Chair of the Governing Body

This is an opportunity to lead the Governing Body of St John’s College in the diverse city of Brighton. We are an inclusive further education learning environment for young autistic people with learning disabilities.

Location: Walpole Road, Brighton, BN2 0AF

Applications close Monday 8th July

St John’s College is a happy, inspiring space based in the diverse city of Brighton, where young people thrive and learn. We offer an inclusive FE learning environment for young autistic people who require the support and care that many mainstream educational settings cannot provide.

We are a specialist residential college and day provision alongside care and therapy for learners aged 19-25 years who are autistic with a range of complex needs and associated learning difficulties. We provide a broad and stimulating curriculum with individual programs for each learner to ensure their hidden potential is unleashed. Our learners come from all over the country to join our college as we are supported by a transdisciplinary team who specialises in supporting our learners to achieve individual goals. Our amazing team work with partners, our governing body and our partners to develop and share our model and practice. Our learners benefit from a range of activities such as drama, music, performances, open mic nights, dance, swimming, horse riding and, of course, our learners undertake travel training to engage with the community and local projects.

Last year, in September we merged with Ambitious about Autism to work together for better outcomes for autistic children and young people. Ambitious about Autism is the national charity standing with Autistic people and they operate a number of schools and a specialist colleges in London, alongside national youth and employment programmes, consultancy, and they lead campaigns nationally to ensure autistic children and young people realise their ambitions. We are excited to join forces and combine our experience to ensure better outcomes for autistic people.

Who we are looking for

We are looking to appoint a new Chair the Governing Body of St. John’s College to lead our governing body and work closely with our senior leadership team. We are looking forward to working with our new Chair who will support us to determine our aims and priorities, ensure high levels of quality to enable autistic people to be prepared for adult life, and ensure the health and safety of our young people and staff. Our Chair will be a sounding board and will lead the Governing Body and promote effective governance of the college which is key to success as we drive quality. We are rated as “Good” and are keen to drive this forward and continue to improve to ensure the best care and education provision.

We are looking for a Chair with experience in chairing meetings or sub-committees, who is passionate about governance and empowering autistic young people. This person will be strategic and have a good knowledge of education and safeguarding. Our new Chair will work with our Executive Principal, be visible amongst our staff, and be excited to represent us internally and externally.

We expect the time commitment to be about 1-2 days a month, this will be inclusive of preparation for board meetings, reading board papers, attendance at board meetings, committee meetings, ad hoc discussions with the Executive Principal and other members of the governing body and attendance at various events throughout the year such as graduations. Our governing body meets termly in person, and we have an annual strategic governing body meeting, the new Chair will also be a member of Ambitious about Autism’s Education and Care committee which meets termly online and/or hybrid.

Please click 'Apply via website’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the candidate profile and register your interest to apply.

Applications for this role close Monday 8th July.