Strategic Lead for Attendance (Trust Vice Principal)

Shape Attendance. Transform Lives. Strategic Lead for Attendance (Trust Vice Principal) Are you a senior leader driven by moral purpose and relentless about impact? Do you believe that attendance is everyone’s responsibility and that strong systems, clear expectations and expert leadership can change life chances? If so, this is a rare opportunity to lead improvement at scale, across a growing and ambitious multi‑academy trust. We are seeking an exceptional Strategic Lead for Attendance (Trust Vice Principal) to provide trust‑wide leadership across Astrea’s secondary academies in South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire, ensuring more children are in school, learning, thriving and succeeding. About the Role Attendance is one of the strongest indicators of whether a school system is truly working for children. This senior, trust‑wide role exists to ensure that attendance improves because practice improves. As Strategic Lead for Attendance, you will: Set and drive a clear, coherent trust‑wide attendance strategy Translate strategy into consistent, front‑line practice Support and challenge academy leaders to secure sustained improvement Ensure strong alignment between attendance, safeguarding, inclusion and pastoral systems Maintain a sharp focus on persistent absence, disadvantaged and vulnerable scholars This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced senior leader who understands the realities of school improvement and is ready to influence outcomes beyond a single setting. What You’ll Be Doing You will work closely with Principals, senior leaders, safeguarding leads and central colleagues to: Lead and embed trust‑wide attendance standards, expectations and systems Provide strategic oversight and assurance of attendance performance and risk Diagnose variation in practice and support targeted improvement Build leadership and staff capacity through coaching, modelling and high‑quality CPD Use data intelligently to identify trends, target intervention and evaluate impa