Assistant Principal - Personal Development

About Astrea Academy Woodfields

Welcome to Astrea Academy Woodfields and thank you for considering us as your school of choice. We have a unique approach to transforming the hearts and minds of young people so that they can go to university, or a real alternative, and live a great life.

As part of Astrea Academy Trust, we have used high-quality research and the experiences of the best schools to develop an ambitious curriculum, strong routines, and a life-changing programme of personal development. We believe in traditional approaches to teaching, and we value scholarship. In recognition of this, we refer to our young adults as ‘scholars’ to reflect the commitment that everyone makes to academic learning, here and beyond. We promote strong family values, manners, decency, hard work, and kindness. We do this by practising routines that enable us to make the most use of our time. We are both warm and strict so that scholars know we care and can succeed within firm boundaries.

We are curious, tenacious, and scholarly. Every scholar learns a classical musical instrument and practices this daily at home. They gain opportunities to play in orchestras and in world-class musical venues. Scholars complete two hours of homework a day and are supported to recall this information throughout the curriculum. Every person in school learns poetry by heart and will recite this publicly every day at the start and end of school. We all dine together as a family at lunchtime and serve each other food and tidy the table at the end of the meal. This is an extraordinary school that believes in simplicity and old-fashioned family values.

In our achievement-oriented culture, it is cool to be smart, and all scholars work hard to make the best of themselves. Working together, we support every child to get that place at university and a top job.

10 Great Reasons to Work Here

1. The curriculum is already planned using resources shared across all Astrea Academies. You need to intellectually prepare for lessons rather than plan from scratch.

2. We give feedback to scholars, there is no book marking.

3. Behaviour systems are centralised. The senior and pastoral teams organise detentions and children are polite and courteous. You can teach!

4. We have 8 INSET days a year to give you the opportunities and time you need to develop as a teacher.

5. Our house style is Teach Like a Champion (Lemov). There are no gimmicks, or high workload alternatives to simple and effective teaching from the front.

6. There are strong routines that leave very few grey areas. The school is very predictable and calm.

7. There is a free lunch if you eat with the scholars as part of Family Dining. This develops their manners and builds good relationships between staff and scholars.

8.We are a warm, welcoming and friendly place to work and learn. There are 750 scholars so you will know most people well.

9. SLT are visible and approachable. This means that issues can be resolved quickly.

10. Our beating heart is our performing arts programme. Every new starter gets a musical instrument and lessons, we all learn poetry by heart, we have shows and productions. You can get involved!

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion at Astrea Academy Trust

Astrea Academy Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.

Astrea Academy Trust embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. As an equal opportunity employer, we consider all requests for flexible working as we know that diversity fosters creativity and innovation.

We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities that we serve.  We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive and building our culture of belonging.  We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in Astrea’s workforce.  These include people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, LGBTQI+ people.

All successful appointments will be subject to suitability checks in accordance with KCSIE, including identity, Right to Work, prohibition, qualifications, online searches, two references and enhanced DBS check including the Children’s Barred List.

The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. Guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, which provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications and related exceptions, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-guidance-on-the-rehabilitation-of-offenders-act-1974