Location: Barnet, London — a five minute walk from High Barnet tube station
Start: September 2019
Opportunity for an exceptional candidate to be a founding senior leader, shaping a brand new Ark secondary school in Barnet
Next September, Ark Pioneer, a non-selective secondary school, will open its doors to our brand new building in Barnet and welcome in our first year 7. By the time they reach year 13, we’ll have over a thousand pupils. We will deliver a standard of education matching the very best schools in the country. Our vision is that every pupil leaves Ark Pioneer with real options, be it embarking on the university course of their choice or starting out in their chosen career.
We are recruiting a highly effective senior leader to work in close partnership with the principal and senior team to embed this vision and develop an outstanding school.
Senior leadership experience will not be a determining factor. The successful candidate will grow with our school: we will develop you, providing one-to-one support, coaching and access to extensive network training. You will also have the opportunity to collaborate on, and lead, network-wide projects.
The ideal candidate will
· Have a strong academic background, with good A Levels, or equivalent, and a good degree.
· Have the commitment, skills and character required to build a school from scratch
· Combine subject matter expertise with a passion for teaching their subject
· Share the Ark Pioneer vision and be aligned with the six pillars underpinning it.
· Value and support practices driving continued progress across the network of Ark schools.
Please submit your application by midnight on Monday 7th January. For further information, a confidential discussion or any technical queries please contact Aishling Ryan, the principal, at aishling.ryan@arkonline.org
Closing Date: Monday 7th January
First Stage Interviews: Monday 14th January
Second Stage Interviews: Wednesday 16th / Friday 18th January
Salary: Competitive
Contract: Full-time hours, permanent contract
Ark Pioneer Academy Vision.pdf
Job Description and Person Specification.pdf
We value diversity and are committed to safeguarding and promoting child welfare. The successful candidate will be subject to DBS and any other relevant employment checks.
Job Description: Assistant Principal
Reports to: The Principal
Start date: September 2019
Salary: Competitive
The Role
The assistant principal will work closely with the principal and senior team to embed Ark Pioneer’s vision and build an outstanding school from scratch. You will be play an important role in the overall leadership and management of the academy and should be prepared to lead on aspects of any of the six pillars:
· High aspirations including enrichment, careers & destinations
· Rigorous academic curriculum including timetabling, assessment & data
· Excellent teaching and collaborative planning
· Strong discipline including our pastoral care systems and safeguarding
· Instilling values and our school PSHE & character programme
· Quality training including NQT and ATT mentoring, coaching and weekly teacher and leadership training
The specific responsibilities of each assistant principal will be agreed annually and will be subject to change as the school grows. Each member of the senior team will have the opportunity to gain experience in more than one aspect of school leadership in preparation for headship.
Key responsibilities
· Embed Ark Pioneer’s vision in all school provision and ensure it feeds into the annual school evaluation and development plan
· Instil an ethos and culture of high expectations in every aspect of academy life
· Safeguard all pupils, and promote and maintain the safety and wellbeing of pupils and staff at all times
· Build effective external relationships, including with parents, the wider community and other stakeholders
· Support practices that improve provision across the Ark network
Outcomes and activities
Vision & Leadership
· Communicate the academy vision effectively to pupils, staff and wider stakeholders
· Contribute to the establishment, implementation and review of whole school systems and policies
· Feed into the codification of the academy’s provision to embed high quality practice in all areas
· Demonstrate a commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of the academy’s community
· Build and maintain strong working relationships with the community, agencies, and stakeholders, including parents and the Governing Body
· In the absence of the principal and vice principals, undertake the professional duties of the principal as reasonably delegated
Management & Training
· Line manage middle leaders and/or operational leaders, and oversee their development
· Ensure culture and ethos of the school, along with the pillars, inform all practice in line-managed departments
· Develop all staff in line-managed departments as educational leaders and ensure all post-holders are systematically trained to complete their roles to an exceptionally high standard
· Deliver high quality training as part of the annual staff induction and CPD programme
· Coach and/or mentor staff as required
Culture and ethos
· Contribute to the development of clear systems to establish and maintain a positive and disciplined climate for learning in classrooms and around the school
· Complete duties around the school, modelling best practice for all staff
· Promote a culture of safety and wellbeing across the school, where all practice is fully compliant with our safeguarding policy and issues are dealt with in a timely fashion
Teaching
· Model outstanding teaching practice in terms of planning and preparation, teaching, marking and assessment
· Ensure that all pupils achieve at chronological age level or, if well below level, make significant and continuing progress towards achieving at level
Development of the Ark Network
· Share codification and innovation work with others in the network to develop great practice
· Value and support practices driving continued progress across the network of Ark schools
Other
· Undertake, and when required, deliver or be part of the appraisal system and relevant training and professional development
· Undertake any other responsibilities as directed by the principal
Person Specification: Assistant Principal
Qualification Criteria
· Strong A Levels or equivalent
· Qualified to degree level and above
· Qualified to teach and work in the UK.
Experience
· Experience of having led and managed a team of people
· Experience of having worked successfully in at least one school in an urban, multi-cultural setting, teaching pupils from backgrounds of socio-economic disadvantage
· Experience of having led, or significantly contributed to, the success of a whole school initiative
Behaviours
Leadership
· Able to work in close harmony with the Principal and senior team
· Management style that encourages participation, innovation and confidence
· Ability to lead, coach and motivate staff within a performance management framework, including professional development and effective management of underperformance
· Strong interpersonal, written and oral communication skills
· Resilience and motivation to lead the academy through day-to-day challenges
· Genuine passion and a belief in the potential of every pupil
· Motivation to continually improve standards and achieve excellence
· Commitment to the safeguarding and welfare of all pupils.
Vision and strategy
· Vision aligned with Ark Pioneer’s high aspirations and high expectations of self and others
· Understands strategies to establish consistently high standards of behaviour in an inner city school and commitment to relentlessly instilling these strategies
· Excellent organisational skills
· Competent in the use of data to inform and diagnose weaknesses
Teaching
· Understands what outstanding teaching practice looks like, how to diagnose and implement effective strategies to raise learning standards.
Leading External Relationships
· Can develop and maintain effective working relationships with parents and the wider community
· Ability to work collaboratively with partner stakeholders, agencies and peers in the Ark network
Other
· Commitment to equality of opportunity and the safeguarding and welfare of all pupils
· Willingness to undertake training
· This post is subject to an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure.