Job Title: Lead Teacher - New Leaf House

Location: Walsall

New Leaf House is a specialist provision within the New Leaf Inclusion Centre, designed to support pupils who are at risk of exclusion or who have previously been excluded from mainstream education.

This smaller, nurturing setting provides a structured and supportive environment tailored to meet the needs of students who benefit from a more personalised approach to learning and behaviour support.

Pupils attending New Leaf House often present with a range of additional needs, including:

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs

 The provision focuses on building positive relationships, improving emotional regulation, and re-engaging pupils with education through a flexible and therapeutic approach.

This is a key leadership role requiring:

• Strong experience of working with pupils with SEMH, ASD, and ADHD
• The ability to lead a small team and model outstanding practice
• A commitment to inclusive education and alternative provision
• Skills in behaviour management, de-escalation, and restorative approaches
• The ability to work closely with families, external agencies, and the wider New Leaf team

·        Liaising with local schools that require outreach work or short-term placements

         Want to make a difference to young people? 

         Are you ready to embark on a rewarding journey within an educational community that values increasing opportunities, improving outcomes. 

         We are looking for a Qualified Teacher of Lead Teacher - New Leaf House to join our team.  You will undertake: 

Key responsibilities:

• ·        Lead the day-to-day operation of New Leaf House, ensuring a safe, structured and nurturing learning environment

• ·        Plan and deliver high-quality teaching and intervention that supports academic progress, emotional regulation and engagement

• ·        Lead, coach and support a small team, modelling effective practice in behaviour support, de-escalation and restorative approaches

• ·        Work closely with families, mainstream schools and external agencies to support reintegration, outreach and short-term placements

• ·        Use assessment and provision data to evaluate impact, identify need and adapt support plans

• ·        Contribute to safeguarding, attendance and pastoral systems, ensuring pupils receive consistent, trauma-informed support

Pay range: MPS/UPS - £32,916 - £51,048 plus SEN Allowance + TLR 2a

Qualifications and Skills:  

• Qualified teacher status 

•  A commitment to high standards for all 

• Continuing good record for professional development  

• Achievement of high standards 

• Awareness of the value of assessment data in raising standards 

For full details of the post please see attached Job Description and Person Specification

The successful candidate will play a crucial role in shaping provision, supporting staff development, and ensuring that pupils receive high-quality, personalised support to enable successful reintegration or progression on their next educational pathway.

We passionately believe that every young person who attends New Leaf School should achieve excellent personal and academic progress. This is due to our nurturing and caring approach.

We provide a personalised learning experience to enable students to reintegrate into a mainstream school or to transition into an appropriate educational establishment. This equips them with the skills they need to succeed in their future.

Every day is a step forward, a chance to grow, an opportunity to build resilience and confidence needed to step forward into the future.

We work with our young people to ensure that any barrier in their life we overcome together. This support is also extended to our young people's families who we work really hard with to support them as we know the benefits that this has on our students.

At New Leaf, we welcome every young person with open hearts and open minds. Our promise is very simple to provide a safe, nurturing environment where all of our students are believed in, valued and given the opportunity to thrive.

Our Values

Ready - Being ready means more than just having a pen or a planner, it also means being mentally prepared, emotionally supported and equipped to focus on the task at hand.

Respectful - Respectful means recognising our own worth and the worth of others. Our students learn that respect is not just about their own behaviour, but also about the way that they treat each other and themselves when they're in a learning environment.

Safe - That's the foundation. Feeling safe, acting safe, and making sure that others feel the same. When a young person feels safe, we know that everything else becomes possible.

Our core values underpin everything we do. We want our staff and students to be ready, respectful and safe.

To see more of the amazing work we do: New Leaf School - Home

Why The Mercian Trust?

As one Trust we share a common purpose.  We call it our social mobility and social justice mission to change our communities through the very best equitable education.  When we get this right, it enables our children and young people to fulfil their potential, thrive in the world of work, and make a positive contribution to the local, national and international community. Our recent achievements include:

Sustainable Growth - becoming one of the largest and most diverse trusts in the region

Social Mobility & Social Justice - National recognition for the Trust’s two selective grammar schools who the most successful on the number of local disadvantaged students passing the entrance and joining the schools

Increasing Opportunities – Opening brand-new purpose-built campus in Walsall Town Centre including an alternative provision for students at risk at permanent exclusion from mainstream schools alongside a Digital Skills Hub to provide professionals and employers

Pioneering Spirit – National recognition for pioneering work around youth mental health, including establishing an in-house multi-disciplinary team of clinicians and allied health professionals delivering interventions and providing support to vulnerable students

Outward Looking – Organising and hosting the region’s first Youth Suicide Conference (2023) and Youth Violence Conference (2024) at Villa Park

Innovation and Improvement – A multi-million-pound investment in the digital infrastructure of Trust schools and our Digital Skills Hub underpinning the ongoing transformation of how staff teach, students learn, leaders lead and the whole Trust operates in readiness for the AI-supercharged careers and workplaces of the future.

Want to be a part of something extraordinary? Find out more:  The Mercian Trust - Home

What can we offer you:

Benefits: 

Financial, Health and Lifestyle

• discounts on everyday purchases (Eden Red)
• a comprehensive free of charge health plan (UK Health Care)
• a cycle to work scheme via Halfords
• Access to the Blue Light Card

For further benefits including education sector leading CPD: The Mercian Trust - What we can offer you

The Mercian Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and vulnerable adults, and all appointments are subject to enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks and satisfactory references.

The Mercian Trust is also committed to promoting equality, challenging discrimination and developing community cohesion. We welcome applications from all sections of the community. 

Please take time to read our policies attached to this advert.