up to 3 weeks fully paid paternity leave.
• Paid time off to attend antenatal appointments (those staff who are either pregnant or whose partner is pregnant)
• Have a structured and bespoke induction training plan as well as a training offer bespoke to our context leading to a level 4 qualification in the therapeutic care of adolescents.
• Receive the same offer of sick leave pay (based broadly on the length of service in the national ‘Green Book’ framework) from Day 1 of employment.
• Up to 5 days discretionary paid compassionate/emergency/general leave plus further discretionary unpaid leave
• Up to 4 weeks paid parental bereavement leave plus up to 5 days paid bereavement leave for the death of other specified close relatives.
• Expenses and travel costs incurred as part of the working day (as appropriate, not including travel to work)
• Access to an eye care vouchers scheme, season Ticket Loans, a cycle to work scheme and free car parking.
• We are in the process of setting up a new employee health care cash plan and employee discount scheme

Location: Until the building work on the school is complete, the post holder will benefit from hybrid working between home and the Oasis London offices with some visits to the secure school location – Thereafter, the role will be located at the Oasis Restore secure school in Rochester, Medway, Kent.

For more information or an informal discussion about this leadership role please email recruitment@oasisrestore.org to arrange a confidential phone call.

Closing Date: 8am on Monday 24th April 2023

Interview Dates: Tuesday 2nd May, Wednesday 3rd May or Thursday 4th May 2023

If you have not been invited to attend by 4pm Tuesday 25th April, you should assume that your application has not been successful. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide feedback on your application at this stage.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

At Oasis Restore we recognise that our team is strengthened by the knowledge, experience and insights people from a wide range of backgrounds can bring. These beliefs and values are underpinned by decades of work and experience that Oasis has had in a wide range of sectors including education, housing and youth-work supported further by a wide range of independent research and studies elsewhere which evidence that creating teams with diverse experience and perspectives, and encouraging healthy debate, reduces the risk of ‘blind spots’ that often form barriers to success.

Oasis Restore aim is to attract and retain the very best diverse talent and role models to help create an innovative, caring and extraordinary working environment for our staff, that enables us to deliver exceptional, caring and psychologically informed learning experience for our students. We would therefore like to encourage applications from people with varied skillsets, life experiences, and from different backgrounds and sectors to help shape Oasis Restore. If you can demonstrate some of the criteria and believe you have what it takes, then we’d love to hear from you.