Laetare is a newly established family of Religious Order schools, currently serving around 6,000 pupils and employing more than 600 staff. Our schools have strong individual identities, histories and traditions, united by a shared commitment to Catholic education and to the young people and communities we serve. Our work as a Trust is shaped by subsidiarity, solidarity, collaboration, transparency and equity, with respect for the distinctive charism and character of each school.
As the Trust develops, we now need to consolidate and strengthen our financial systems, processes and structures, improve organisational resilience and ensure that we have the capacity to support future growth.
The CFO will be the Trust’s senior professional lead for finance and a member of the Executive Team, providing advice, challenge and assurance to the CEO/Accounting Officer, Board and its committees. The role has responsibility for financial strategy, planning, reporting, forecasting, control, audit readiness, procurement and value for money. The CFO will also provide executive leadership to specified central operational functions through the line management of the relevant Heads of Service.
We are looking for someone with a strong record of senior financial leadership who has successfully improved financial performance, strengthened systems and controls and built effective and resilient finance functions. Some of our schools are managing deficit positions, and the successful candidate will need the experience and credibility to work with Principals and Trust leaders to develop sustainable plans and provide clear professional challenge where required.
This is an opportunity to make a significant contribution to a young and developing Trust. We want a CFO with professional rigour, sound judgement and the ability to see both the detail and the wider organisational picture. They will understand the responsibilities that come with stewardship of public funds and be able to build strong relationships while maintaining professional independence and accountability.
Candidates do not need to be Catholic but must be able to support the distinctive Catholic mission, values and ethos of Laetare and respect the individual charisms of our Religious Order schools.
