Head of Student Experience

£46,663 - £49,504 per annum

About us

The Sheffield College is a further and higher education institution dedicated to providing academic, vocational, and professional qualifications to approximately 13,000 young people and adults annually. Our mission is to transform lives through learning, advocating for inclusivity and diversity at every stage.

About the role

We have high aspirations and standards for ourselves, and our learners and this role will be a key one in supporting the College’s mission to be consistently great and ensure our students get the qualifications and skills they need to go further in employment, careers, apprenticeships, further training and university level courses.

This role is pivotal in implementing cross-college strategy, policy and procedures to specifically support our ambitions to provide all students with the best possible experience:

Main Responsibilities:

Specific duties, include, but are not limited to:

Improving and maintaining Personal Development opportunities and student Behaviours and Attitudes so that they are rated at least 'Good' by Ofsted and self-assessed as at least good by the college
Increasing the breadth of all SHAPE (Staying Safe, Health & Well-being, Active Citizenship, Progression & Careers and Equality Matters) activities and frequency of participation for all students
Improving outcomes for all academy students, including attendance and behaviour focussing on those identified as high or medium risk and / or with protected characteristics and those in priority groups
Improving participation and satisfaction rates in college-wide student survey surveys
Improving and maintaining positive destinations of students, including through internal progression
Supporting the Academy Director and leading on relevant areas, ensuring a high-quality student experience in the Academy, which contributes to outstanding achievement, progression and employability outcomes for all academy students
Supporting the delivery of the academy's interview process, which is led by curriculum teams, including liaising with Learner Recruitment and the SEND/ALS teams as required
Ensuring the academy effectively supports enrolment, induction and provides early and ongoing pastoral support and interventions as appropriate
Ensuring student starting points, including qualifications on entry and diagnostic assessments, are accurately recorded, shared and effectively utilised to support student progress
Monitoring student progress against target grades and ensuring appropriate interventions are implemented.
Delivering a minimum of 300 hours of teaching.
Monitoring the quality of the tutorial provision delivered with the Academy
Leading on observation of our high-quality tutorial programme, in line with the college Observation of Teaching and Learning policy.
Implementing the Right Choice Review process, ensuring that any student receives support and guidance to swap programmes through a managed transfer process
Implementing the provision of further targeted wrap-around pastoral support, including supporting student's mental health and wellbeing and safeguarding concerns
Implementing appropriate learning support and ensuring all exam access and SEND arrangements are in place for academy students, including targeted support for the development of English, maths and study skills.
Acting as the High Needs link for the Academy
Planning and embedding bespoke academy enrichment activities to meet student need, by liaising with the Academy Director and utilising cross-college resources.
Ensuring SHAPE provision enables all Gatsby benchmarks to be met, working with the Head of Careers and Student Participation, for all academy students on provision for Young People.
Ensuring that all academy students access appropriate opportunities to develop their employability skills through Work Related Activity.
Leading on the promotion of FREDIE+, ensuring there is a culture of inclusion and respect and that academy students understand British Values and Prevent.
Implementing and driving strategies to improve all aspects of student attendance and behaviour across the academy, including consistent implementation of cross-college policy and procedures.
Ensuring Student Voice and Student Survey activity in the Academy facilitates a 'student first culture' by listening and responding effectively to students via an embedded academy student representative system.
Implementing robust and appropriate parent / carer liaison and communication for all academy students, including supporting open events and parent / carer consultation meetings and evenings.
Implementing internal progression processes to ensure all students in the academy have a planned and recorded positive destination.
Embed college strategies, policies and procedures which enable an outstanding curriculum and student experience, ensuring the Academy complies with relevant legal duties.
Undertaking relevant data analysis and providing management information, at academy, programme and student level, pertaining to protected characteristics and priority groups which bring about improvements and eradicate academy level achievement gaps.
Providing dynamic, visible and effective leadership and direction across the areas of responsibility, ensuring that a solution focused, and supportive culture of continuing professional development inspires, enables, empowers and motivates direct reports and peers to achieve high standards of performance.
Support the development of the Academy brand. Working with Marketing to effectively promote new opportunities for the Academy and college.
Leading on partnership working including the development and maintenance of effective relationships with both relevant internal and external partners.
Supporting the delivery of value for money through the annual curriculum/business planning and performance review process for the Academy to ensure the efficient use of resources and that recruitment, financial and quality performance targets are achieved.
Ensuring that environmental sustainability is a key consideration in the academy, working towards the College's environmental strategy and net zero ambition.
Deputising for the Academy Director if and when required; for example, by representing the college at events or attending corporate meetings

If you want to find out more about the role please contactNatalie Dodds, Academy Director - Natalie.Dodds@sheffcol.ac.uk

What we can offer you

As the successful candidate, you will be offered a salary of between £46,663 - £49,504 per annum based upon a combination of the skills, knowledge and experience that you can bring to the role

Our benefits

Enhanced Pension contributions scheme with SYPA - 17.1%
Annual leave - 42 Days(310.8 hours)+ 8 Bank Holidays(59.2 hours)- this includes a discretionary Christmas closure period
Health and wellbeing, we offer
Employee assistance pgoramme through Bupa
Occuptional Health through PAM
Free eye tests for VDU users
Free Parking is available at the majority of our campuses

Further information can be found on ourBenefits andCareer Development pages.

Disability Confident

We are a Disability Confidentemployer and are committed to removing barriers for applicants with a disability during our recruitment process, upon appointment and as an employee. Please review our Recruitment Guidelines for Disabled Candidates which provides further information on reasonable adjustments and how the Disability Confident scheme works in practice. If you require any reasonable adjustments or any support at any point throughout the process, please contact jobs@sheffcol.ac.uk

Armed Forces Covenant

As part of our commitment through the Armed Forces Covenant,we’re pledged to support the Armed Forces Community. Recognising the value Personnel, Veterans and military families contribute to our community and country.

Safeguarding

We are an employer who is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of students. Successful applicants will be required to have an enhanced DBS check and will be subject to safer recruiting procedures. Further details on our safer recruiting procedures, including the employment of ex-offenders can be found here Safeguarding

Next Steps:

To apply:Click apply online and follow the links to complete the online application. For queries regarding the application process, please contact the Recruitment Team at jobs@sheffcol.ac.ukCVs are currently not accepted.

As a Leader in Diversity employer, we encourage applications from everyone and value diversity in our workforce.

Closing date: 14th September 2025

Please be aware – If we have a high number of applications, we may decide to close the vacancy earlier.

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