Service Manager

Salary

Soulbury - Soulbury EIP 20-23 plus 3 SPA points £69,870 - £73,757 per annum

Package

Permanent, full-time, 36 hours per week

Job category/type

Education & Schools

Date posted

21/11/2025

Job reference

R0007138

About us at Hounslow

We'd love you to join us at the London Borough of Hounslow Our people are deeply committed to providing excellent services to our residents, doing all we can to make lives as good as they can be.

We are an outstanding council, serving an outstanding borough.

With brilliant, visionary leadership, a dynamic Cabinet and a can-do culture, we've built strong partnerships which have transformed how we serve one of London's most diverse boroughs. Hounslow is the world in one place and full of potential. We are stepping up for our residents like never before.

About our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We live by five core values: Lead with Heart, Do New, Pass on the Power, Harness the Mix and Be a Rock. All our work has equality, diversity and inclusion at its very heart, best articulated in "Harness the Mix". It's about breaking down barriers between our parts and people and unlocking the problem-solving power of our amazing mix of minds. We serve a diverse community, we have a diverse workforce and we are committed to being an inclusive employer.

We work hard to create representation across our workforce and leadership community, we have thriving employee network groups and our learning and development programmes help us lead, model and breathe ways of working that eliminate inequality, inequity, injustice and bias.

As part of this and under our commitments as a Disability Confident Employer, we make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. There's space for you to tell us what you need within our application form.

Our Benefits

If you join us, you'll have access to a range of employee benefits. Read more about these here:

About The Role

There are some exciting opportunities to be part of the leadership team within the Access, Inclusion and Participation pillar in the London Borough of Hounslow.

Service Manager – Head of the Virtual School

As the Service Manager – Head of the Virtual School - you will lead our well-regarded, motivated Virtual School Team and drive strategic improvements in outcomes for looked-after-children, care leavers and other vulnerable groups. Reporting to the Head of Service for Access, Inclusion and Participation, you will:

• Strengthen partnerships with schools, social care, and post-16 providers, voluntary sector organisations, and out-of-borough schools where our children are placed.

• Ensure our model continues to deliver consistently high-quality Personal Education Plans, improves attendance, raises aspirations and supports progression into education, employment or training.

• Provide effective strategic and operational leadership and management to staff in the Virtual School, ensuring we are responsible for advocating in the best interests of children and young people to whom the local authority owes a corporate parenting duty.

• Ensure that the children and young people's futures are secured by good care and excellent educational, lifelong learning and enrichment opportunities.

• Act as the Council's principal advisor for looked-after-children, care leavers and other vulnerable groups, you will be influencing policy, strategy, and decision-making across education and children's services.

If you're a collaborative and knowledgeable educational professional, with a passion for inclusive practice and system improvement, we'd love to hear from you.

About The Team You Will Be Working In

The Lifelong Learning, Skills & Employment division provides a range of statutory and community services, regulated and non-regulated.

Our vision is for a thriving community where all our residents can engage in and benefit from lifelong learning opportunities - for personal growth, health and wellbeing and economic success.

The division, which sits within the Children's & Adults Services Department, is organised into four operational service areas, each led by a Head of Services, and each contributing to achievement of the Borough's 'limitless' Lifelong Learning Strategy.

As a Service Manager – Head of the Virtual School within the Access, Inclusion and Participation pillar, you will be a member of our extended Hounslow Leadership Team who play a key role in delivering high-quality, resident-focused services.

You will provide expert guidance, support, and leadership across Hounslow to set high standards for practice and service delivery, ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards. You will be required to work in a proactive and collaborative way with other Council services and partners to provide expertise to support the effective delivery of service for residents.

Through collaboration with your senior team, and other leaders and stakeholders, you will advise on best practice and offer strategic insights to support the efficient and effective delivery of services, and the development and implementation of critical initiatives. Your role involves training and mentoring staff in your area of expertise and succession planning for roles which require similar levels of expertise.

You will also provide regular updates on outcomes to your Head of Service and Director, and as an effective senior team member, promote a positive, inclusive culture, championing staff development and continuous improvement.

The Access, Inclusion and Participation pillar includes our Statutory SEND (Learning Support and Assessment) function, Specialist Practice & Advice (including the Educational Psychology service), Education Inclusion and Participation function, and the Virtual School.

This role reports to the Head of Service – Access, Inclusion and Participation.

About You

As a Service Manager – Head of the Virtual School, reporting to the Head of Service – Access, Inclusion and Participation, you will have:

• A degree level qualification with qualified teacher status.

• Experience of successful senior leadership within a school and/or previously a Headteacher.

• Experience of building strong partnerships, maintaining relationships and co-producing solutions to challenges across a diverse set of stakeholders.

• Proven ability to effectively use performance data, intelligence and evidence to accurately identify trends, create meaningful insight, recommendations and to inform own decision making.

If you're an innovative, collaborative and knowledgeable leader, with a passion for inclusive practice and system improvement, we'd love to hear from you.

Read more about the work you'll be doing in the Role Profile.

When Interviews Will Be Held and Who To Contact

The key information you need about the role should be in the Role Profile but if you have any further questions about the role, please contact:

Email:

Interviews for this job will be held during week commencing 5th January 2026.