Assistant Principal in Bury

The successful candidate will be one of four Assistant Principals who, alongside the Principal, two Deputy Principals and an Operations Manager, will drive Unsworth Academy to ‘Exemplary Unsworth’. Your personality will fit with our culture of relentless dissatisfaction and continuous improvement. As a Senior Leader you will be expected to provide challenging and supportive influence on all aspects of the Academy.

The successful candidate will have strategic responsibility for Inclusion, leading the academy’s inclusive vision and ensuring equity, access and excellence for all learners. They will provide strategic oversight of SEND and inclusion, drive high standards of behaviour, attendance and personal development. The role will also champion adaptive teaching, ambitious curriculum pathways and effective intervention strategies to ensure all students, particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged learners, thrive both academically and personally.

As a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, the successful candidate will work closely with families and external agencies to promote safeguarding, wellbeing and inclusive excellence across the academy. The precise responsibilities of the role will be established after appointment to the position.

Unsworth Academy is a thriving, oversubscribed, co-educational and non-selective Bury high school. The school is on an incredibly exciting journey of school improvement. Our latest Ofsted report, in April 2025 was glowing and indicative of an outstanding judgement were it to have been a graded inspection. A new three-year development plan titled ‘Exemplary Unsworth 2028' was launched in September 2025. It will guide our journey to an even more sophisticated level of provision for the wonderful community of Unsworth.

At Unsworth Academy, our vision is to drive both the academic and character development of learners, so they can positively shape the society and communities they inhabit. We are unapologetically ambitious, fostering a culture built on individual ownership, holistic development and community strength.

At Shaw Education Trust, we believe every role has the power to transform a life. Whether you’re supporting behind the scenes, inspiring in the classroom, or leading with vision, you will be part of something truly meaningful. Our values — opportunity, integrity, community, and equity — guide everything we do. Our vision is “Opening doors to the world through the power of learning.” We bring this to life through our mission: working together to inspire communities where every school is valued, every voice matters, and every learner thrives.

We are a dynamic and growing family of primary, secondary, and special schools, proudly serving communities from Birmingham to Bury. Our people are our greatest asset, and we are deeply committed to their development through high-quality training, apprenticeships, talent development programmes, and research opportunities, we empower our staff to thrive as skilled, confident professionals. We champion wellbeing, value every voice, and foster a culture where you feel supported, motivated, and inspired to make a real difference.

You will join a collaborative network of schools where shared expertise and a strong professional community drive success. Every academy within our Trust has an equal voice, and every colleague plays a vital role in shaping tailored learning experiences that raise aspirations and build brighter futures.

If you have the passion, dedication, and drive to help shape lives and create futures filled with promise, we would love you to join our team. Together, let’s make the remarkable happen. We believe every child has the potential to be extraordinary.

In our secondary schools, we pride ourselves on our innovative approach to curriculum design, to ensure all our schools have breadth and ambition for all students, regardless of their starting points and barriers. Standard curriculum models don’t always engage all students, so we constantly seek to innovate and provide better opportunities to develop both knowledge and skills for life. We want our students to believe their curriculum is bold, exciting, purposeful, and ultimately leads to something meaningful for them.

Some examples of our innovation include moving towards an extended school day, to provide a world class enrichment programme and more opportunities for essential skills like reading and cultural capital. We are also introducing vocational and technical pathways, which run through the normal school curriculum but attract support from leading employers and universities to develop work-readiness in our students, so that they can progress onto T Levels and apprenticeships.

Our secondary schools are currently driving ‘PedTech’ across the sector: we believe teaching and technology should go hand-in-glove and are passionately committed towards providing a fully digitally enhanced curriculum. We are very close to achieving full 1:1 device delivery and are sprinting towards better use of iPads in lessons to enhance the experience and learning.

Shaw Education Trust offer the following employee benefits with your Teaching or Support Staff employment:

• An excellent Local Government Pension Scheme (Support Staff) / Teachers Pension (Teaching Staff)
• Generous holiday entitlement from your first day of employment (37 days holiday rising to 39 days after 5 years’ service including Bank Holidays)
• Access to Medicash Health & Wellbeing Plan: Enjoy health services designed to support your well-being.
• Free DiscountForTeachers Scheme for all staff (Support and Teaching), Exclusive discounts to save money with a wide selection of discounts and exclusive offers from hundreds of the biggest brands.
• Free Eye Tests
• Cycle to work scheme
• Access to our Institute of Education and fantastic opportunities to help you grow, contribute and flourish in your role and in the Trust.

We know our people are the key to our success and so we’re committed to ensuring the employment experience at Shaw Education Trust is a rewarding one. Colleagues within the Trust benefit from:

• Access to a full range of courses both in-house and professionally accredited. These courses include a variety of the National Professional Qualifications and the Early Career Teacher Programme delivered by Shaw Education Trust as a delivery partner for Ambition Institute.
• Experienced leadership and subject-specific support.
• Guidance from former HMIs and serving Ofsted Inspectors within the Trust.
• Access to the Trust’s Institute of Education and SCITT.
• Opportunities to work with different schools within the Trust as a Professional Advocate.
• Participating in peer reviews.
• Access to a suite of online courses.
• Placement projects within our family of schools.