Salary: L32 - L36 £110,892 - £122,306 (salary negotiable dependent on experience)
Contract term: Full time, 1.0FTE, permanent
Start date: September 2026
Closing date: 8am Friday 20 March 2026
Mercia Learning Trust
Mercia Learning Trust is a successful partnership of four primary and three secondary schools located in the south-west of Sheffield. Established in 2012, with one secondary school, our trust has grown to serving over 5000 pupils, with 650 staff.
Why do we exist?
- To empower everyone in our communities, especially the most disadvantaged, to succeed.
How do we behave?
- We are kind - showing care and supporting each other.
- We have integrity - doing the right thing and always putting children first.
- We work with diligence - overcoming obstacles and having no excuses.
What do we do?
- We run schools that focus on academic excellence, cultural capital and the development of character.
How will we succeed?
- A culture of excellence – high standards shaped by clarity, not control.
- Academic focus – empowering all children through an exceptional curriculum.
- Purposeful collaboration – relationships built on trust, reducing sub-optimisation and driving collective success.
Our staff are a crucial part of our trust, just like our pupils. We are devoted to recruiting, training, retaining and taking good care of our highly skilled and dedicated team.
Mercia School
Mercia School (11-18) opened in 2018 in a brand-new building. Since opening, the school has secured a strong national reputation for educational excellence.
In February 2023, Ofsted inspected the school and graded all aspects of provision to be ‘Outstanding’. GCSE results are consistently exceptional, with all pupils securing high levels of attainment. In the summer of 2023, Mercia School achieved the highest Progress 8 score for disadvantaged pupils, this high-level of performance was repeated in 2024.
In September 2023, Mercia Collegiate Sixth Form opened and the first set of results in 2025 were the highest of any state school in Sheffield.
The role
Due to Mercia School's current headteacher taking up a new post within our trust, we are looking for a new leader who has experience of working in high performing schools. Ultimately, this individual will have the drive and skill to keep Mercia School as one of the best schools nationally, maintaining the successful model that has already been created.
The successful candidate will be supported by our trust leadership team to implement strategies with fidelity and rigour.
Mercia School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We particularly welcome applications from under represented groups including ethnicity, gender, transgender, age, disability, sexual orientation or religion.
