Job Summary
Working Pattern:
Full time
Advert Start Date:
09/01/2025
Advert End Date:
28/01/2025 11:59
Salary:
L16 - L20 £72,162 - £79,475 per annum
Hours per week:
Full Time
Job Category:
Schools - Teaching
Employment Location:
Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy
Further Information
Assistant Principal - Head of Sixth Form
Required as soon as possible, subject to all clearances being in place.
Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy is a successful 11-18 mainstream co-educational academy which has improved rapidly over recent years. We recently celebrated achieving a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating in our November 2022 inspection. The improvement in progress 8 scores from 2019 to 2022 indicates we were the most improved school in Gateshead and among the top 10% of schools for improvement in the North East of England. Whole school progress remained at similar levels into 2023, indicating that the improvements made have been embedded consistently.
The role of Assistant Principal - Head of Sixth Form combines curriculum leadership with pastoral responsibility: the Head of Sixth Form is, in effect, the headteacher of a school within a school. As such, we are looking for someone with a proven track record of excellent teaching and/or subject leadership up to A level, as well as experience or aptitude in pastoral work. The position is a wonderful opportunity in itself, and it also provides a springboard for further professional growth and career development.
Our commitment in recent years to the professional development of all our staff has resulted in substantially improved leadership, teaching and learning, pastoral care, and provision for students with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Over 20 of our colleagues have completed National Professional Qualifications, at all levels, and last year almost half of our teaching staff were directly (and voluntarily!) involved in Ambition Institute’s Transforming Teaching programme. This has led to a culture of coaching and peer-led staff development across the whole school.
Joining the leadership team in 2025, you will benefit from high standards of mentoring, support from your colleagues, and a commitment to your own further professional growth: this is a career-defining opportunity for the right person.
Our mission, to offer education that transforms lives, is lived out daily through our values of trust and respect, courage and ambition. We are a fully inclusive school, as shown by our rising intake of disadvantaged students, increasing representation of students from ethnic minorities, and our thriving Pride Club. Lord Lawson is a single academy trust of around 1300 students, including 120 in the sixth form, drawn from Birtley, Gateshead, and surrounding areas. Our finances are in good shape. Behaviour and attendance throughout the school are very good.
At present, however, our students do not fulfil their potential in the sixth form: this is acknowledged in the recent FFT Aspire evaluation of sixth form results and the external review of the sixth form that I commissioned in November 2024. There are great resources here: sixth form students and staff are articulate, motivated and keen to be involved in further improving their school. As Assistant Principal - Head of Sixth Form you will lead on improving academic standards at KS5. This will involve leading, and working with, all subject teams and senior leaders of teaching and learning and pastoral development. You will be expected to develop a clear vision for the Sixth Form, and foster a culture of academic excellence and personal growth. The successful candidate will also line manage careers education across the school. Careers education is a strength of the school, and we employ two full-time careers and enterprise advisers, one of whom focuses on the sixth form.
This is an exciting time to be part of Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy, as we seek to energise our sixth form and apply the same high standards that are already in place across the lower school. Since my appointment as Principal in June 2019, our school has improved rapidly and sustainably. We now have an excellent reputation in our local community, and we are heavily oversubscribed for Year 7 entry in 2025.
Levels of participation in extra-curricular activities are impressive. In consultation with parents, students and staff, we are developing a more strategic approach to character development and student leadership across the school. There is much still to be done, and I will welcome and support your ideas, your experience and your evidence-led practical approaches to meeting the challenges we face.
Application forms only available via recruitment@lordlawson.academy
If you are interested in finding out more about our school and this opportunity, I would be delighted to hear from you. Please feel free to contact me on 07936 364421 or via the school, and I will be happy to have a conversation and/or arrange a visit.
If successful you will be required to apply for an enhanced Disclosure.
Please supply an email address for each of your referees, all references will be taken up and verified prior to interview.
Closing Date: 12 noon Tuesday 28th January 2025
Shortlisting to take place: Wednesday 29th January 2025 and Thursday 30th January 2025
Interview Date: Tuesday 4th February 2025 and Wednesday 5th February 2025
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