SENCo

Join Our Team as SENCO at Astrea Academy Dearne!

Salary: MPS/UPS plus TLR 1C £11,687

Start Date: September 2025

Are you passionate about ensuring students with SEND receive the support they need to maximize their potential? Do you want to make a lasting impact on our scholars, many of whom are disadvantaged, and rapidly accelerate their progress?

Astrea Academy Trust is seeking a dedicated leader to become the SENCO at Astrea Academy Dearne. This is an excellent opportunity for an existing or aspiring SENCO with a proven track record of whole-school impact. If you share our vision for educational excellence and have the drive to achieve rapid, transformational improvement, we want to hear from you!

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee the provision, assessment, support, and guidance for scholars with additional needs.
• Identify and support students who may have additional needs.

About Us: Astrea Academy Dearne is an 11-16 secondary academy in Barnsley, with around 1150 students. We are within commutable distance from Wakefield, Leeds, Doncaster, and Sheffield and are proud members of the Astrea Academy Trust family of schools. We have the highest aspirations for our students to achieve their very best and grow both as individuals and as members of their community. We are a truly comprehensive and inclusive academy, reflected in our approach to all areas of our work.

Our Commitment: We are dedicated to a knowledge-rich curriculum and a traditional approach to teaching, behaviour, and culture. We believe in teaching powerful knowledge, ‘the best that has been thought and said,’ and an ‘entitlement curriculum’ for all. Influenced by Lemov’s ‘Teach Like A Champion,’ Rosenshine, and recent developments in cognitive science, we create a scholarly culture that is warm and strict, disciplined and joyful, ensuring impeccable behaviour so teachers can focus on teaching and pupils can focus on learning.

Our Values: We are values-driven and our vision is to provide an inclusive, aspirational, and academic education for all our students, so that all of them will learn, thrive, and lead successful lives. We are unapologetically ambitious for every child, regardless of their background, prior attainment, or needs. We aim to ensure that all our students have the option to pursue higher education or other aspirational paths. We do not lower expectations due to a child’s background or home life; instead, we redouble our efforts to help them overcome barriers and flourish.

What We Offer:

• Extensive support and progression opportunities
• A knowledge-rich curriculum built on ‘powerful knowledge’ and a traditional T&L approach influenced by Rosenshine and TLAC
• Collaborative planning with centralised, shared units of work and resources
• An excellent curriculum and resources
• A feedback policy focused on whole class feedback – no onerous marking policies
• Disruption-free learning and a ‘warm/strict’ behaviour system
• Highly visible and supportive senior leaders who have your back
• Centralised detentions, including homework detentions (no need to organise/run/chase them)
• No formal graded lesson observations – just ongoing ‘no-stakes’ instructional coaching to continuously develop
• Excellent ongoing CPD, career development, and promotion opportunities across the Astrea South Yorkshire region
• Opportunity to complete NPQs
• An unrivalled professional progression model

What We Are Looking For: The successful candidate will be:

• A highly effective professional, who is able to motivate and encourage colleagues to share our vision.
• Aligned with our values and mission. If you fit with our culture, you will love working here.
• Someone who passionately believes that all children can achieve, no matter their starting point, background, or needs. Someone who does not make excuses for what children can achieve.

This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious practitioner wishing to further develop their career.

Interested in Applying? If you are interested in this role, looking for a new challenge, have a passion for education, or maybe all of the above, take a look at the Recruitment Pack and Job Description to find out more about the role and how to apply. We actively welcome visits and would be delighted to show you around our academy to appreciate fully our excellent learning environment. Please contact Hannah Peace (Hannah.peace@astreadearne.org) to arrange a visit.

Additional Information:

• This role profile is not exhaustive, and other duties can be found within the job description and person specification.
• Astrea Academy Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All posts are subject to enhanced DBS checks.
• We value diversity and encourage applications from candidates who are underrepresented in our workforce, including people from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, and LGBTQI+ communities.
• Interview dates are flexible.



If you are ready to take the next step in your career and contribute to our dynamic and forward-thinking team, we would love to hear from you. Apply today and be a part of our mission to create a positive impact!