Assistant Principal - School Improvement
Archway Learning Trust
Nottingham
- Salary:
- £67,898 - £75,049 per annum
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Apply by:
- 30 April 2026
Job overview
The role of Assistant Principal - School Improvement at Archway Learning Trust is an exciting opportunity for a highly credible, agile and values-driven leader who is motivated by helping schools embed consistent, high-quality practice that makes a tangible difference to pupils. Sitting at the heart of our ambition to deliver exceptional, inclusive education across all our academies, this role offers the chance to influence practice at scale and support meaningful improvement across diverse contexts.
At Archway, we are committed to securing excellence for every child through strong leadership, aligned systems and a culture of collaboration, professional trust and continuous improvement. As our Trust continues to refine and strengthen its approaches, the Assistant Principal - School Improvement plays a vital role in ensuring that Trust strategies are implemented with fidelity and impact at school level.
About You
First and foremost, you are an experienced and influential leader, with exceptional educational knowledge and the leadership ability to expertly navigate and interpret the educational landscape. You hold a deep understanding of the responsibilities, accountabilities and statutory duties intrinsic to this role, and you bring clarity and professionalism to complex, fast-moving environments.
You thrive in an innovative working environment, forming highly effective relationships and showing sensitivity to the needs of stakeholders across school communities. A strong strategic thinker, you are also someone who willingly rolls up their sleeves and gets involved in day-to-day operational challenges to support leaders and staff where it matters most.
You actively seek ways to improve your own practice and that of others, ensuring the organisation is efficient, effective and sustainable. You are deeply passionate about equity of opportunity and about creating inclusive environments where all children and adults can thrive. At your core is a strong moral purpose: to secure the very best deal for the children and young people we serve.
About the Role
We are looking for an experienced senior leader with a proven track record of securing school improvement - someone credible, adaptable and able to apply their leadership to any aspect of improvement. The breadth of this role is one of its great strengths: you will turn your hand wherever leadership is needed, providing modelling, coaching, guidance and targeted intervention to strengthen practice, systems and outcomes.
This is a hands-on, implementation-focused, impact-driven role, ensuring that Trust expectations translate into sustained improvements within classrooms, departments and wider provision.
As an Assistant Principal - School Improvement, you will:
Work closely with Principals, senior leaders, subject leaders and specialists across the Trust
Support schools to plan, deliver and evaluate high-quality provision
Build capacity rather than substituting for school-based leadership
Help ensure that Trust approaches are embedded securely and sustainably
Contribute to professional development, modelling and coaching staff to refine and embed practice
Share insight across the Trust and use evidence to evaluate impact and shape next steps
You will be part of a collaborative, forward-thinking Strategic School Improvement Team, working alongside Vice Principals and Trust Leaders to ensure coherent, aligned and evidence-informed improvement activity across all schools.
Who This Role Is For
This role is perfect for someone who thrives on practical problem-solving, influencing colleagues and securing meaningful change in classrooms and departments. If you are motivated by the opportunity to strengthen systems, raise standards and improve outcomes across a group of schools, we would be delighted to receive your application.
We warmly welcome you to get in touch for an informal, confidential conversation about the role and how it might support the next stage of your leadership journey.
We look forward to hearing how your experience, expertise and values align with our mission and the next phase of improvement across the Trust.
For more information about Archway Learning Trust and the vacancy, please visit https://www.archwaytrust.co.uk/vacancies/
Closing date: 9am on Thurday 30 April 2026.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is subject to the satisfactory completion of an enhanced DBS check, Barred List check, the receipt of satisfactory references, online searches and any other statutory checks that are required for the post. We are an equal opportunities employer.
About Archway Learning Trust
- Archway Learning Trust
- Aspley Lane, Aspley, Nottingham
- Nottinghamshire
- NG8 5GY
- United Kingdom
Archway Learning Trust, previously Bluecoat Academies Trust, was formed in April 2014 as a result of the very long and successful history of Bluecoat Academy. We are based in the heart of the city of Nottingham, providing high quality learning experiences for students from the ages of 3 – 18.
With the success of Bluecoat Primary and the development of our primary offer, Archway has been asked to support and work in partnership with a number of primaries across the region. This, along with more primaries joining the Trust, has enabled us to create an exceptional primary Senior Leadership Team to support Leaders in our schools.
Our Trust is made up of both Church of England academies and schools of no designated religious character. This unique blend has created a distinctive family of schools that are bound together through a passionate belief in the transformational power of education for every child.
Click here to learn more about our family of schools.
Our aim as a Trust is to shine a spotlight nationally and internationally on our inclusive ethos so that more schools and academies can be encouraged to take up our approach to inclusive, enriching, knowledge based teaching, preparing young people for lifelong learning based firmly on our Christian principles. All academies retain a high level of autonomy and individual character – understanding their own local context to best serve their community. In turn, it is our responsibility centrally to provide high quality support services, so that leaders at a local level can focus their efforts on shaping teaching and learning opportunities that are of the highest quality and continually improving.
It is our people that make our Trust – and we invest heavily into our colleagues to ensure they feel recognised, supported and developed. CPD and career development play a key role and the growth of our Trust is a truly exciting time for prospective candidates who are looking to further their careers in a dynamic learning community that has opportunity at every point to share and learn from each other in order to become the best that we can be.
It is our aspiration to be recognised as an employer of choice and to support this we work hard to develop our “Archway People Offer” and as part of this we have shaped an employee benefit package for colleagues including discounted travel, shopping and gym memberships. We also offer access to health and medical services and a cycle to work scheme. To hear directly from our colleagues about what makes Archway Learning Trust different click here.
We are proud of our diverse student population and passionate to create a staff team reflective of this diversity. We actively welcome applications from all backgrounds and you can be assured of a warm welcome at Archway.
To find out more about why you should work at Archway and the benefits we offer, please follow the links:
Join Us - Archway Learning Trust (archwaytrust.co.uk)
Archway Benefits - Archway Learning Trust (archwaytrust.co.uk)
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