Principal

Welcome to Ada!

We are a high performing specialist College focused on developing our student’s technical, creative and entrepreneurial mindsets, skillsets and networks. We are passionate about educating, supporting and creating the next generation of digital pioneers, and we are particularly proud of our focus on identifying and supporting students from tougher backgrounds and young women. 

All our students are passionate about tech and we are committed to supporting them to progress onto highly skilled roles in the digital sector. All students study computer science for at least 60% of their curriculum, with regular off-curriculum industry projects with partners such as King Games, Deloitte and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. They then study a range of related A-levels: Maths,  Graphics, Psychology, Physics and Business Studies. 

From our first cohort over 80% of our alumni went on to study tech related degree courses  or progressed into higher level technical apprenticeships with firms like Google, Deloitte and Siemens. Many of these apprentices continue their learning at Ada through our Higher Level and Degree Apprenticeships offering a unique and integrated progression pathway for our 6th form students. 

As a college in Tottenham Hale, North London, we have a very diverse student body from a wide range of backgrounds and are committed to using tech as a tool for social mobility. We offer a supportive culture for students and staff and our excellent industry links mean staff get regular formal and informal CPD to support their learning and development as teachers but also as leaders. 

We believe we offer our students an unparalleled 6th form experience that prepares them for the world of work and continuous learning and combines academic stretch with practical rigour. We need an outstanding leader who is passionate about Ada’s unique mission and proposition to take the 6th form to a new level of consistent excellence, embed our values even more deeply in our culture and curriculum, grow our volumes and magnify our impact in a variety of other ways. 

In November, we were rated ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ features  by Ofsted  and we are now looking for a brilliant leader to take our 6th form to the next level of excellence.

About You

We are looking for a dynamic and inspirational leader for our 16-19 provision.   Are you:

• Currently the member of the leadership team at a school/academy/college and looking for your next growth opportunity?
• Working at a growing school/academy/college and are excited to apply your skills in a new environment?
• Passionate about tech and/or the opportunities tech can offer young people to transform their life chances? 
• Excited to lead a 6th form with arguably the highest quality and volume of industry relationships in the country? We welcome over 50 different employers a year to work with our students in meaningful ways, involving them in curriculum design and delivery, workshops, presentations, coaching sessions and networking opportunities
• Challenged by the opportunity to lead a ground-breaking specialist technical college with amazing, high quality computer science teachers with the potential to impact computer science education and technical education at a national scale? 

Experience and Ambition

A successful candidate will be able to evidence through experience:

• You are motivated by Ada’s specialist nature and want to contribute your proven experience in managing and leading teams and individuals to deliver consistently high quality teaching and learning, leading to outstanding outcomes and progression for students. 
• You have led on school/college wide initiatives, comfortably managing a large and complex workload, making informed decisions and clearly communicating your expectations.
• You have a strong knowledge and understanding of how data can be utilised to drive decision-making and you can demonstrate how you have and will drive through continuous evidence-based improvements. 
• You have a clear vision of what excellent teaching and learning needs to look like at Ada, building on your prior experience, as well as improving the systems and processes needed to ensure consistency. 
• Working closely with a small 6th form leadership team, teachers and operations staff and benefiting from our philanthropic support form industry partners, means you will have the resources to deliver success for our students. 
• You are expected to play a leadership role as part of the College’s Senior Leadership Team that sits across our Apprenticeship Programme and relevant supporting Operational teams.  

Key Individual Responsibilities

• Be the visible leader in the sixth form ensuring that staff and students have a clear point of leadership
• Develop the leadership capacity of the 6th form at the senior and middle leadership levels through coaching, training and modelling
• Lead the 6th form to ever better academic outcomes in computer science and across our A-level provision and that their progression is exceptional 
• Own the 6th form budget and maximise its impact on our students 
• Work with the CEO and Dean to grow the impact of the 6th form provision exploring different avenues and opportunities for expansion in future years

Deadline for submission:  midday on 3 April 2019