WANTED: Ipswich-based business with £6million turnover seeks director of finance and human resources. The business has 200 employees, 1,800 regular clients and the post is offering a salary of between £40,000 and £50,000 a year.

WANTED: Ipswich-based business with £6million turnover seeks director of finance and human resources.

The business has 200 employees, 1,800 regular clients and the post is offering a salary of between £40,000 and £50,000 a year.

There is nothing much unusual about that, apart from the fact that the business involved is Copleston High School and it is the first in Suffolk to look for a financial director to help manage its business.

But it is a sign of the times and could be just the first of many to take this step into the future.

The new post will replace one of the school's deputy heads, which should in turn allow it to employ another junior teacher to work in the classroom

At present the job is being done by Andy Leeder who has taken early retirement as deputy head and is due to leave the school in March.

He said: “I am by training a geography and history teacher who moved through the education system to be a deputy head.

“By then the amount of time I was spending teaching was comparatively small - most of my time was on management issues and dealing with budgets and so on.

“As the nature of schools change and they are now getting more control over their budgets it makes more sense to employ an expert in the field to provide this kind of management.”

Mr Leeder said the school was now much more heavily used - not just between 9am and 3.30pm Monday to Friday for 40 weeks of the year.

He said: “Copleston is a sports college and we are hoping to hear soon that our status has been confirmed for another period - and the director will have to manage the community side and the staff employed there.

“It is a very important job. We've had a lot of interest but we need to ensure we get exactly the right person.”

And the new appointment will allow the school to employ another teacher.

“Without wishing to discuss the salary of a deputy headteacher, the way this appointment will be financed will enable the school to make the appointment and then employ another junior teacher who will have more time in the classroom than I have had recently,” Mr Leeder said.

Weblink: www.copleston.suffolk.sch.uk