SUCCESSFULLY APPOINTED: Headteacher - St Mary's Catholic College

SUCCESSFULLY APPOINTED: Headteacher - St Mary's Catholic College - Merseyside

£Competitive + Relocation support - Catholic - Head/Principal
Ref: 108 Date Posted: Wednesday 04 Feb 2026

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A RECENT VACANCY EMMAUS HAVE APPOINTED TO.

Salary: £Competitive to attract the right applicant + Relocation support
Location: Wallasey, Wirral
Contract Type: Full Time
Contract Term: Permanent
Start Date: Negotiable

‘We believe that a child’s start in life need not determine their future.’

St Mary’s Catholic College is an 11-18 non-selective Catholic voluntary academy located in Wallasey on the breath-taking Wirral, a short distance from Liverpool city centre. 

St Mary’s is part of Holy Family Catholic Multi Academy Trust, comprising five schools. The Trust, along with Saint John Plessington Catholic College lead the "Inspire Learning Teaching School Hub” across Wirral and Liverpool. 

Although there is much to celebrate at St Mary’s, the school has faced a number of challenges culminating in a third RI judgement in October 2019.

And yet, there is a genuine conviction that with the right leadership St Mary’s can quickly be set on the right path, with the active support of a loyal and passionate school, MAT and flourishing parish community to draw upon. 

We are interested in having preliminary, confidential conversations with Catholic school leaders who have the gift for leadership and believe profoundly in the transformative role of Catholic education to improve the lives of others and how to make that a reality.

For an existing Headteacher this could be the next big challenge you seek …or equally the role may appeal to an experienced Deputy Head and still yet untapped potential. Either way, you will be ably supported by a capable SLT and MAT team.

A requirement of the post is that applicants must be practising Catholics.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a school and MAT which believes in the power of education and knows that outcomes mean much more than data - and with a mission to develop individual excellence, embrace opportunities and build strong communities with Gospel Values at the heart.

For an initial informal chat (in complete confidence) please call Liam Dowds, our Emmaus Advising Consultant, on 01737 652 043 or email him at ldowds@emmausleadership.me in the first instance.

Our school is an equal opportunities employer and committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. DBS check required.

 

"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

"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 would thoroughly recommend Emmaus for any diocese or MAT seeking to appoint at a senior level in Catholic Education. Should we need help in the future...I would be confident in using Emmaus again."

Bishop Alan Williams sm - Diocese of Brentwood

"I approached Emmaus following our unsuccessful attempts to recruit Deputy DDEs for both Dioceses. They went on to source a far greater number of candidates of high calibre. I highly recommend Emmaus!"

Canon Carolyn Lewis, Director of Education - Diocese of Leicester and Diocese of Derby

"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

"We tried going it alone to find a CEO for our MAT but had only 2 applicants who didn't meet our requirements. We approached Emmaus and from the start their professionalism was reassuring."

Barry Leyland, Chair - Blessed Edward Bamber Catholic Multi Academy Trust

"Emmaus brings a level of professionalism, seen in other industry sectors, to church schools’ recruitment."

The Rt Rev Nick Baines - Anglican Bishop of Leeds

"…we also considered other external recruiters, but Emmaus were clear favourites in terms of their recruitment expertise and in-depth knowledge and appreciation of the catholic school’s sector."

Peter Giorgio, Director of Education, Nottingham Diocese

"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

"We are delighted with the appointment we made and I have reported to the whole community that we could not have been more thorough in the search or more rigorous in the selection process. Thank you Emmaus Leadership."

Jacqui Feely, Chair at All Hallows Catholic College, Macclesfield

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