Diocese of Canterbury

To all potential applicants

I very much hope that you will apply for a senior leadership position within our diocesan family of church schools.  From my own experience, I know that leadership is an absorbing and rewarding vocation that requires vision, determination and the courage to make complex decisions.  In Church of England schools and academies, there is also a deep commitment to undertake further responsibilities related to values and distinctiveness; fostering a Christian ethos that permeates school life, enriching relationships and providing spiritual nourishment for the whole community. 

Our team seeks to serve children, schools and young people across the diocese and is based in Canterbury at Diocesan House.  We provide advice and expertise to church schools on many issues, ranging from collective worship to religious education, from school organisation to buildings, from governance to leadership and succession planning.  We run training sessions for senior leaders, governors, RE co-ordinators and other staff.  We also organise 24 hour retreats for headteachers; these are structured around reflection and teaching in the context of Christian leadership and provide time for re-engaging, relaxing and being refreshed.

Were you to be appointed we would provide a bespoke induction programme and make every effort to provide information, guidance and support; all of this is designed to better equip you to meet on-going challenges and opportunities.

Canterbury Diocesan Board of Education works closely with Kent County Council, both formally and informally.  Our team engages with the Directorate of Education and Young People’s Services and attends a number of Kent wide committees covering RE, governorship, admissions and finance.  We do all in our power practically and politically to support the 103 church schools in the Diocese and to work co-operatively with the neighbouring Diocese of Rochester, as well as the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, in ensuring that church schools remain at the forefront of educational good practice, underpinned by a distinctive Christian ethos.

I am also delighted to introduce Emmaus Leadership, our church schools’ leadership recruitment partner who are available to provide you, in complete confidence, with the candidate advice and support you may require. In addition, Emmaus provides the diocese with the technology platform to list all of our current SLT vacancies as well as managing our online application process.

We will be meeting all the short-listed candidates as we advise the governing body throughout the selection process, and look forward to welcoming the successful candidate to the family of Church of England schools within our diocese.

With all good wishes,

Mr Quentin L. Roper
Director of Education

 

 

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More Information

address-icon Location

Diocesan House
Lady Wootton's Green
Canterbury
CT1 1NQ

Tel: 01227 459401
web-address-iconwww.diocant.org

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"I have personal experience of the quality of service Emmaus provides, when I successfully applied for a Headship position through them. I always felt I could call up, get the ‘inside take’ on the school and ask any questions in complete confidence. The support and expert advice I received made the application process far less daunting and I would thoroughly recommend Emmaus to any Church School looking to appoint a key Leadership position."

Dan Pickard, Headteacher, The Bishop’s CE Primary School - Thetford

"I have no hesitation in commending Emmaus to any school which is seeking to appoint a Christian Head. My only regret is that we did not go to them for the first round of interviews that proved unsuccessful. It is an expensive option, but in the long run they are more than value for money. I am very thankful to God for the ministry of Emmaus, and I warmly commend them to you. In OFSTED terms, they are outstanding."

The Rt Rev Keith Sinclair - Anglican Bishop of Birkenhead

"I have no hesitation in commending Emmaus to any school that is seeking to appoint a Christian Headteacher. In particular, Emmaus’ ability to promote the school, assess the ethos of the school and communicate this within the networks of those who might be considered as possible candidates was invaluable."

Clive Purser, Chair of Governors, St Andrew's CE High School for Boys, Worthing

"We had been cold called by a few other companies but chose Emmaus as it specialised in Church schools. We were impressed by Liam and his team coming to the school and burrowing in to what the school wanted and needed. He asked searching questions and we were satisfied this was the way forward. I had not been a fan of head hunters before, but I have to say this process and its result was a hugely better experience than going out on our own and was totally professional throughout."

Bridget Prentice, Chair of Governors - Trinity School, Lewisham

"Emmaus were instrumental in persuading me to apply for the post of Headteacher. I had seen the school advertising in the past but nothing inspired me to get in touch. Once Emmaus advertised I felt intrigued and keen to learn more about the school. I was supported throughout the whole process, which was a very personal and positive experience. I would highly recommend Emmaus to any school thinking of recruiting, and candidates considering registering. If my new school had not used Emmaus I probably wouldn’t have applied."

Hannah Walters, Headteacher, Platt CE Primary School - Kent

"Thank you for everything you did to successfully support our recruitment of an outstanding Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher. Using Emmaus Leadership to manage the recruitment to the post was much debated and was the subject of intense scrutiny by our Governing Body who were somewhat reluctant to use a leadership recruitment specialist. However, their confidence was reinstated as a result of your professional approach, your insightful knowledge and the resulting candidate pool produced for both appointments. I have no hesitation in recommending Emmaus to other schools."

Annie Sutton - Executive Principal, St Joseph's RC Specialist School and College

"I cannot imagine a better service to fulfil the requirement of helping a Catholic school find a Head. I was impressed with the number and high quality of candidates sourced by Emmaus Leadership."

Marjorie Bannister, Chair - St Michael's Catholic College, London

"I’m delighted with the way it went and the successful outcome (third SLT placement now!) helps confirm to Governors that your approach is right for these levels of appointment. It’s difficult to quantify the costs of recruiting and failing to get the right candidate ourselves - we’d only find out the true cost and also lost opportunities if we tried and failed. Altogether better to invest in getting it right first time, so thank you for all your hard work on this. The other side is the perception we leave with all candidates and I think we’ve worked together to do an excellent job (using your Assessment support). The communication, logistics and the care given I think is really important and Emmaus are a big part of that - you work as an extension of the school. I am fairly sure that all of the candidates will go away having had a great experience and that will help our reputation spread in a positive way."

Dave Cobb - School Business & Development Manager, Saint Cecilia's CE School, London

"Could we afford it? My belief, as Chair was that we couldn’t afford not to. We needed strong school leaders to be drawn to apply. Our success was down to using Emmaus and definitely money well spent."

Carry Lynott - Chair of Governors, Our Lady and St Brendan's Catholic Primary School, Bradford

"Having previously struggled to recruit two Headteachers - for both a Primary and a Secondary school - Emmaus came to the rescue. Their expert advice and deep understanding of recruiting Headship positions in Catholic schools is invaluable, and I have no hesitation in recommending their knowhow and their values."

Fr David Gibbons, Chair of Governors & Parish Priest, Archdiocese of Southwark