VACANCIES

generic Recruitment Information

Prior to interview, the school will seek references for all shortlisted candidates.
We will undertake an 'online presence' check for all shortlisted candidates - including social media and wider Google searches. Shortlisted candidates will be asked for social media handles to support us in narrowing these searches. Any concerns will be addressed with candidates.
Prior to an offer of employment, an enhanced DBS check will be undertaken.

Current vacancies

EARLY Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Lead Maternity Cover

Are you an ambitious leader with a passion for developing high-quality early years educational provision? Are you looking for your next step or wanting to make a difference across a 0-5 Nursery and Reception year group?

We are seeking an exceptional leader to join our senior leadership team—someone who is passionate, knowledgeable, and deeply committed to ensuring that every child, regardless of need, thrives.

As EYFS Leader, you will oversee the most formative stage of primary education, nurturing pupils’ curiosity, excitement and wonder.

Following our May 2025 Ofsted inspection, the school secured Good in all areas under new leadership, after 12 years of Requires Improvement. Our EYFS provision expanded in Autumn 2025 with the opening of a school-based nursery for children aged 0–5, strengthening our future pipeline into the school.

This role combines leadership with class teaching. We seek a practitioner with strong, demonstrable classroom practice who can model and develop excellence across the phase. The post is initially maternity cover, with the potential to become a substantive senior leadership role as the school grows.

KS1 or 2 Teacher Vacancy

Valentine Primary School & Nursery

If you want safe, predictable and compliant, this is not your school.

If you want ambitious, creative and relentlessly focused on doing what works for children, read on.

At Valentine, we do not treat education as a fixed script. We are proud to think differently. Not for the sake of novelty, but because our community deserves more than a narrow, outdated model of schooling.

Why Valentine?

This year alone:

We installed a fully equipped cookery and food technology suite capable of teaching classes of thirty. Why? Because children told us they wanted to become chefs and we took them seriously.
Every child has one hour of gardening each week. Our polytunnels are not decorative. They are part of our curriculum.
We transformed our oversized entrance hall into a state of the art library, placing reading at the centre of school life.
We opened a year-round nursery in 2025, welcoming children from 6 months to 5 years old and building a genuine 0–11 learning journey.

We invest where it matters.

400 new laptops and iPads across the school.
90 VR headsets enabling immersive curriculum hooks. Launch a geography topic by standing in Australia. Begin history by walking through ancient civilisations.
A fully resourced non-core curriculum, planned and sequenced, with adaptations ready to go. You will not be left reinventing everything at 10pm.

We are serious about teacher workload

We stream for reading, writing and maths. Not to label children. To reduce cognitive overload for teachers and make instruction sharper and more precise.

You will teach within a structure that protects your energy and increases impact.

We provide:

Wellbeing days at your request across the year. Go to the concert. Have your birthday off. Attend the event that matters.
Real professional development. Coaching that is developmental, not performative.
Leaders who will challenge you and support you in equal measure.

We are not perfect

We make mistakes. We adjust. We learn. We expect you to do the same.

We were judged Good by Ofsted in 2025. That was not an end point. It was the starting line.

We are building something exceptional and that requires teachers who:

Care deeply about children.
Want to refine their craft.
Believe curriculum can be ambitious and joyful.
Are prepared to work hard and grow.

If you want to be part of a school that is expanding, evolving and unapologetically ambitious for its community, we would welcome your application.

Valentine Primary School & Nursery - Growing something extraordinary.

CLOSURE DATE: END OF MAY 2026

INTERVIEWS: As and when applications are in and shortlisted

Completed application forms must go to: vanessa.rattley@valentineprimary.co.uk

Level 3 - early years practitioner

The early years are the foundation stone to life-long learning. Do you want to be part of a brand-new nursery provision?

We are looking to appoint an exceptional candidate and qualified childcare level 3 professional with the responsibility for the day-to-day running of their room. They perform an important role caring for children, maintaining a high quality, stimulating learning environment, supervising staff and imparting their knowledge and skills to others. They are creative and reflective leaders able to implement new ideas and use a range of strategies to continually improve practice and support the management team.

In November 2025 we opened our new Preschool and Nursery at Valentine School catering to pupils aged from 6 months to 4 years old. The setting has a teacher-in-charge and Nursery lead whose roles are to facilitate high-quality teaching and learning planning and to support the team in delivering our goals and objectives.