It’s an inspiring space showcasing the talent of our pupils, bringing our community together and shining a spotlight on the brilliant art being created across our Trust.

Well done to all those pupils who have had their work selected. 

See the full selection here. 

Teaching Assistant (Full-time or Part-time)

We are looking for an enthusiastic and committed Teaching Assistant to join our team as soon as possible. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who is passionate about supporting children’s learning and contributing to a warm, collaborative school environment.

You can find:

• Full job description: you can view the full document here

• Application form: you can view the full document here

If you’re dedicated, proactive, and excited about helping pupils reach their full potential, we’d love to hear from you.

Applications close: 17 March 2026

Winchcombe School 

Head of English and Drama Department 

Are you an enthusiastic, innovative and ambitious secondary English (and Drama) Teacher ready to take your next step in a managerial role?

Winchcombe School is looking for a permanent full-time Teacher of English to lead the Department (of two teaching colleagues and a librarian). 

You can find:

• Further details can be viewed here 

• Application form: you can view the full document here

Applications close: 23 March 2026

We have set a bold target of trying to reach £40k in 2 days - £40k for 40 years!

When OFSTED visited last year, they judged Balcarras to be “outstanding” in all areas. We constantly strive to provide all of our pupils with the best education and opportunities, but in real terms our funding continues to fall year on year.

We’re asking our entire community to give at a level that’s meaningful to them, to make a difference in the following areas:

• Developing our outside space to enhance the wellbeing of all pupils.

https://balcarras.hubbub.net/p/balcarrasproject1/

• Resourcing our school to ensure that all pupils have access to the very best facilities and technologies for learning.

https://balcarras.hubbub.net/p/balcarrasproject2/

Here is how you can get involved:

Make a gift - visit our fundraising platform to make a gift now, gifts of any size will really help to make a difference

https://balcarras.hubbub.net/coming-soon/

Raise awareness - Spread the word far and wide by sharing and our messages and liking our social posts. Find us on X, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Take part - look out for more details of a variety of events and activities taking place and sign up!

We’re incredibly grateful for your ongoing support in many ways, and I hope you’ll consider this opportunity to make an even greater difference as we work together to secure a bright future for Balcarras School and our young people.

Yours sincerely,

Dominic Burke
Headteacher

Salary: £33,143 FTE

Part-time and flexible working will be considered

Grade: 7 point 21, £33,143 FTE

Hours: 30 hours per week, term-time only plus 4 weeks

The quality of entries was extremely high, with submissions showing imagination, care, and originality. Each school selected their top designs to go forward for overall judging — a challenging task given the standard of work produced.

The final judging was carried out by Bernard Roberts, Chair of the Balcarras Trust, who was impressed by the creativity and festive spirit shown across the shortlisted entries.

Congratulations to all of the winners, whose baubles stood out for their originality and craftsmanship. Thank you to everyone who took part and supported the competition.

TRUST WIDE WINNERS:

Winchcombe School WINNERS:

HIGH SCHOOL LECKHAMPTON - WINNERS:

Balcarras School – WINNERS:

Balcarras received the following judgements:

The quality of education                                        Outstanding

Behaviour and attitudes                                         Outstanding

Personal development                                           Outstanding

Leadership and management                               Outstanding

Sixth-form provision                                             Outstanding

The report is available here

Here are a few choice quotes:

“A positive and inclusive school community”

We were delighted that the inspectors started their report with the following sentence: “Pupils and staff have huge pride in their school.” The report states that the school, “has the highest expectations for all pupils, both for their academic achievement and to be part of a positive and inclusive school community”. We are proud that OFSTED recognised this because it really is at the heart of what we are trying to achieve.

“The house and sixth form teams provide exemplary pastoral care”

Strong pastoral care is the foundation stone for any school. The inspectors found a happy and safe school and commented on the “exemplary” pastoral care which is given to pupils. We were delighted that the inspectors praised the culture of respect in the school. They said that “pupils are highly courteous and respectful, towards one another, and with staff and visitors”.

“Pupils and students immerse themselves in the life of the school”

The inspection team were hugely impressed by just how involved pupils were in the life of the school. They praised Balcarras for offering a “plethora of events and clubs”. We have always said that we want school to be fun. A key way to develop that sense of enjoyment is to ensure, not just that lessons are engaging and lively, but that there are lots of opportunities for pupils to engage in extracurricular activity.

“The school is meticulous in its design of the curriculum”

We have long been advocates for a broad and varied curriculum which has plenty of room for creativity and difference. As a group of educators we also pride ourselves that we are constantly striving to improve our teaching. The inspectors said that “pupils learn the precise knowledge and skills that support them as they move on to new learning.” Teaching is both an art and a science and we enjoyed several interesting discussions around this as the inspection unfolded. The inspectors were fulsome in their praise for the quality of teaching in the school.

“In lessons, pupils work hard and interact positively with their learning”

We are delighted that the inspectors picked up just how hard our pupils work. They really are hugely committed to their studies and that in a large part explains the success they achieve. The inspectors also felt strongly that pupils across the prior attainment range, and those with SEND, were supported very well so that, “all pupils learn the ambitious content of the curriculum.”

“The personal development programme meticulously embeds experiences throughout the curriculum to prepare pupils for life beyond the school” 

We are proud of our personal development provision and it was pleasing that the inspectors judged that it was holistic and embedded right throughout the school. They also praised our provision for careers saying that it is “skilfully” integrated across the curriculum.

Pupils from Balcarras Ecoclub have been looking at more ways to make our school more sustainable. They worked on a project organised by the charity 'InterClimate Network' and local business 'Benefact house' to create a media campaign for one of our projects. 

The group focused on Energy monitoring in school and created a slogan and video to promote our scheme to reduce the amount of energy we produce as a school. In September, we will launch this campaign to get tutor groups involved in making sure lights, computers and smartscreens are turned off when not in use. 

As a school we have taken a number of steps to reduce our carbon footprint. We have 2 set of 10KW solar panels, and have just installed 5 electric charge points for staff and visitors to the school. Over the summer we are putting in an inverter to reduce the demand for electricity, This will lower the voltage to 220Volts and is designed to lower our CO2 emissions by 6%.

The end of the trip saw pupils using social media to promote the event as well as making a video. Watch this space next September for more updates.

Click here to see the High School Leckhampton Ofsted report..

Click here for more information.

Mr Burke represented the Balcarras Trust at the event and even had to make a short speech when the evening’s host, Laura Minchin, announced the High School as the winner.

The photograph below shows Mr Burke alongside colleagues from Kier Construction, Gloucestershire County Council and Evans Jones Planning.

In his speech Mr Burke thanked everyone involved in the design and construction of the building for delivering a school which has first rate facilities.

Dominic Burke, CEO of the Balcarras Trust, gave a short speech at the opening ceremony as did Helen Wood, the Headteacher of The High School Leckhampton. The Trustees of the Balcarras Trust, the governors, staff and pupils of The High School, representatives of Gloucestershire County Council, Kier construction and AHR architects were all in attendance.  

Mr Burke used his speech to thank all of those people who had been involved in the project from the start. A copy can be found below. 

We are proud of all of the people from the Balcarras Trust who have worked so hard to bring the school to life. Mrs Wood and her team have done a superb job of transferring the school into their new site. We wish them well for the future. 

Mr Burke Talk at Opening of The High School Leckhampton 

Thankyou Mr Davidson for your kind welcome and could I also extend a warm welcome to the Lord Lieutenant. It is very kind of you to perform this important duty for us today. 

This is indeed an exciting occasion for the Balcarras trust and for all of you young people here. Today marks the official opening of the school. This school began its journey way back in the spring of 2017 when the local authority announced that they would be seeking sponsorship for a brand new secondary school in the south Cheltenham area. 

The governors at Balcarras School thought long and hard before deciding to put in a bid. The first and perhaps most crucial decision we made was to put Ian Davidson in charge of the bid writing team. Ian coordinated the document which ran to 120 pages and involved advice from Chris Healy, former head of Balcarras, the senior team at Balcarras and the governors. I would like to thank Mr Healy for his contribution and also to thank him for his superb leadership of Balcarras between 1996 and 2016 which put the school in the position to be able to put in a bid for sponsorship.  

Eventually three Trusts were shortlisted by the local authority and Neil Baxter, Rosi Shepherd and I represented Balcarras at the interview process. It went well hence we are standing here today. 

Once we were appointed as sponsor the work of designing the school began. We decided to appoint Jeff Arris who is the IT manager at Balcarras as project manager representing Balcarras. This was our second most crucial decision Jeff’s attention to detail has long been legendary at Balcarras but his legend is now well known by colleagues at KIER and Gloucestershire! 

We were involved alongside colleagues from Gloucestershire County Council is selecting Kier as the principal contractor. This was the third crucial decision and again we got it right. I’d like to thank colleagues from Kier particularly John Gorman who led the design meetings with great skill, Jeremy Mann who had overall responsibility for the build and Paul Ingram who managed this great project through to its finish.  

With the appointment of KIER the next big decision was the choice of the architect. Again we had lots of candidates to choose from but the presentation from AHR stood out. Working alongside Matt Colclough, Gary Overton, Dagmara Scott and others was a fascinating experience. We literally started from a blank piece of paper and designed the school step by step. So many times different bits of the school moved location, for example the music department migrated around the building before finally settling just behind this hall and above the Head’s office. I remember on more than one occasion seeking reassurances that the Head would not be disturbed. Mrs Wood they told me you wouldn’t be and I do hope that has been the case. 

Throughout the process of design we were determined to negotiate as hard as we could so that we obtained the best possible facilities for the school. Wide corridors, the independent drama studio, the sports gallery amongst other things, were not part of the original design. 

I would like to publicly thank colleagues from Gloucestershire County Council for their commitment to the scheme and their willingness to listen to our ideas (well demands!) for extra facilities. This is not an exhaustive list but we would like to acknowledge Clare Medland, who had overall responsibility, Rob Barnes, Paul Wakeman, Nick Denman, Gareth Vine and the two Directors of Education Tim Browne and Kirsten Harrison. A particular thank you must go to Tracey Eales who did a superb job of coordinating everyone.  

The final, and probably most important decision we made was to appoint Mrs Wood as Head of The High School. Mrs Wood has done an amazing job of brining this school to life over the past two years. Initially operating on the Balcarras site, the school has now transferred to this wonderful new facility. Mrs Wood we wish you and your wonderful school all the best for life in your new home. 

Dominic Burke, CEO of The Balcarras Trust, 30^th November 2022 

Please see news items here: 

The High School Leckhampton 

https://www.hsl.gloucs.sch.uk/news/?pid=11&nid=3&storyid=162 

Balcarras  

https://www.balcarras.gloucs.sch.uk/news/?pid=3&nid=1&storyid=731 

Please also see article written for the Balcarras School Magazine by Dominic Burke, CEO   

https://www.balcarras.gloucs.sch.uk/news/?pid=3&nid=1&storyid=727 

https://www.soglos.com/hot-list/business/10-stand-out-sustainable-building-projects-in-gloucestershire-in-2022/20595/ 

The Balcarras Trust is proud to have been involved in every stage of the design process and is delighted with the final outcome. 

Later this month the school will have its official opening ceremony presided over by Edward Gilespie OBE, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire.  

Please click here for more information.