Harris Federation

Working With Us

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace is a mixed Academy for 1,300 students aged 11-18, with a large sixth form of nearly 400 students.

The Academy has three consecutive Outstanding judgments by Ofsted, with the most recent inspection in 2014 finding the Academy to be Outstanding in every aspect. We are a consistently high performing school. Our motto, ‘All Can Achieve’ encapsulates our vision that all members of the Academy community are supported and encouraged to achieve their absolute potential. We believe that a well-supported and valued staff body is the key to our success.

We are the ‘Teaching School Hub’ for Croydon and Sutton and we are able to offer all teachers an extensive programme of first class professional development. Harris City Academy Crystal Palace is part of the Harris Federation and this enables us to offer you a comprehensive induction programme and training and development opportunities to support your career development including Masters and other qualifications.

Main Areas of Responsibility

We are happy to negotiate individual responsibilities with you, but these could involve:

Overseeing the strategic management of data, assessment and target setting (including reporting achievement data to governors and external bodies as required), working with the Principal to set challenging and aspirational whole academy targets.
Leading on teaching, learning and assessment across the academy, providing the necessary Professional Learning opportunities to ensure the highest of standards are maintained in the classroom and in student outcomes.
Leading on effective behaviour and inclusion, ensuring that the needs of all students are met within and beyond the classroom.

As the Senior Vice Principal, you will need to meet these general expectations:

To deputise for Principal, both in the academy and where appropriate in external meetings.
To ensure there is seamless transition between all key stages at the academy.
To ensure that the academy specialisms run throughout the academy successfully and effectively.
To play a leading and highly visible role in the day-to-day management of the academy ensuring both the pastoral/academic success of all students across all faculty areas.
To oversee standards and provision throughout all key stages, identifying the strategic issues that need to be addressed by the academy Leadership Group.
To work with the Principal to establish a system of self-evaluation and review within the academy that will secure outstanding student achievement through the professional success of all staff. This will be supported by rigorous systems for monitoring, evaluation and review.
To oversee the development of subject SEFs and subject improvement plans.
To line manage Vice Principals/Assistant Principals, ensuring that their academy responsibilities are of the highest standard

What We are Looking For

We would like to hear from you if you have:

QTS and a good undergraduate degree (or equivalent)
Minimum of three years’ experience at senior leadership level, at least two as a deputy/ Vice Principal
Experience of delivering high quality INSET to teaching staff
Proven success in raising achievement as a subject leader across at least two key stages
Evidence of leading, supporting and managing others, both individuals and teams, ensuring high quality performance
Successful experience of processes of monitoring, evaluation and review
Good level of ICT skills and experience of how new technologies can be used to raise achievement
Recent experience of involvement in innovative curriculum development
Experience of presenting to a wide audience
Ideas of how Language, Literacy and Numeracy can be used across the curriculum to raise standards
Experience of embedding innovative strategies for improving teaching and learning in a whole school situation
Experience of managing and implementing change successfully at whole school level
Experience of using coaching as a model for ensuring on going professional development particularly with subject leaders

Applying for this Position

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.

In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan, electric car scheme, and many other benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our website.

Senior Vice Principal

Job Overview