Teaching Assistant

We are seeking a passionate and dedicated Teaching Assistant to join our team on a one-year fixed-term contract from March 2025. As a Teaching Assistant, you will work closely with teachers and other support staff to provide tailored assistance to students, helping them overcome learning barriers and succeed academically and socially. This role involves a mix of classroom support, one-on-one interventions, and small group work, making it ideal for individuals who are enthusiastic about education and ready to make a positive impact on students' lives.

Fortis Academy is a very large 11-18 academy serving a local area of high-density housing in Birmingham’s outer suburbs. The Academy is the largest employer in the ward, with over 200 employees. It is part of the North Area Network of schools, one of six network regions in the city. The setting is uniquely split into a Foundation Academy and Senior Academy. 

Fortis Academy’s vision is Enriching Lives. This is underpinned by the values of Character, Resilience and Aspiration. Our curriculum centres around three key areas; a rich and ambitious knowledge-based academic curriculum, a continuous attention to physical and mental well-being, with increasing use of 21st century technologies to support improved outcomes. We believe this combination will help our students lead confident, healthy, and fulfilled lives as adults and ready for the world of work. 

All candidates are required to provide a supporting statement on the formal application forms which states clearly your reasons for applying, skills and experience for this position.

Shaw Education Trust are a thriving mix of diverse and growing schools including Primary, Secondary and Special Schools all working together to improve the lives of young people in our communities. We are sponsored by Shaw Trust a charity organisation that focuses on transforming lives. We’re a growing group of dynamically awesome academies providing education to children of all ages and abilities. Staff across our team of schools are dedicated to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to be successful, whatever their starting point in life.

In our secondary schools, we pride ourselves on our innovative approach to curriculum design, to ensure all our schools have breadth and ambition for all students, regardless of their starting points and barriers. Standard curriculum models don’t always engage all students, so we constantly seek to innovate and provide better opportunities to develop both knowledge and skills for life. We want our students to believe their curriculum is bold, exciting, purposeful, and ultimately leads to something meaningful for them. Some examples of our innovation include moving towards an extended school day, to provide a world class enrichment programme and more opportunities for essential skills like reading and cultural capital. We are also introducing vocational and technical pathways, which run through the normal school curriculum but attract support from leading employers and universities to develops work-readiness in our students, so that they can progress onto T Levels and apprenticeships.

We are currently at an exciting point in their evolution, with collaboration at the heart of our collective endeavour. We don’t operate in silos: we value the power of the pack and strive to collaborate as a collective, ensuring no school or colleague is left behind. We are currently co-constructing an aligned curriculum across all EBacc curriculum subjects, to create a world class curriculum, rich in powerful knowledge and skills.

As a group of schools, we take an evidence-informed approach to developing the quality of our teaching and learning, learning from research and best practice in the sector. We value a non-hierarchical, supportive approach to developing great teachers. As a people-focused trust, we consider the professional development of our staff as a fundamental responsibility. Where any schools face any barrier, it has the mutual support of the others in sector to call upon for subject specific or general support, all facilitated by a group of servant leaders at trust level.

Please visit our Careers site for more information on Fortis Academy on Fortis Academy Career Site (schoolrecruiter.com)

Shaw Education Trust offer the following employee benefits with your Teaching or Support Staff employment:

• An excellent Local Government Pension Scheme (Support Staff) / Teachers Pension (Teaching Staff)
• Support Staff only based on working full time, all year - Generous holiday entitlement from your first day of employment (37 days holiday rising to 39 days after 5 years’ service including Bank Holidays)
• Electric Car Scheme: Environmentally friendly vehicles with our electric car scheme.
• Access to Medicash Health & Wellbeing Plan: Enjoy health services designed to support your well-being.
• Free DiscountForTeachers Scheme for all staff (Support and Teaching), Exclusive discounts to save money with a wide selection of discounts and exclusive offers from hundreds of the biggest brands.
• Free Eye Tests
• Cycle to work scheme
• Access to our Institute of Education and fantastic opportunities to help you grow, contribute and flourish in your role and in the Trust.

We know our people are the key to our success and so we’re committed to ensuring the employment experience at Shaw Education Trust is a rewarding one.

Fortis Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment, click here to review Safeguarding and Pupil Protection Policy https://www.shaw-education.org.uk/our-trust/key-information

This position is subject to appropriate vetting procedures including an online checks and criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB) which will require you to disclose details of all unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions.

All shortlisted candidates will undergo an online search as part of Trust safer recruitment checks.

We are an Equal Opportunities employer and will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment.

In accordance with our safer recruitment policy CVs alone will not be accepted.

Actual Salary:                  £21,272 - £21,950 

Application deadline:    Monday, 11th November 2024 at 9am

Interview date:               TBC

We reserve the right to appoint before the closing date as we review applications on an on-going basis and interviews may be arranged as suitable candidates are identified, therefore, we encourage early applications.

Successful candidates will be subject to a fully Enhanced DBS check along with other relevant employment checks.