Orchard Hill College is an Outstanding Specialist College (Ofsted, April 2025) offering life-changing learning opportunities to young people and adults with a range of special education needs and/or disabilities. We operate vibrant community-based College Centres across London and Surrey, where committed specialist teams deliver a variety of programmes designed to meet the diverse needs of our students. Students who study with us have a wide range of needs including profound and multiple learning disabilities, communication and behavioural difficulties and specific medical needs. All students are individual, and their learning programme is designed to support and empower them to achieve their aspirations and goals, whilst developing skills to become more independent members of their community.



We are seeking to appoint an Executive Director of Quality, Safeguarding and Partnerships to provide strategic oversight and assurance across all College centres, ensuring the highest standards of educational quality, learner safety and organisational effectiveness. The successful candidate will lead the development of robust quality and safeguarding assurance frameworks, champion evidence-informed practice and drive continuous improvement across the College. Working across education, health, social care, employment and the voluntary sector, the postholder will also focus on building influential partnerships that improve life chances for learners, strength organisational sustainability and position Orchard Hill College as a recognised leader in specialist SEND education.



If you offer significant senior leadership experience in further education, SEND or a related sector and have experience of leading quality improvement across education, as well as experience of developing and leading strategic partnerships, we would love to hear from you. This is a rare opportunity to make a lasting impact, not only on the quality and effectiveness of our provision, but on the lives of the learners and communities we serve.



For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Jacqueline Lau:
jacqueline.lau@gatenbysanderson.com




Safeguarding Statement:



Orchard Hill College & Academy Trust are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.



Appointments made will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure via the Disclosure and Barring Service.



This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020.



In line with the statutory guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education, the Trust will request and review references and carry out online searches on shortlisted candidates
prior to interview as part of our safer recruitment process. Any concerns raised will be followed up with the applicant before a recruitment decision is made.



To view the job description and person specification, please scroll to the bottom of the page, tick to agree to the privacy policy, then click 'Continue to full details'.




Recruitment Timetable



Closing date

Midnight, Friday 9th October 2026



Preliminary interviews

Virtual with GatenbySanderson - w/c 16th October & w/c 2nd November 2026 / Candidate visits 28th October & 2nd November 2026



Short listing

w/c 9th November 2026



Final panel

w/c 30th November 2026




How to Apply



A CV, a letter of application addressed to Kelly Phillips, Executive Principal, and the College's application form completed in full must be submitted to GatenbySanderson by midnight on Friday 9th October 2026.



Please note that your application cannot be considered unless you have completed all three documents.



Your documentation will be scored according to each of the requirements laid out in the person specification for this role. Please demonstrate in your statement how your experience, skills and knowledge match the criteria that are required for the role.



If you have any questions about uploading your documents, or if you would welcome a conversation about reasonable adjustments for any stage of the appointment process, please contact Clair Clarke - clair.clarke@gatenbysanderson.com