Head of School

Head of School (Farnborough Spencer Academy)

Location: Farnborough Spencer Academy, Clifton, Nottingham, UK

Education Phase: Secondary

Working Pattern: Full-Time

Contract Type: Permanent

Application Deadline: Monday, 24th March 2025

Interview Date: 27th and 28th March 2025

About us

The role offers the opportunity to:

• Continue and build upon the successes of the last few years, since the Academy joined the Spencer Academies Trust in 2018.
• Continue the journey of improvement since the Academy achieved its “Good” Ofsted rating in September 2022.
• Work with amazing young people and staff. As Ofsted put it, “Pupils treat each other with respect and kindness. They laugh and smile. They enjoy positive relationships with staff who know them well.”
• Work with a committed staff team who routinely go the extra mile to ensure all our students succeed.
• Have an opportunity to shape and influence Farnborough Spencer Academy as we continue to be oversubscribed.
• Work within a well-established, visionary Trust to design and offer an innovative education to local children.

The Farnborough Spencer Academy community is looking for an experienced leader who:

• Will take Farnborough forward, building on the solid foundations in place.
• Is highly motivated, with a can-do attitude.
• Will have a strong moral drive to improve standards of achievement for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
• Will have the highest expectations of both students and staff.
• Demonstrates the urgency and resilience needed to sustain a culture of openness and high performance – relentlessly challenging the team to work through any barriers to succeed.
• Has a desire to collaborate with and contribute to the Spencer Eco-system, particularly within the full secondary team.

In return

You will become part of a leading regional high performing Trust. Spencer Academies Trust is an educational charity, Multi-Academy Trust and Sponsor of Academies. We educate over 18000 children and young people in our academies and employ more than 2700 teachers, leaders and educational support professionals across the East Midlands. We aspire to be a leading regional high performing Trust, with a national reputation for excellence.

We currently have 17 primary academies, 8 secondary academies, and 1 primary aged special school in our family of schools. All our schools benefit from the collaboration and added value that being a member of our Trust offers and share our values and beliefs. Spencer Trust academies share an ambition to deliver results that compete with the very highest performing schools in the country and deliver a curriculum for students that is underpinned by breadth, opportunity, and quality: one that seeks to give young people the opportunity to develop into well-rounded global citizens that believe they can influence positive change in the world.

Mission

Our Mission is to deliver the best possible outcomes for children and young people.

Vision

Spencer Academies Trust is an exceptional Trust, providing an outstanding education for local children.

We Believe:

• All children have a right to a quality education regardless of background or ability and have an entitlement to the opportunity of a secure progression route in their learning and development.
• Schools are stronger when they work in collaboration with each other, operate within a ‘family’ and are open to a true sense of partnership.
• We grow the effectiveness and sustainability of our schools by developing the people within them, and that through shared and equitable responsibility for quality and outcomes; we achieve more.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with other Principals and Heads of School, the Director of Secondary Education, and the Trust Executive Team. You should have the qualifications, skills, and experience to provide inspirational and effective leadership and management of the Academy, ensuring pupils make outstanding academic and personal progress.

How to Apply

Applicants will be expected to share our Trust’s high aspirations and expectations for students and employees. If you are excited by the prospect of working with us, want to know more about the type of professional we are looking for and what we can offer, please visit .

If you have any questions regarding the role or would like an informal discussion or a visit to the school with the Executive Principal or Secondary Director, please contact Natalie Jones via email – to arrange a convenient time.

Applications can be submitted through our Every Candidate Portal.

Early application is strongly encouraged as we reserve the right to interview and close the advert ahead of the closing date.

Spencer Academies Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our children and young people. Therefore, we expect everyone to share this commitment. All appointments are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, including a satisfactory Enhanced criminal records with Barred List Check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and the completion of Level 2 Safeguarding training. It is an offence to apply for the role if an applicant is barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children (where the role involves this type of regulated activity).

The Trust and its member academies are committed to promoting equality and diversity in both employment and education provision. We aim to ensure that students, parents, governors, employees, contractors, partners, clients, and other stakeholders within the Trust community are treated fairly, and with dignity and respect regardless of Protected Characteristics.

Spencer Academies Trust is a Disability Confident Committed Employer.