Regional Education Partner

Each REP will hold clear geographic responsibility for one of five school improvement regions (North, South, East, West and Central), to provide trusted, visible and high-quality support. You will build strong local partnerships, harnessing best practice across the schools you are supporting and sharing expertise to support all schools respond to local need in addition to wider system led changes. You will build on existing cluster and local partnership groups and work in partnership with other system leaders from the specialist school and multi-academy trust fields to provide a consistent, authoritative link between schools and the local authority.

Alongside this, each REP will lead a specialist area that operates across the whole county, enabling targeted, high‑impact improvement where it is needed most. These specialisms span the core drivers of school improvement, including English, Maths, Leadership and Coaching, Professional Development (including PSHE and SACRE) and the wider Curriculum, with clear links to national hubs and wider system partners. As a Regional Education Partner you will provide expert leadership and governance advice, support schools through compliance and assurance activity, and contribute to headteacher appraisal, recruitment and retention where commissioned.

The role combines strategic oversight with hands‑on professional credibility, ensuring schools receive support that is both rigorous and contextually informed. The role also involves challenging, monitoring and intervening where schools are causing concern, using professional credibility and strategic oversight to drive improvement, strengthen partnership working, and improve outcomes for all children and young people across Oxfordshire. The role requires strong collaborative working across education, inclusion, SEND, admissions, attendance, safeguarding and wider statutory services, enabling clear routes for escalation, advice and problem‑solving.

REPs will act as a knowledgeable and trusted point of contact for schools, helping them to navigate systems, signpost effectively to the right LA services, and foster constructive partnerships that improve outcomes. Through this integrated approach, REPs will help strengthen relationships between schools and the local authority, promote shared ownership of challenges such as attendance and place planning, and ensure specialist provision is supported within a broader, system‑wide framework of improvement and accountability.

You will also play a key role in shaping and delivering a high‑quality traded offer, helping the service grow sustainably while remaining responsive to schools' evolving needs and the wider education system. Finally, Regional Education Partners will play an important role in supporting specialist and alternative school provisions, working closely with colleagues across the wider local authority to ensure joined‑up, coherent support for children and young people with complex needs.

This is a rare opportunity to:

• Help design and embed a new countywide school improvement model at a critical moment of change
• Operate with real professional influence and autonomy, while being part of a coherent county team
• Combine place‑based relationships with strategic, cross‑county leadership
• Make a tangible difference to educational outcomes, inclusion and leadership capacity across Oxfordshire
• Applicants are asked to complete the Oxfordshire County Council application form. Applicants should identify the area of specialism they would bring to this role from the list of 5 areas identified below – this should be highlighted clearly in your personal statement and candidates should provide examples of their impact in this specialist area within that statement.

Shortlisting will occur the week commencing 6th April 2026. Assessment and interviews are provisionally scheduled for the 15‑17th April 2026. It is anticipated that this will be a two‑day process consisting of a range of assessment activities and interviews both at County Hall in central Oxford and visiting at least one maintained Primary School setting. More details will be shared with candidates who are…