Welcome

Dear Candidate,

Thank you for your interest in this fantastic opportunity to lead West Lakes Academy as its Principal, a role which is critical in the next stage of the academy’s and trust’s development.

West Lakes Academy was judged outstanding in 2017 in every aspect and since then we’ve formed a MAT, had a Teaching School and now Teaching School Hub serving the entire county. Alongside this, as with every school in the country, we continue to navigate the impact of recent events, helping our children learn the powerful knowledge that helps them understand the world in which they live, their place in it, who they are now and who they can be in the future.

We are not an academy that stands still and we recognise that we must continually scrutinise our practice and challenge ourselves to be even better. All our schools are equal but our Trust was formed from West Lakes Academy and from it, our Hub, so its profile externally and the need to retain exceptional performance are greater than may otherwise be expected. We need someone who understands that, is used to that pressure, thrives in that environment, doesn’t turn away from challenges and judiciously uses everything at their disposal to keep the academy focused on demonstrable exceptional performance.

West Lakes Multi Academy Trust is a family of five schools (one secondary, four primary) with more schools discussing how to join. As I’ve already written, we have also been designated as the Teaching School Hub for Cumbria because we have a vision to the supply of the next generation of exceptional teachers and leaders for our region. We currently have 172 ECTs and 150 NPQ participants across over 320 schools in the third largest and second most sparsely populated county in the country. Oh, and we have the wonderful Lake District fells to add to that challenge! Saying we are ambitious does not come close. We are pursuing grounds to claim that those we undertake to train and teach will have a preparation for life that is excelled by no other. We do this by Changing Lives Through Learning so children exceed the social and cultural norms placed upon them.

The successful candidate will be supported by a strong and effective executive team comprising our operations director, our finance director, our company secretary and DPO, our PR and media lead and our headteachers/principals. Their wider leadership teams have immense drive, skill and specialism that support everything we do.

You will join this established team and need to demonstrate that you share our values. You will need to show the leadership qualities that not only protect the organisation from the challenges that currently surround education but also an ability to seize opportunities and forge new relationships to complement our work and benefit of our children, our colleagues, our families and the communities we serve.

I will not insult you with rattling off statistics about the academy. If you are the person we want you’ll do that work as part of your preparation. If you are the person we want, it will be because you convince us you want to work for us above all else and that you are utterly committed to what we stand for.

West Lakes has changed my life, eclipsing all that came before it and I hope your experience of this site and any conversation you have with us leaves you wanting to work for us in way that nothing has ever done before.

I hope this site answers many, if not all, of the questions you might have to help you get to that point.

We would be delighted for you to visit the school and that can be arranged through our recruitment advisor, Martin Blair at Hays Leadership (T:07736791138, E: martin.blair@hays.com) who is also available for an informal conversation about the role or to discuss making an application.

I look forward to meeting you,

Jonathan Johnson
CEO, West Lakes Multi Academy Trust

Overview

West Lakes Academy is located in Egremont on the west coast of Cumbria, providing education to over 1200 children from 11 to 18 years old. The academy opened in September 2008 and moved into a brand-new building in March 2012 that looks as good today as it did then.

Our vision is to succeed in ‘Changing Lives through Learning’ by providing the very best possible educational opportunities for young people in West Cumbria. We have extremely high hopes for all of our students and our highly skilled and enthusiastic members of staff encourage children to have high ambitions and to work hard to achieve these.

Students and staff benefit from fantastic facilities, outstanding IT resources, a £300k engineering facility, performing and expressive arts suite and an eco-science lab in our brilliant £26m building. Every child has their own ipad, post-16 students bring their own devices. All this makes West Lakes Academy one of the best possible places in which to study and work. Our excellent environment helps keep motivation and morale high and allows us to deliver modern approaches to learning using the latest technologies.

Three sponsors were involved in the setting up of West Lakes Academy in 2008 – Sellafield Ltd, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). All three share an ambition and motivation to support the education and development of young people and to ensure that the catchments of our academies are attractive, vibrant and aspirational places in which to live and work. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd. are two of the most important energy organisations in the UK and two of Cumbria’s largest employers; they provide invaluable resources and industry support to our specialism in science. We receive excellent higher education expertise from our education sponsor, the University of Central Lancashire.

The academy was last inspected by Ofsted in March 2017 and was judged to be Outstanding in all areas of the inspection. Previously it was judged Good in February 2013. The hard work of our pupils and the dedication of our skilled members of staff enable us to provide students with the education they need for a successful and happy future. Ofsted commented that standards were “exceptionally high” and it’s something we continue to strive to better.

The other schools in the Trust are:

Arlecdon Primary School

View site

Dearham Primary School

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Flimby Primary School

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Thornhill Primary School

View site

In Summary

Who we are

Who you are

• Honesty and integrity, trustworthy, self-aware – embracing the accountability of your position
• Courage – you don’t turn your back on a difficult situation or conversation
• Driven, positively ambitious for the children, the academy and the trust
• Demonstrably inspirational borne from a commanding, dynamic and visible presence
• Focussed, committed and dedicated to doing what needs to be done

What you’ll get

• Autonomy to do the right things and do them right for every child
• Transparency – you can liberated by complete transparency that dissolves defensiveness
• A team that will bleed themselves dry to help you be successful – we all want the same thing
• Shared determination borne from professional dissatisfaction to be even better
• Headspace – a supportive working ethos that gives time to think deeply

Vacancy details

Principal

The Principal will provide outstanding, inspiring and professional leadership in line with the Trust’s ethos, values and vision. The Principal will ensure continued improvement and success through outstanding, high quality education in order to secure excellent outcomes for all Academy students and which supports them to reach their full potential.

Further info and JD:

Salary: Competitive and negotiable dependant on experience. Relocation package available.

Timeline

Closing date – 8am, Monday 13^th June

Interviews – 20^th June and 21^st June

Start date – January 2023 or sooner if available

What to do next?

For further information, an informal and confidential discussion about the role or to arrange a visit to the school or initial discussion with the CEO please contact our recruitment partner Martin Blair at Hays Leadership.

Applications

You will be required to submit an application form along with a personal statement. The application form can be requested from Martin Blair at Hays Leadership Appointments.

In your application, you need to show: what you’ve done to enable children to transcend the cultural and social limitations placed upon them; how what you’re doing and how you’re doing it right now matters; how you will continue to do with us.

We are interested in a piece of writing from you that ‘sings’ to us so profoundly that our wonderful and outstanding West Lakes Academy and all involved in it shout with one voice: “That’s who we want!”

Martin Blair
Hays Leadership Appointments
Tel: 07736791138
Email: martin.blair@hays.com