Role: Head of Performing Arts - Specialism Music
Academy: Outwood Academy Riverside
Start Date: 01 September 2026
Salary (Actual Salary): £51,773 - £57,137
Working Pattern: 32.5 Hours Per Week, Day to Day, Term Time only
Are you a visionary educator ready to lead a subject department, providing clear, cohesive direction and inspiring high achievement? Join us as a Head of Department, where you will communicate a clear purpose and vision, motivate colleagues, and implement whole-Academy initiatives to ensure your department meets ambitious academic targets. This role is designed for someone who models the Academy's values, promotes innovative teaching strategies, and is dedicated to securing continuous improvement and quality outcomes for all students.
Welcome from the Principal:
We are a free school in the centre of Middlesbrough, and we do things differently! Do you?
As Principal, I am proud to introduce you to Outwood Academy Riverside, an innovative free school within a nationally renowned Trust that nurtures talent and provides high-quality professional development.
Opened in 2020, Riverside is a special place to work with genuine care for every family member. Our community is built on core values, including kindness, compassion, respect, and integrity. We maintain academic rigour and high expectations, resulting in very good behaviour and attendance that is above the national average. Students face no 'glass ceiling' and benefit from exceptional personal development opportunities (including Cadets, MiSST, and LAMDA).
This is a unique opportunity to join an inspirational team making history. We are currently on Russell Street (with a satellite site in Eston) and are planning a move to a new, state-of-the-art facility by 2027.
If you genuinely love working with children and will go above and beyond for our young people, we would love to hear from you. Would you like to be part of this journey?
About the Department:
At Outwood Academy Riverside, we are already four years into a transformative journey as a MiSST school, where the Andrew Lloyd Webber Programme ensures that every student across Key Stage 3 is gifted their own instrument. This commitment has laid a formidable foundation, culminating in the exciting growth of our very own school orchestra. We are now seeking a visionary Head of Department for Performing Arts with a Music specialism to seize this momentum and take our musical legacy to the next level. With the academy’s upcoming move to state-of-the-art, brand-new facilities, you will have the elite resources and acoustic spaces necessary to build upon our established curriculum and radically expand our extra-curricular program. Our shared vision is for MiSST and music to act as the beating heart of the school, driving a vibrant cultural atmosphere where performance is woven into the daily life of every student. This is a rare opportunity to lead a department where the instruments are already in hands, the talent is flourishing, and the future stage is world-class.
If you have any questions or would like to visit the school, please contact Frances McCabe, f.mccabe@riverside.outwood.com
The Head of Department is responsible for communicating a clear purpose and vision while providing cohesive leadership and direction to the Department/Faculty. This leader models the Academy's values, promotes high standards through effective teaching, and is accountable for implementing the Department Development Plan/Self-Evaluation Form (SEF) to secure continuous improvement.
They develop and sustain DEEP LEADERSHIP through line management of staff, overseeing department resources and budget, reviewing syllabuses, and conducting Performance Management Reviews.
Essential qualifications required are a Degree in the relevant subject and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Candidates must demonstrate a good understanding of their subject's secondary curriculum (Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5), knowledge of current departmental issues, and understanding of school improvement and Ofsted inspection programmes. Essential experience includes leading or supporting the leadership of a department, successful teaching across all key stages, and evidence of managing/leading a new initiative.
Required skills encompass being an outstanding classroom practitioner with a clear vision, possessing outstanding relationships with students and staff, and the ability to analyze data to develop rapid improvement intervention strategies.
Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) places staff development at the heart of its strategy to deliver excellence, aiming to recruit, develop, and retain the best staff through the Outwood Institute of Education (OIE).
What will we do for you?
We offer a comprehensive package focused on career development, fair pay, and well-being:
Competitive Pay & Pension: Competitive salary, automatic pay progression, and enrolment in the Teachers' Pension Scheme.
Professional Growth: Access extensive CPD, progression to Masters level, and development via the Outwood Institute of Education and National Institute of Teaching.
Workload & Support: Committed to a manageable workload via our Workload Charter and guarantee a minimum of two hours of CPD each week.
Wellbeing & Flexibility: Enhanced occupational leave, flexible family policies, and access to a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme.
Take the next step in your professional journey and apply now to access these exceptional development and system-wide impact opportunities.
Further Information on employee benefits can be found Click Here
To find our more about working for Outwood and to read a message from our CEO please Click Here
Note: If applying from an external job board, please click 'Apply' to access the working links on the Outwood Careers page
Please note, we reserve the right to close advertisements early, either on the advertised closing date, or sooner if required.
Outwood Grange Academies Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All appointments are made in accordance with safer recruitment practices and the statutory guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education. Online checks will be carried out on all shortlisted candidates, and all appointments are subject to an enhanced DBS check, satisfactory references and checks regarding suitability to work with children.
We are an award-winning multi-academy education trust with passion, purpose and people at our heart. We manage 41 transformative primary, junior, secondary and Post 16 schools up and down the North of England, from Redcar to Nottinghamshire, each celebrating very different identities but driven by a shared vision. Each academy is individually shaped around the community and children it serves.
We’re incredibly proud of how far our kind, creative and talented teachers and support staff go to make life better for our pupils and their families. It’s why we have built such a leading reputation in education and taken failing schools to Ofsted-rated outstanding in a record amount of time.
We are committed to putting students first, raising standards and transforming lives.
