Head of System Partnership Engagement and Improvement

Contract: Permanent

Salary: Grade M. Scale 52 - £70,517 to Scale 55 - £77,604

Hours Per Week: 36

Base Location: Hyde Town Hall, Market Street, Hyde, SK14 1AL

Assessment Date: 20^th May 2026

The Role

Are you passionate about making a real difference in the lives of children and families? Do you bring compassion, curiosity, collaboration, conversation, and courage to your practice? If so, Tameside is looking for you.

This is a new and exciting leadership opportunity to help shape the future of education in Tameside.

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced education leader to join a newly formed, strategically focused Education team. This role has been created to strengthen partnership working, raise standards and improve outcomes for all children and young people across the borough. This role offers a rare opportunity to influence a whole education system at a pivotal moment, working at senior level with schools, academies, colleges and GM and other national partners.

You will play a central role in driving school improvement, championing inclusion, and ensuring the Council meets its statutory responsibilities in a fast changing education landscape. With a strong emphasis on collaboration rather than control, you will help build trusted relationships across the system, providing both support and challenge to secure sustained improvement.

You will have genuine scope to shape strategy, develop new ways of working, and leave a lasting mark on the service and the life chances of Children and Young People in Tameside. Working closely with the Assistant Director Education and Inclusion, you will influence policy and practice, and help create a coherent, ambitious vision for education from early years through to post 16.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives on complexity, values partnership, and is motivated by making a meaningful difference to the lives of children, young people and their families.

About You

You are a strategic and experienced education leader with a strong commitment to improving outcomes for children and young people aged 519. You bring a deep understanding of the local authority role in education, including statutory responsibilities relating to inclusion, SEND and safeguarding, and you are confident working at system level to drive improvement.

You have a proven ability to lead school improvement, using data, professional challenge and collaboration to raise standards and promote inclusive practice. You are skilled at building trusted relationships with schools, academies, colleges, alternative providers and national partners, and you thrive in partnership based environments where influence and credibility matter.

You are a confident leader of people and resources, able to provide clear direction, develop high performing teams and deploy resources effectively to reduce inequality and improve outcomes. Above all, you are motivated by making a meaningful difference, bringing strategic insight, sound judgement and a strong values based approach to your work.

About Us

Message from Jill Colbert, Director of Children’s Services

“I joined the council at the beginning of 2025 and was instantly charmed by the warmth, openness, and energy of colleagues.

“I came to Tameside for one reason; because I know we can do fantastic things for our families here.

“We’re a children’s service on a significant improvement journey. We know what needs to be different for our children and families and we’re ambitious to deliver that change.

“We have a growing range of specialist services for children, where you can test and grow your skills and practice. We have a Social Work Academy that is led by people who bring passion to learning and who know that the DCS’ of the future are right in front of them. We are working on our progression pathways so that staying in Tameside is rewarded and recognised. We have investment in innovation and improvement from the council so that we can grow services and support for families that we can sustain, from family hubs through to complex safeguarding.

“I am so certain that we can build a proud, inclusive and safe climate for great practice to flourish in Tameside. I’d love you to join me on the journey here at Team Tameside.”

Our Heart of Support Practice Approach

At Tameside, we believe in:

• Compassion understanding the lived experiences of children and families.
• Curiosity asking questions that lead to deeper insight and better outcomes for children.
• Collaboration working together across services to deliver joined-up support.
• Conversation listening and engaging meaningfully with children, families and professionals.
• Courage leading with courage, making bold and compassionate decisions that put children first.

At Tameside, we are committed to ensuring all our Citizens lead long, fulfilling and healthy lives. We are committed to supporting economic growth, providing high quality health and care services, protecting our most vulnerable and creating strong and supportive, self-sufficient communities.

We recognise that our people drive our success and enable the organisation to deliver on its vision, purpose and priorities, and that our people are our most important resource and asset. Our values underpin our practice and behaviours, and are at the heart of everything that we do; and we understand that how we do things is just as important as what we do. We pride ourselves on living by our STRIVE values of Support, Trust, Respect, Integrity, Value Diversity and Engage. Our values underpin our practice and behaviours and are at the heart of everything that we do. How we do things are just as important as what we do.

Our employees’ skills, experience and knowledge are essential to our success along with their happiness, wellbeing, commitment, enthusiasm and motivation to be the best they can be.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. This position is subject to Enhanced with Barred List Disclosure Procedures.

This post is a designated customer facing role under the fluency duty and requires a specified level of spoken English.

Unfortunately, at this time we are not able to offer sponsorship.

We are committed to developing a culture which respects individuals, appreciates difference and allows everyone regardless of background to reach their full potential. We are proud to be an accredited disability confident employer. Reasonable Adjustments will be considered in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the Job Role Criteria.

Our rewards and benefits package can be viewed here

For further information about this role please contact Sian Protano, Executive Support Officer on 07894 446 459 or sian.protano@tameside.gov.uk