Lead Practitioner of Literacy
- Employer
- Birmingham City Council
- Location
- King Edwards VI Balaam Wood Academy New Street Longbridge Birmingham B45 0EU
- Salary
- LP4
- Closing date
- 6 Feb 2025
- Reference
- JOB003042
View more categoriesView less categories
- Sector
- Education
- Job Type
- Schools / Academies - Leadership Roles, Head of subject
- Contract Type
- Permanent
- Working Pattern
- See advert details
- Hours
- Full-Time
Job Details
Start date: 28 April 2025
King Edwards VI Balaam Wood Academy
New Street
Longbridge
Birmingham
B45 0EU
Telephone number: 0121 464 9901
Contact email: e.wills@bwa.kevibham.org
Contract type: Permanent
“Pupils and staff enjoy belonging to a vibrant school community where caring, respectful relationships are the norm” – Ofsted (January 2024)
We are welcoming applications for the post of Lead Practitioner of Literacy at King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy, an academy recently graded as ‘Good’ by Ofsted in all four areas in January 2024. We are seeking an experienced, driven and bold practitioner to play a pivotal role in shaping the academic journey of our pupils from 28 April 2025 or an earlier start if possible.
The ideal candidate will be ambitious about improving outcomes in whole school literacy and reading, working closely with an expanding team, senior leaders responsible for teaching and curriculum, the SENDCo and our Librarian of our fully stocked library to ensure there is targeted literacy support available for all of our learners. The ideal candidate will be collaborative and confident in delivering CPD to colleagues on all strands of literacy to ensure a passion for reading is at the heart of our academy. Most importantly, you will be joining a small, kind and powerful community of Senior Leadership, Teaching and Support staff where “staff feel valued and appreciate how their workload and wellbeing are considered by leaders at all levels” as recently noted in our Ofsted Inspection Report.
King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy is a dynamic and forward-thinking school, recently recognised as the most improved school in the West Midlands by the Fairer Schools Index (January 2025). We are also incredibly proud to be the first Birmingham City Academy School in conjunction with Birmingham City Football Club, fostering a unique and inspiring environment for our pupils.
We are incredibly proud of the journey our academy is on and we are looking forward to meeting other like-minded professionals who want the best outcomes for our pupils who “know staff have high expectations of them and want them to be successful.” Both staff and pupils are “rightly proud of how much Balaam Wood has improved over recent years” in which “daily life reflects the school’s values of being bold, ambitious, collaborative and kind.” We are looking forward to receiving your application and welcoming you to our vibrant community.
King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy is located in south west Birmingham. The academy is rapidly improving and continuing to benefit from having joined King Edward VI Academy Trust Birmingham which has led to investment across the academy, including the availability of cutting-edge technology in each classroom. King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy is proud to be part of The Schools of King Edward VI Birmingham which supports its schools, faculties/departments and individual staff to work collaboratively. The successful candidate will benefit from a wide range of professional development opportunities encompassing the potential to experience schools across the Foundation and to pursue professional qualifications. There will be opportunities to collaborate with other schools and to benefit from their expertise and resources.
King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy has the highest aspirations and expectations for all members of its community. As a member of staff, you will be valued, challenged and supported in making a difference to the lives of our young people. We expect the same of our pupils. We demand courtesy, endeavour and resilience from all of our pupils and the support of their parents and carers.
We are exceptionally proud of our academy and our young people and would encourage interested applicants to come and spend some time with the leadership team to understand our shared vision, have a look around and experience what life is like as part of our community.
The King Edward VI Foundation, Birmingham, is a progressive charitable organisation which has supported excellence in education across the city since 1552. Our schools are diverse in nature but have a common purpose and commitment to achieving our mission of “making Birmingham the best place to be educated in the UK”.
Our Academy Trust currently consists of two independent schools, six selective, and five non-selective academies. Our recent expansion into a wider diversity of local communities is enabling us to accelerate our strategies for improving the life chances of young people in Birmingham, whatever their background.
The King Edward VI Academy Trust Birmingham (“the Academy Trust”) was established in 2017 and is made up of the academies outlined above. The academies receive back office central support services including governance, from the Foundation Office (a central support services function), with several staff being seconded from the Foundation to deliver support services to the Academy Trust and the academies themselves.
Our highly focused five-year strategy aims to build on our existing strengths and heritage and deliver our ambitious growth strategy which aims to bring in a further five academies over the next five years.
How to Apply
A full job description and an application pack for this post, can be found on our website.
Alternatively, an application pack can also be obtained from:
Address: King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy, New Street, Frankley, B45 0EU
Email: e.wills@bwa.kevibham.org
To arrange a visit to the academy, please contact Miss E Wills, Head’s PA, on 0121 464 9901.
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.
Company
Working for Birmingham City Council is more than just a job; it's about making life better for the 1 million plus people who live and work in the city.
We welcome people from diverse and underrepresented communities and encourage applications from, those with caring responsibilities, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, neurodivergent, disabled and LGBT+ people. As part of our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, we are committed to promoting and supporting the physical and mental health of all our staff and removing barriers to improve inclusion. We are making significant strides to understand and continuously improve our employees’ experience and we are committed to implementing progressive diversity talent management.
Information for applicants with a disability
We are a proud Disability Confident Employer. We encourage applicants to disclose disabilities, so we can support them fully during our recruitment process and make any necessary reasonable adjustments. Please contact: 0121 675 7070 option 3 (lines open between 8.45am to 5.15pm Monday to Friday).
If you require an application in an alternative format, such as Braille or you are unable to complete an application form via WMJOBS, please contact bccHR@birmingham.gov.uk. When you have completed your application form this can be returned to bccHR@birmingham.gov.uk or for Braille applications these can be posted to, Recruitment Team, 2nd Floor, 10 Woodcock Street, B7 4BG.
The Council is a fantastic place to work. You will find an organisation that is both challenging and supportive; with a leadership impatiently adventurous in its pursuit of excellence.
There is a clear vision which is ensuring that the Council is working for communities today and building for tomorrow, we focus our resources on five key priorities:
- A Prosperous Birmingham: through a focus on inclusive economic growth, tackling unemployment, attracting inward investment, and maximising the benefits of the Commonwealth Games.
- An Inclusive Birmingham: through a focus on tackling poverty and inequality, empowering citizens, promoting diversity and civic pride, and supporting and enabling all children and young people to thrive.
- A Safe Birmingham: through a focus on making the city safer, safeguarding vulnerable citizens, increasing affordable housing, and tackling homelessness.
- A Healthy Birmingham: through a focus on tackling health inequalities, encouraging physical activity and healthy living, supporting mental health, and improving outcomes for adults with disabilities and older people.
- A Green Birmingham: through a focus on street cleanliness, improving air quality, continuing the route to net zero, and becoming a city of nature.
We see the Council’s role as providing strategic leadership – that’s being able to visualise a new future for the city and equipping others to share our vision. We want to ensure the provision of services for all, so we can support those least able to support themselves by working with partners and putting citizens and neighbourhoods at the heart of our decision-making.
We are always looking for people who put the customer at the centre of their approach, with a commitment to excellence to help us achieve our vision. We will support you to develop and thrive in your role, building a pathway for long-term success, with lots of development opportunities, such as apprenticeships.
In return, we offer you excellent terms and conditions, generous annual leave, a great pension scheme, well-being support, annual travel passes and discounts at a number of city centre establishments.
Birmingham City Council is a Foundation Living wage employer - known as the Birmingham Living Wage. The Birmingham Living Wage, is determined by the Living Wage Foundation on an annual basis by the Centre of Research in Society Polity at Loughborough University. The current rate can be found at: www.livingwage.org.uk.
For the awards and support for our employees, please follow https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/homepage/169/job_vacancies
- Website
- http://birmingham.gov.uk/
- Telephone
- 0121 675 7070
- Location
-
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham
West Midlands
B2 2XU
United Kingdom
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