HEAD OF TRUST EARLY HELP
Central Team, The Mead Educational Trust (TMET)
Salary: Grade SL14-SL19, £58,000 - £63,000
Contract Type: Full Time, 37 hrs per week, 52 weeks
Contract Term: 2 Year FTC
Start Date: April/ May 2026
Closing Date: 17/02/2026
Interview Date: WC 09/03/2026
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🌟 About the Role
We are seeking to appoint a motivated, skilled and enthusiastic Head of Trust Early Help lead to join our dedicated and forward-thinking Central Team, part of The Mead Educational Trust (TMET).
This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a culture of excellence, ambition and inclusion across the Trust. The successful candidate will have a strong commitment to securing the best outcomes for all learners and will play an active role in shaping a safe, supportive and positive school environment.
The postholder will lead the development, implementation and quality assurance of school-based Early Help practice across the Trust. Working closely with Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs), senior leaders and multi-agency partners, the role will ensure that children and families receive timely, coordinated support that addresses emerging needs at the earliest stage. This includes strengthening school-based Early Help assessments and intervention processes, supporting DSLs to deliver high-quality work with families, and ensuring that children and families are signposted swiftly to the right services to secure the best possible outcomes.________________________________________
✅ What We’re Looking For
We welcome applicants who can demonstrate:
• A commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people
• A professional, caring, and flexible approach
• The ability to work collaboratively within a team
• Establish and lead the TMET Early Help offer, embedding effective early family intervention across all schools, aligned with the #Mead2030 strategy and local authority best practice.
• Promote children’s welfare through early identification, using insights from the Vulnerability Index to spot emerging patterns, broker and coordinate appropriate pathways and support.
• Build strong, trusting relationships with families, ensuring their voices shape decisions and support is delivered through a strengths-based approach.
• Build strong, trusting relationships with families, ensuring their voices shape decisions and support is delivered through a strengths-based approach.
• Model and set expectations for high-quality practice, including analysis of need, outcome-focused planning, multi-agency coordination and robust recording.
• Grow school capacity by coaching and supporting DSLs and pastoral teams, providing expert guidance, coaching and CPD to ensure consistent, high-quality support.
• Oversee complex cases, supporting with risk assessment, threshold decisions, conflict resolution and multi-agency processes.
• Use data and case analysis to evaluate impact, identify gaps in provision and drive Trust-wide improvements in early family intervention.
• Contribute to wider pastoral and inclusion leadership, supporting recruitment, staff development and the embedding of consistent early intervention and safeguarding practice.
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🌱 Why Join Us?
The Mead Educational Trust (TMET) is a growing family of schools united by a shared commitment to delivering exceptional education and improving life chances for all our pupils. Serving a diverse range of communities across Leicester and Leicestershire, TMET is built on strong values of collaboration, inclusion, integrity, and excellence.
We are passionate about creating opportunities for staff to thrive. As part of TMET, you will benefit from:
• Access to high-quality professional development, coaching, and career progression
• Trust-wide collaboration across a network of passionate, like-minded professionals
• A strong commitment to staff wellbeing and work-life balance, including access to the Vivup Employee Assistance Programme
• Clear, values-led leadership and a shared drive to make a meaningful difference in education
TMET is an inclusive employer, and we welcome applications from all backgrounds and levels of experience. We believe that every child deserves an outstanding education – and that every adult in our organisation deserves to feel supported, valued, and inspired.
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🔐 Safer Recruitment & Safeguarding Statement
The Mead Educational Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
An enhanced DBS check with a check of the barred lists is required for all roles working with children. As part of our safer recruitment process and in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025, we will also carry out:
• Online searches for all shortlisted candidates, to help identify any issues or concerns that are publicly available online
• Checks on employment history, references, and eligibility to work in the UK
We are an equal opportunities employer.
This post will involve contact with vulnerable groups (children, young people and/or adults) and is therefore, exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Disclosure check. This exemption means that shortlisted applicants for this post will be required to declare all criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands, and bind- overs both spent and unspent in their application, before interview and regardless of the passage of time.