Start date: 1 January 2025

Firs Academy
Dreghorn Road
Birmingham
B36 8LL
Telephone number: 0121 464 3792

Contact email: awinters@whmat.academy

Contract type: Permanent  

Firs Academy is in a position to appoint a Head Teacher on a permanent contract from 1 January 2025. Part of the success of the school lies in delivering the vision and mission, to give every pupil the chance to achieve their full potential in a safe, welcoming and vibrant learning environment.

At Firs, the rights of all children to make a positive future contribution to society are respected by prioritising learning.

We challenge pupils to attain high academic and personal outcomes, setting and achieving ambitious goals in all they do. Our curriculum is broad, balanced, and knowledge-rich meeting individual needs and interests, building on children’s natural curiosity. Our expectations and values encourage pupils to work and play together positively, developing mutual respect by understanding each other’s cultures, faiths and opinions.

READY for LEARNING and READY for LIFE.

At Firs, children will not only develop and achieve academically, they will also develop lifelong values. The values we embed at Firs are:

• honesty – developing children who are truthful, trustworthy and genuine
• ambition – developing ambitious children who have a strong desire to achieve, providing a sense of direction and motivation towards life goals
• kindness – developing children who always treat others with kindness and respect

The person we are looking for will:

• place the needs of the school and its pupils ahead of their own needs
• have a holistic view of education and a desire to give our children memorable learning experiences
• seek out and welcome constructive professional feedback
• challenge other leaders appropriately and have the ability to ‘challenge up’
• a commitment to pupils’ welfare and well-being
• an understanding of how to build on, and further develop, the very good practice that already exists at our school
• embrace their own vulnerabilities and have the courage to be risk takers
• learn from others and grow as a team
• have high expectations and model these explicitly
• a strong track record, both as a teacher and school leader
• excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to inspire and motivate others
• a commitment to work collaboratively in our trust
• the ability to see the fantastic opportunities our school has to offer and the skills and enthusiasm to make things happen

We can offer you:

• a collaborative and inclusive culture, where team members will upskill you and give you regular opportunities to learn from each other in a safe and collaborative environment, both within your schools and trust-wide
• an opportunity to undertake structured CPD via access to the national college online CPD platform and/or apprenticeships such as level 7 senior leaders masters, with regular twilights
• access to career pathways and pledge to help you plan for and make your goals a reality via our professional growth and performance (PPG) process
• a wellbeing culture, with paid and unpaid time off to support life events via our life leave policy, access to a wellbeing champion and the opportunity to participate in our annual staff wellbeing survey with edurio, so we know and can respond to views
• access to 24/7 employee assistance programme (EAP), which includes confidential counselling, access to wellbeing advice and a lifestyle app called “my possible self”
• access to a suite of supportive policies, such as life leave, wellbeing, career break and family friendly
• access to a generous pension scheme known as the teachers’ pension scheme (LGPS)
• access to a comprehensive employee rewards package including long service awards, employee referral scheme, cycle to work scheme and contribution to glasses and eye-sight tests for eligible display screen users
• opportunity to be part of key trust-wide collaborative groups such as the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI working group) and wellbeing working groups, including menopause support and neurodiversity support
• onsite parking at all schools

This is a great opportunity for a senior leader, aspiring to headship, or for an experienced head, ready for a new challenge. A visit to our website will provide you with lots of additional information about our school and will, we hope, inspire you to apply for the role of head teacher. Visits are highly recommended, and we would be delighted to show you around. Informal enquiries can be made to Mr A Winters (Director of Primary) by e-mail to awinters@whmat.academy

NB CVs will not be accepted

We value our people and are dedicated to making sure that everybody feels empowered to bring their authentic self to work. We have an outstanding opportunity to work at Firs Academy as a Head Teacher

We promise to treat all candidates fairly, consistently and with respect throughout the application, assessment, and selection process.

We are also “happy to talk flexible working” subject to the operational requirements of the role.

Washwood Heath Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment.

How to Apply

Please apply via MyNewTerm.

This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff and to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to all necessary pre-employment checks, including: an enhanced DBS; Prohibition check; Childcare Disqualification (where applicable); qualifications (where applicable); medical fitness; identity and right to work.  All applicants will be required to provide two suitable references. 

Applicants please note: This post is not part of the City Council and the successful candidate will not hold a Birmingham City Council Contract of Employment. Please use the contact details in the advert for information on actual employment conditions.

Rehabilitation of offenders: This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020. Which means that when applying for certain jobs and activities certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’, so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. Further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide.

An online search will also be carried out as part of due diligence on all short-listed candidates.