Assistant Principal: Film & TV (Level 3)

This is a rare and exciting opportunity to apply for what we believe is one of the most significant roles in post 16 creative education in the country. Recently judged Outstanding in every category by Ofsted, we are on a mission at LSA to diversify the creative industries and ultimately empower a new generation of storytellers to create stories that change the world.

Opening in 2019, LSA is in its fifth year and now at an incredibly exciting part of our evolution. Our ambition is to deliver the best film and television education for post 16 students in the world. Over the previous four years we have worked hard to build and establish the framework of what world class creative education looks like. We constantly think hard about what this looks like, how we build the machine that creates a consistently world class curriculum, combined with sector leading teaching and learning and continually evolves according to the skills needs of the creative industries.

Weʼve made significant steps towards this and we are now looking for the right candidate who will be the visionary to amplify this work and take it to the next level to help us meet our ambition of being a truly world class school.

This role will be leading our Level 3 Film and Television department which is the largest at LSA and a critical central position to our success. Responsible for leading a team of four Heads who each oversee their own department, this position is accountable for the education of around 750 students at LSA. The post holder is responsible for setting the culture of the departments, helping to shape and define what world class creative education looks like and ensuring that the exceptionally high standards of LSA are maintained.

At LSA we are fortunate to work with some of the best talent in the sector and due to our founders and fundraising work we have access to high quality resources and our connectivity directly into industry is unparalleled. Combined with this, we have a wonderful cohort of bright, thoughtful, diverse young creative students who have chosen to come to LSA. This fortunate position means that many of the traditional barriers to success in education are lower which creates exciting opportunities. Because of this we feel there is a responsibility on us to truly deliver on our ambition, so our mindset is less about how to survive that has become too common in education, and more about how we ensure that we make the absolute most of this incredible opportunity. This work is hard as it requires us to fully commit to thinking deeply about what the best possible education looks like and having the vision to chart a course where there are no current models.

The candidate for this post should be inspired by this prospect and, as we all are at LSA, humbled by the prospect of the responsibility and scope of the mission. We are also fortunate to have an exceptionally strong group of department Heads and the candidate must be equipped to inspire their performance and manage the team in a way that drives the ambition of the organisation through all of their teams so that it reaches our students through carefully thought out lessons and curriculum.

We are truly thrilled to be looking for this exciting new candidate to join LSA and our Senior Leadership team. The opportunity to create the best education possible, whilst having the genuine connections with industry that lead to authentic outcomes for our wonderful students is a genuine joy and privilege.

If you would like to have an informal chat about the role or have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact. We look forward to hearing from you.

Role Responsibilities + Requirements

• Cultivate LSA’s Vision and embed its Values across every aspect of the school
• Work closely with the Vice Principal to ensure the design and delivery of the course is meeting the wider establishments vision
• Manage a team of course leaders who will themselves have line management responsibilities for teachers within the department
• Ensure performance management is robust and leaders and teachers within the department are continually developing their practice
• Ensure progress, attainment and destination data meets the ambitious targets LSA sets itself
• Teach a reduced timetable on the Film and TV Course
• Manage the department meeting schedule to ensure the department operates cohesively
• Collaborate with LSA’s industry partners to provide learning experiences and opportunities that align with LSA’s Vision and Values
• Oversees the regular collection and use of data and other contextual information to evidence student progress towards intended outcomes and engage with target setting, differentiation, monitoring and intervention
• Develop a department culture that takes an honest and open approach to teaching practice and welcome opportunities for feedback and development
• Safeguard the wellbeing of all students

LSA is a values-based organisation and therefore we are looking for people who can both reflect and identify with our core values. We have outlined below what we expect these to look like on a day-to-day basis.

Our vision requires us to have high standards. We want our students to be the leaders of the creative industries one day and thus our staff and provision need to reflect this. We are looking for people who can demonstrate the following:

• a track record of achieving outstanding student results
• experience of managing both teams and individuals with good results
• experience of developing curriculums that are delivered at scale
• experience of critically evaluating the impact of any intervention, project or plan
• excellent organisation and planning skills
• outstanding classroom practice with a proven record of ensuring the excellent progression of students across all abilities

As a relatively new institution, a large part of our early success has been as a result of the opportunity we were given to innovate and test new practices, processes and systems. This is a huge part of our culture and something we want to retain as we continue to grow. While this is incredibly exciting, it is also extremely challenging at times. We are therefore looking for people who are:

• comfortable with IT and technology - we use IT and specifically the Google Suite (Google Classroom, Gmail, Docs etc) extensively across the school. We are not looking for programmers but for people that will be comfortable in such an environment
• experienced with using data and other contextual information to inform practice
• able to innovate and look at conventional practices and problems from new angles to achieve ambitious outcomes
• skilled at implementing and developing student culture of high expectations and achievement

At LSA we have a strong vision for the development of our students and staff. One of our strengths is the diversity of these groups and therefore we are looking for people who can:

• be passionate about using LSA’s Vision to deliver outstanding outcomes
• take an honest, respectful and empathetic approach to people and situations
• be willing to have a strong, open and honest relationship with colleagues
• demonstrate high levels of professionalism

Our success to date has been based on the fact that we have been able to work together as a team effectively. We want to retain our collaborative culture and environment as we grow and we are therefore looking for people who can demonstrate the following:

• experience collaborating with other teachers or departments to improve practice
• outstanding relationship-building skills
• engaging and able to quickly build rapport with young people in a KS5 environment
• the ability to establish good working relationships with staff, students, parents and other relevant stakeholders including external agencies
• written and verbal communication skills
• the ability to coach and support students individually as well as in groups

Our work is hard; we are constantly solving new problems and we fail regularly. As a result of this, we have to be able to commit to a process of continuous learning and development in order to keep moving forward and avoid making the same mistakes. We are therefore looking for people who:

• take a proactive approach to their professional work and regularly go the extra mile
• hold a belief in the capacity for achievement in spite of circumstance
• have the ability to lead on high quality CPD sessions to strengthen pedagogy
• have a strong aptitude for learning to continuously develop personally and professionally
• take a solutions-focused approach to problems they encounter

Core Responsibilities

As a part of the above roles, you will:

• Work closely with the Vice Principal to ensure the design and delivery of the course is meeting the wider establishments vision
• Manage a team of middle leaders and teachers
• Ensure performance management is robust and leaders and teachers within the department are continually developing their practice
• Ensure progress, attainment and destination data meets the ambitious targets LSA sets itself
• Teach a reduced timetable
• Manage the department meeting schedule to ensure the department operates cohesively
• Collaborate with LSA’s industry partners to provide learning experiences and opportunities that align with LSA’s Vision and Values
• Oversee the regular collection and use of data and other contextual information to evidence student progress towards intended outcomes and engage with target setting, differentiation, monitoring and intervention
• Develop a department culture that takes an honest and open approach to teaching practice and welcome opportunities for feedback and development
• Safeguard the wellbeing of all students
• Application complete
• Long listing process
• Final selection process

We are committed to diversifying the screen industries and increasing the diversity of our team is an important step towards this goal. We would especially welcome applicants who are from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic groups, who are currently under-represented in our teaching staff. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, of any sexual or gender identity, neuro-diverse applicants, adults of any age or religious belief and encourage applications from people with a disability.

For further information about the role please visit the vacancies section of our website via the apply link.