This is a pivotal strategic role for a values driven leader who can bring clarity, grip and long term thinking to finance, estates, HR services, IT, compliance and organisational development.
The Howard Partnership Trust (THPT) is one of Surrey’s largest and most diverse multi‑academy trusts, educating children across five secondary, six primary and three special schools, with a further special free school in the pipeline. Formed from a long‑standing tradition of partnership working, we have grown steadily and intentionally, now comprising four secondary schools, six primaries and three special schools, with further expansion planned. We are a values-driven Trust, and we strive to live by our values across all parts of the life of the Trust: Aspiration, Collaboration, Inclusion, Integrity, Resilience and Respect.
As we continue to evolve, we are appointing a Chief Operating Officer to help strengthen the operational foundations that support our educational mission. This is a key strategic role within our Executive Team, ensuring that our systems, processes and infrastructure are aligned, resilient and capable of supporting a large, multi‑phase organisation.
Who we are
The Howard Partnership Trust (THPT) is a growing family of schools in the South East of England. We exist to ensure a great school sits at the heart of our communities, serving every child with ambition and care. Our Trust includes Primary, Secondary and Special Schools and welcomes any individual who shares our values and commitment to provide a life-changing education for every one of our children and young people.
Our Trust has a proud history of improving and sustaining schools at all stages of their development journey, including both high-performing schools and schools in need of support and improvement. To do this, we work in deep collaboration and partnership across our schools to share expertise and enable the highest quality education for every child.
Driven by our three shared values, we build up, we serve all, and we forge paths. We strive to do our best for every child, expanding their life chances and choices from the moment they join us. We use the wealth and diversity of experience across our different settings, together with the expertise available within our dedicated operational service teams, to benefit all within the Trust, sharing and extending good practice to support our continual improvement and secure excellence in education in all of our schools and beyond.
Like the children in them, our schools are unique, and our principals, headteachers and staff teams make key decisions to shape schools to best serve their children. We believe our schools have a crucial role as community anchors and providers of education for the here and now, and the future.
In addition to our three special schools, many of our mainstream settings benefit from additional resources to support learners with a wide range of needs, including vision impairment, communication and interaction needs (COIN), and autism.
About the role
Our COO will work closely with our CEO, Executive Team and Trust Board to lead and integrate our core operational functions: finance, estates, HR services, IT, compliance, risk, governance operations and wider business services. We want a leader who can ensure our systems, processes and infrastructure are robust, efficient and future‑proof, enabling our schools to focus on delivering excellent education.
You will help us strengthen financial resilience, ensuring value for money and long‑term sustainability. You will oversee estates strategy and compliance, including major capital projects. You will lead workforce planning, HR transformation and culture development across a diverse staff body. You will ensure our digital infrastructure is modern, secure and aligned with teaching, learning and operational priorities.
We also expect our COO to play a key role in organisational planning, risk management and change leadership. You will work closely with Principals, Headteachers and senior leaders to ensure operational decisions are evidence‑based, strategic and grounded in the lived experience of our schools. Above all, we want a COO who will help us build an organisation that is operationally strong, strategically confident and deeply rooted in our values — enabling children to thrive, staff to flourish and our Trust to grow with clarity and purpose.
Who we are looking for
We are seeking an exceptional operational leader who can bring strategic clarity, organisational grip and values‑driven leadership to The Howard Partnership Trust. You will have significant senior leadership experience in a complex, multi‑site environment — whether from education, local government, health, charity, commercial or wider public‑sector settings. What matters most is your ability to lead with integrity, emotional intelligence and a deep commitment to improving children’s lives.
You will be a systems thinker: someone who can see the whole organisation, understand interdependencies and design operational solutions that are coherent, scalable and future‑focused. You will have experience overseeing several operational disciplines, with particular strength in at least two of the following: finance, estates, HR services, IT, compliance, risk or organisational development. You will be confident leading specialists, building high‑performing teams and ensuring that operational functions work seamlessly together.
We are looking for a leader who is values‑driven, emotionally intelligent and able to build strong relationships across schools, central teams and the Board. You will be visible, approachable and able to engage meaningfully with Principals, Headteachers, staff and stakeholders. You will bring professional curiosity, analytical rigour and the ability to ask the right questions at the right time.
You will be comfortable navigating complexity, managing risk and leading change. Experience of organisational transformation, cultural development or major capital projects would be advantageous. You will understand the importance of safeguarding, compliance and regulatory frameworks, and be able to ensure that operational decisions are always aligned with the Trust’s duty of care.
Above all, you will share THPT’s belief that every child deserves a life-changing education. You will bring humility, ambition and a commitment to service — helping to shape a Trust that is operationally strong, strategically confident and deeply rooted in its values.
To view the role description and person specification, please go to the ‘How to Apply’ tab above, fill in your details and download the candidate pack.
For further information or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
Eddie Caviezel Cox | eddiec@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07951 920768
About The Howard Partnership Trust
The Howard Partnership Trust (THPT) is a Surrey-based, multi-academy trust (MAT) formed in November 2013. From the initial federation of two secondary schools in Surrey in 2007 (at the request of the LA and the DfE), we have maintained a tradition of highly effective partnership working. In March 2021, the LIFT partnership of special schools merged with THPT.
There are now five secondaries, six primaries, three special schools (with a further special free school in the pipeline) within THPT schools:
Howard of Effingham School (Effingham)
Howard of Effingham was the founding school of THPT and is highly regarded by its community. It is a large secondary school with 1500 pupils aged 11-18. Ofsted (2025) recognised it as a school where “pupils feel proud to attend”.
Thomas Knyvett College (Ashford)
Part of the Trust since 2013, Thomas Knyvett College is a welcoming secondary school on an improvement journey. The school is committed to creating an ambitious and inclusive learning environment where every student can thrive.
Oxted School (East Surrey)
Oxted School has a proud history of combining high standards of traditional learning alongside extensive extracurricular opportunities. Joining THPT in 2015, the school has 1500 pupils and includes a specialist centre supporting students with visual impairments.
Three Rivers Academy (Hersham, Walton-on-Thames)
Since joining THPT in 2016, Three Rivers Academy has flourished as a caring secondary school with a growing sixth form of 1200 pupils. The school is recognised for its inclusive ethos and specialist provision for young people with autism through its specialist centre.
Sunbury Manor School (Sunbury-on-Thames)
Joining THPT in September 2026 as a sponsored academy, Sunbury Manor School is an inclusive secondary school for children aged 11 to 16.
Kenyngton Manor Primary School (Sunbury-on-Thames)
Kenyngton is a long-standing community primary school, offering education from age 2 through to 11, including many children from disadvantaged backgrounds. With a pre-school, nursery and strong commitment to inclusion, the school provides a nurturing environment where children can learn, grow and succeed.
St Lawrence Primary School (Effingham)
Joining the Trust in 2014, St Lawrence is a friendly village primary school with one class per year group. Renowned for its warm community spirit and nurturing environment, the school inspires children to develop confidence, curiosity and a lifelong love of learning.
Eastwick Infant School (Bookham)
Part of THPT since 2016, Eastwick Infant School provides a caring and engaging start to education. Alongside its specialist centre for children with autism, the Eastwick Schools family has expanded to include an established nursery, from September 2026, offering high-quality early years education for children aged 2 to 4.
Eastwick Junior School (Bookham)
Located alongside Eastwick Infant School on a shared campus, Eastwick Junior Schoolalso benefits from an integrated specialist centre supporting pupils with autism.
Cuddington Community Primary School (Worcester Park)
A friendly and inclusive one-form entry primary school with nursery provision and a specialist centre for children with autism. Since joining THPT in 2016, the school hascontinued to provide a nurturing environment where every child is supported to achievetheir potential.
Meadhurst Primary School (Ashford)
Part of THPT since 2018, Meadhurst Primary School combines primary education with a large specialist centre for children with autism as well as nursery places for children aged 3 and 4.
West Hill School
West Hill is a specialist school, currently for children of primary school age for children with Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD), providing a highly personalised curriculum that nurtures both academic and personal development.
Linden Bridge School
Linden Bridge is a specialist, all-through school for children and young people with complex social and communication needs, including autism. The school is committed to helping every learner develop confidence, independence and life skills.
Fox Grove School
Fox Grove School is a specialist all-through free school for children and young people with autism and additional social and communication needs.
Betchwood Vale Academy
A new specialist free school currently in development, Betchwood Vale Academy is planned to provide education for up to 180 young people aged 7 to 19 with autism, expanding specialist provision across the region.
THPT’s vision
To excel at bringing out the best in children and young people of all abilities, aptitudes and backgrounds, and so increase their life-chances and their future success and fulfilment.
THPT ethos
To enable us to ‘bring out the best’ and so improve the life-chances of all our young people, we will create a culture of inclusion and advocacy of high-quality teaching and learning, a relentless pursuit of school improvement, trust and reciprocity and a belief in and development of staff of leadership excellence and passion that inspires creativity and innovation that promotes values which enable young people to make a positive contribution to society.
Schools within our partnership successfully work together with a shared vision and ethos. However, each school retains its own unique identity, with bespoke solutions and strategies that meet the specific needs of all young people and their local communities. Each school recognises and celebrates good practice, with opportunities to develop and share it across THPT.
As a group of schools, we offer outstanding professional development for all partnership colleagues resulting in highly qualified and experienced teaching staff who are caring and approachable. Our support service departments (HR, Finance, Estates and ICT) provide essential ‘central office’ functions, releasing leadership capacity to focus on teaching and learning in each school.
Plans for the future
Key projects include working with DfE’s Free Schools Group to deliver Betchwood Vale Academy.
Accessibility information
We understand that different members of the community have different access needs and have made some modifications to the way we do business to accommodate people from diverse communities and abilities.
We offer the following amenities:
- Step free access to the building, all key meeting rooms and bathrooms, and an accessible workstation
- Accessibility dogs are welcome
- Interviews can be held in meeting rooms that support hearing loops
- Papers and materials can be presented in different formats
- A sign language interpreter can be accessed for interview
- Working patterns and locations can be adjusted
To arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
Eddie Caviezel Cox | eddiec@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07951 920768
Thank you for your interest in this role. Please click here to be redirected to the Application Form and download the Role Description and Person Specification.
To formally apply, please click on the link above to submit the application form. Please also submit a supporting statement (ideally a maximum of 2 sides of A4 each) that clearly outlines your suitability for the role against the criteria provided in the person specification, including your interest and motivation in applying for this position.
Please include your home address, contact email and mobile.
Please ensure that your application is emailed to response@peridotpartners.co.uk, inserting “Application: The Howard Partnership Trust — Chief Operating Officer” into the subject field. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt within 2-3 days. If you do not receive an acknowledgement, please contact our admin team.
For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:
Eddie Caviezel Cox | eddiec@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07951 920768
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Timetable
Closing date: 9 a.m. Monday 2nd November 2026
Candidates informed of outcome: By Tuesday 10th November 2026
Interviews: Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th November 2026
Equal Opportunities Monitoring
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