Job Title:                   Operations Manager

Closing Date:           Sunday 26^th April 2026 at midnight

Interview:                 TBC

Start Date:               ASAP

Salary:                       £39,499 FTE, £36,378 per annum pro-rata (92.1% of full time)

Hours:                        37 hours per week – 42 working weeks per year (48.946 weeks paid)

Location:                   Curnow School, Redruth

Contract type:          Permanent

Working Pattern:   8:30 am – 4:30 pm (Monday – Thursday)

8:30 am – 4:00 pm (Friday)

30 minutes unpaid lunch break each day.

Are you an exceptional organiser with a passion for making schools run smoothly, safely and efficiently?

Do you thrive in a fast‑paced environment where no two days are the same?

Are you motivated by supporting leaders, staff and families so that pupils receive the very best educational experience?

Do you have excellent inter-personal skills and experience of HR, Finance, Premises and Compliance Management?

If so, we’d love to hear from you.

About Curnow School

Curnow School is an Outstanding school and a founding academy of The Special Partnership Trust, a multi-academy trust in the South West of England which is striving to provide a consistently high quality standard of special education across the region. 

Curnow School caters for pupils aged 2 - 19 with severe or profound learning difficulties as well as a number of students with autism.  Our younger students attend Curnow Lower School - a purpose-built provision based on the same site as Illogan Primary School and offers our young learners an environment which is conducive to their needs and one which helps meet our aspirational target of inclusive learning.  Our older students attend Curnow Upper School in Redruth which is also a well-equipped provision, catering for students with a wide-range of needs.  We have also recently opened The Karder Hub in St Columb Major for a small number of Reception and Year 1 pupils.   

The Role

We are seeking a highly skilled and proactive School Operations Manager to provide strategic and operational leadership across the school’s administrative, HR, financial and premises functions. This is a key role that ensures the school runs efficiently, compliantly and in line with Trust and statutory requirements.

You will work closely with the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team, enabling them to focus on strategic priorities while you oversee the day‑to‑day operational running of the school.

Key Responsibilities:

(Full details available in the Job Description)

• Provide high‑quality administrative support to the Headteacher and SLT
• Lead HR processes including recruitment, onboarding, SCR, absence management and staff records
• Carry out financial administration including raising purchase orders, goods received and invoice approval processes, reconciling school payment card, stock control and liaison with the Trust’s finance team
• Manage the school MIS (Arbor), census returns, GDPR compliance and key data reporting
• Lead the administration and premises teams, ensuring strong performance and effective daily operations
• Oversee facilities, health & safety, statutory checks and emergency planning

About You

You will bring strong organisational and leadership skills, excellent communication, and experience in HR, finance, compliance or school/business operations. You’ll be confident managing multiple priorities, working with a wide range of stakeholders and maintaining high standards of accuracy and confidentiality. Experience of working in a school administration setting would be advantageous.  Knowledge of MIS systems, project management or facilities management is desirable but not essential.

Our Total Reward Offer:

The Special Partnership Trust recognises the importance of developing a properly implemented People Strategy to underpin the overall strategic aims of the Trust.

Our People Strategy is designed to help us attract prospective high calibre candidates, as well as drive engagement, productivity and retention of our high performing and high potential employees. It reflects our belief in putting our people first. This does not mean putting our learners second. It is based on the philosophy that if we create a positive and rewarding work environment, if our staff feel motivated, well managed and well supported, they in turn will provide the best possible outcome for our learners.

We recognise that our total reward offer has got to consist of more than just money. We seek to provide our staff with a diverse range of benefits that support their day to day needs both at work and outside of work. These include generous leave entitlements and pension scheme as well as access to health/wellbeing tools, training & development, career pathways and opportunities to ensure they feel valued.

For further information, click here to visit the Special Partnership Trust website for our People Strategy and Benefits.

Are you ready to make a lasting impact? Join us today.

Contact Us

If you would like to discuss the role in confidence, please call the HR team on 01872 613115 or email recruitment@specialpartnership.org

 Please visit the Special Partnership website, www.specialpartnership.org for further information about our Trust and an application pack. Applications should be completed via MyNewTerm Special Partnership Trust - Vacancies and submitted no later than midnight on the Sunday 26^th April 2026.

If you need the application form or any part of the recruitment process in a different format, please contact us directly and we will make the necessary adjustments. 

Safeguarding:

The Special Partnership Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to the satisfactory completion of checks and references, including an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. In accordance with guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education; the Trust will undertake an online search of all shortlisted candidates.