Assistant Principal - Head of English

St Ivo Academy; Costessey; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health support line

Cycle to work

Enhanced family leave

Pension scheme

Free on-site parking

Job summary

St Ivo Academy in Cambridgeshire is seeking an Assistant Principal – Head of English to start in September 2027. You will lead high‑quality teaching, secure excellent outcomes across key stages and drive strategic development of the English department with broader school responsibilities.

The appointed leader will be a reflective practitioner with a proven track record of raising standards, building a scholarly culture and modelling the highest professional standards.

Job description

Assistant Principal - Head of English

To start: September 2027
Contract Type: Full time, permanent post
Salary: LS11-15

St Ivo Academy is building a team of exceptional and highly skilled teachers and leaders, committed to driving excellence and continuous improvement across our school. As Assistant Principal - Head of English, you will play a vital role in securing high‑quality teaching, learning and outcomes within the English department together with whole school responsibilities.

You will be a highly effective and reflective classroom practitioner, with a proven track record of fostering a scholarly culture that is rooted in high expectations, intellectual curiosity and consistently strong classroom practice. Through informed planning, effective assessment and responsive teaching, you will support students to achieve excellent outcomes across all key stages. You will also be experienced in successfully leading a team to ensure great outcomes in English.

This role is an ideal next step for a committed and resilient middle leader who upholds the highest professional standards, models Astrea values and is driven to deliver high‑quality education and life‑changing opportunities for young people.

About Us

St Ivo Academy is a large 11-18 comprehensive academy with a proud 70‑year history, serving around 1400 students, including a vibrant Sixth Form. We are inclusive and truly comprehensive, supporting students from all backgrounds and abilities—from those preparing for Oxbridge to our most vulnerable learners. We were rated as ‘Good’ in all areas in our most recent Ofsted inspection. Our ethos is simple: work hard, be kind, achieve more.

We are committed to a knowledge-rich curriculum and a traditional approach to teaching, behaviour and culture. We believe that schools must teach powerful knowledge, ’the best that has been thought and said’ and an ‘entitlement curriculum’ for all. We believe in explicit instruction and have been greatly influenced by Lemov’s ‘Teach Like A Champion’, Rosenshine and recent developments in cognitive science. We believe that the creation of a scholarly culture that is warm and strict, disciplined and joyful, where there is ‘purpose not power’, ensuring impeccable behaviour, where teachers can focus on teaching and pupils can focus on learning, underpins everything.

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, no matter what their background, prior attainment or needs. We want to ensure that all our students have the option to be able to go to university or aspirational alternative. We are not going to reduce expectations because of a child’s background or home life, or because they are new to English or have a special education need. In fact, the opposite is true. It is our job to redouble our efforts to help children overcome these barriers so that they can flourish.

We value our staff highly and treat workload very seriously. Our systems are high leverage, ensuring you can really focus on your core purpose - teaching, in a sustainable way, unhindered by bureaucracy or poor behaviour.

What we offer:

• A knowledge rich curriculum, built on ‘powerful knowledge’ and a traditional T&L approach built around Rosenshine and TLAC
• Collaborative planning with centralised, shared units of work and resources
• Opportunity to teach up to A Level
• 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 (you do not need to organise/run/chase them at all)
• No formal graded lesson observations - just ongoing ‘no-stakes’ instructional coaching, helping you to continuously develop
• Excellent ongoing CPD, career development and promotion opportunities.
• Opportunity to complete NPQs
• A very pleasant location in beautiful Cambridgeshire
• Health Support: access to AXA’s 24/7 health support line for medical advice.
• Cycle to Work Scheme: salary sacrifice deduction for bicycles and cycling accessories.
• Enhanced family leave: paid leave to support our people when they need it the most.
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme.
• Pension scheme: access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
• Convenience: free on-site parking.

Commitment to Safeguarding and EDI:

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 underrepresented groups. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to promoting a culture that ensures there are no barriers to the recruitment, development, and progression of disabled staff across the trust. We provide reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process to ensure disabled job applicants have the best opportunity to demonstrate their abilities.

Flexible Interview Dates

Please note that interview dates are flexible and the academy reserves the right to interview shortlisted candidates during the application window.