A message from Alison Black, CEO
Introducing South Pennine Academies and the opportunity for its next Chief Financial Officer.
Dear Potential Colleague
South Pennine Academies is a values-led trust, anchored in integrity, inclusion and ambition. These values shape how we lead, how we work together and how we serve our schools, pupils and communities.
At heart, we are a group of education professionals who believe deeply in the power of schools to change lives. We are professional, committed and ambitious, but we are not corporate. We work with people, for people and through people. We care about our colleagues, enjoy working together and believe that warmth, humour and humanity matter.
Our schools serve communities with many strengths, but also with significant challenges. Many of our children and families face social and economic disadvantage, barriers to opportunity, and wider pressures that can affect wellbeing, attendance and achievement. We know excellent education can transform lives, and we are determined that South Pennine Academies plays a leading role in that transformation.
Our five-year strategic plan sets out an ambitious direction of travel, focused on sustainable improvement, educational excellence, investment in people, long-term organisational resilience and better outcomes for pupils. Financial leadership is therefore not a support function on the margins of our work. It is integral to achieving our mission.
The opportunity for our next CFO
The CFO we appoint will understand this deeply. We are looking for someone who combines strategic finance expertise with moral purpose; someone who sees beyond budgets and balance sheets to the difference wise financial stewardship makes in classrooms, staffing, opportunity and children’s futures.
There is important work already underway. We have made progress across many aspects of our finance strategy, and this appointment represents an opportunity to build on that foundation. The next stage will include refining the finance team into a fully shared service model, continuing the move towards full centralisation, and strengthening areas such as procurement, treasury management, financial insight and resource planning.
Strong controls, compliance, governance and stewardship are essential. But we also want someone who can innovate within those frameworks; someone solution-focused and pragmatic, who can help finance better support our strategic priorities and ensure we get the greatest possible impact from the resources available to us.
The successful candidate will communicate with clarity, make technical detail accessible, and build strong relationships with colleagues from a range of backgrounds. We are looking for someone enthusiastic, energetic and dedicated; someone who brings clarity, credibility and warmth, and who will work in partnership with school and trust leaders to help deliver our ambitions.
If you are inspired by the opportunity to use your financial leadership to help shape educational success and contribute to a trust with a clear moral purpose and ambitious future, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Yours sincerely
Alison Black
CEO
Confidential discussion
Initial expressions of interest should be made through KUDU Search, the retained recruitment partner for this appointment.
How to apply