A search partner for the school you’re building.
Every appointment either strengthens your school or costs you a year. Armitage Collective is built to get you the first kind, and keep them.
The level of service and the quality of the shortlist.
Every name on a shortlist here has been interviewed by me, spoken to about your school by name and compliance-verified. That happens before the list reaches you, not after you ask.
The vacancy costs more than the search.
Nobody feels a vacancy more than the department covering it.
- Classes get taught by people working outside their subject
- VCE cohorts lose continuity at the worst point in the year
- Good staff absorb the gap, then start looking themselves
- Every week open makes the next appointment harder
A reason for every name.
- Interviewed and screened by me, assessed specifically against the brief of your role
- References taken by phone where you want them taken, never a template email
- Interest and commitment to your role confirmed before I shortlist anyone
- VIT registration and Working with Children Check verified first
- If nobody fits, I tell you that instead of padding the list
Everyone who reaches your list can do the job. Your only decision is who fits the staffroom. I’m trying to save your time, not waste it. And if nobody fits, you get a call telling you that, not a longer list.
The roles I get called about.
Specialist and hard to fill roles. I’ll bring you the passive candidates who aren’t applying to ads.
If it’s tricky to fill or a specialist role, you’re in the right place.
Deputies, assistant principals and principals are a different process, run confidentially. How leadership search works
5 steps.
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A conversation, not a form
The team the person is joining, the cohort, where the school is headed, and what “great” looks like in your context. I don’t start a search until I understand what the role actually needs.
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The search
My own network first, then a mapped approach to people who are not looking. Your vacancy is never mass-mailed and your school is never named without your say-so.
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The shortlist
Every teacher on the list comes with a written reason for being there. Compliance verified before you read a name.
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Interviews and the offer
I coordinate the scheduling, prepare both sides properly, and manage the offer and the resignation conversation. That last part is where placements fall over.
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The first year
A replacement guarantee behind every appointment, and check-ins through the first year with both sides. Retention is the measure, not the placement.
Checked properly. Every teacher, every time.
Compliance is the part of this job that protects your students, so it is not delegated and it is not sampled. The same checks run on a term-length contract as on a head of department, and all of them are finished before a name reaches you.
Independent, Catholic, government and special education. I place across all four systems and have for years, and every one of them hires differently.
VIT registration checked against the register
VIT registration confirmed on the public register, not accepted as a photocopy. Number and expiry recorded against the candidate.
Working with Children Check validated
Card number and expiry recorded and validated. Re-checked before any subsequent placement, and anyone whose card lapses comes off the list until it is renewed.
References taken by phone
Spoken to, not emailed a template. Some schools take their own references, and where you do, I will not duplicate the work. Where you want me to take them, at least one is from a direct line manager and the notes go to you, including the parts that are not glowing.
Child Safe Standards, mine as well as yours
Armitage Collective operates in line with Victoria’s Child Safe Standards and Ministerial Order 1359 as they apply to a recruitment supplier.
If something lapses during a placement, you hear the same day
Not at the next review. That has a cost to me and it is still the only defensible way to run it. The full picture, including insurances and how candidates are checked, is on Working With Us.
Tell me about the role. Better, tell me about the school.
You will hear back from me personally, every time. If the role is not one I should be working on, that is what you will hear rather than a proposal.
Every appointment carries a replacement guarantee. No surprises on the invoice, and nothing you have not agreed first.
Onboarding a new supplier first? Tick the box below and the certificates of currency, privacy policy and terms come back in the same email.
Not ready to brief a role yet?
Have the conversation anyway. We build talent pools before you need them, so the best time to talk is well before the resignation lands. Tell me what you’re trying to build and I’ll tell you honestly whether I can help.