School Planning Manager

Job Title: School Planning Manager
Starting Salary: £61,443 progressing to £68,775 per annum (pro rata for part time)
Hours: 37
Location: Hybrid working with base location at Farnham House Stevenage with regular travel across Hertfordshire to schools
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services

About the team

Do you want to make that difference?

Education plays a vital role in the development of all children and young people, and we know it is something that residents feel passionately about. Our team has a key role, making sure that the needs of Hertfordshire’s children can be met within their local community. Our mission is to ensure that we have the right number of high-quality mainstream and specialist school places to offer children the opportunities to learn as closely as possible to where they live.

About the role

As a School Planning Manager in a small, well established, busy team you will line manage Senior School Planning Officers and work with a diverse range of stakeholders to secure good quality school places and play a key role in shaping Hertfordshire’s communities in the future. Our goal is to ensure access to quality education for all.

Varied, challenging and rewarding. You will need to build relationships with key partners, both internally and externally including schools and district/borough councils. You will lead on a variety of complex projects, which are often high profile and politically sensitive.

Different every day – this role requires a both a strategic thinker and someone with a proven track record of delivering change with a focus on improving outcomes for children and young people. A school planning manager will need to balance the delivery of immediate priorities such as meeting the need for more SEND places and the challenges presented by falling pupil numbers in mainstream schools, with longer term strategic goals, such as planning the education provision needed to serve future housing development over the coming decades. Strong analytical, communication and negotiating skills are critical in managing these varied priorities. This makes the role both challenging and rewarding

You will lead multidisciplinary workstreams and make sound recommendations to senior leaders and elected members to achieve outcomes and implement strategies.

You will work cross functionally with the existing team who cover geographical areas of the county to ensure our statutory obligations are met through both the team and others to commission places in an ever changing and complex world.

Working to the county council’s RISE values, you will work as part of a collaborative and supportive team to add your own stamp and shape future education provision in Hertfordshire to the benefit of families and young people.

About you

Essential:

• Your experience of a relevant field, such as school planning, town planning, project planning, or large-scale construction project exposure, with tangible results achieved through working with others,
• Experience of formulating and implementing strategies either within a political environment or in a commercial role with links to government or local authorities.
• A proven track record of leading and delivering complex projects with tangible results
• Ability to negotiate effectively and influence others to achieve desired outcomes.
• Strategic long-term thinking
• The passion and motivation to make a difference to children and families across Hertfordshire.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills
• Ability to travel independently in and around Hertfordshire

Desirable:

• Experience of successful people management.
  
  

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is within the Community Services, level COM14 job profile. Please locate this via: Job profiles - Community services

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Kate Leahy for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: 12th & 13th November

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.