Head of Humanities Faculty

Head of Humanities Faculty

Based at The Forest Academy -IG6 3TN

Salary: M1 to UPS3 plus TLR 1a (Outer London)

Required: September 2025

Thank you for your interest in becoming Head of Humanities Faculty at The Forest Academy.

We are incredibly proud of our recent achievements – The Forest Academy is one of the top 25 fastest improving schools in London based on 2024 results at Key Stage 4. We now need a leader who has the knowledge and skills to help us to secure even higher outcomes for our students.

At an exciting stage of the school’s journey, we are seeking to appoint a dynamic and inspirational Head of Humanities to lead a group of departments to ensure an exceptional quality of education for all students. The successful candidate will take line management responsibility for other head(s) of department and will work with the senior leadership team and members of the faculty to develop strong collaboration and drive improving outcomes. They will articulate their ambitious vision, have high expectations of all and will share our unwavering conviction that our students deserve an exceptional curriculum and the very best teaching possible. They will, like us, believe in our students and what they can achieve.

Find out more about the school here: www.theforestacademy.co.uk.

To visit the school, or book a call with the Co-Headteachers, please email hr@beaconacademytrust.co.uk

OFSTED (2023) said:

• “Leaders and governors have high expectations for all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs

and/or disabilities (SEND).”

• “Pupils feel safe and are happy…Pupils are polite and considerate of others.”

• “Staff have a positive working relationship with pupils, which reflects the school’s culture of respect.”

• “Leaders have designed an ambitious and well-ordered curriculum for all pupils…Teachers have strong

subject knowledge and are specialists in their subjects.”

• “Pupils learn in a calm environment and their attendance is high. Pupils behave well in lessons and around

the school.”

At The Forest Academy, we work closely with middle leaders to ensure they are experts in curriculum development, fostering creativity and collaboration across their teams. The Humanities Faculty is focused on improving outcomes and developing students’ core knowledge and skills, preparing them for success beyond school. We are seeking a leader who can build on existing excellence, support staff development, and ensure students acquire the core knowledge and skills necessary to thrive, while maintaining manageable workloads for all staff.

We are a school which trusts the teachers and leaders to make the right decisions for their areas of expertise – a culture of high care and high challenge. We are an approachable leadership team who are laser-focused on ensuring that teaching and learning is always improving, and who are committed to the professional development of our teachers.

Staff at TFA enjoy their work because they know that they make a difference for our students each and every day. Relationships are a real strength at TFA, and staff enjoy the ‘thank you’s and ‘good morning’s that they get from our friendly and respectful students. Staff also enjoy the career progression and development opportunities available at TFA and more widely across the Trust, as we are careful to identify the leaders of tomorrow and to nurture talent. The Staff Forum helps to ensure that communication is strong between staff and the leadership team, and we are committed to ensuring that our staff do not spend time on unnecessary administrative work.

We welcome initial expressions of interest and discussions about the role. Please email hr@beaconacademytrust.co.uk, marking the email ‘FAO The Co-Headteachers’ if you wish to book a telephone call.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and expects all members of staff to share this commitment.

Enhanced DBS (with list checks) is required for this post.

The below documents must be read prior to applying for this role and will be factored into interviews:

Keeping Children Safe in Education

BMAT – Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

Further information and an application form can be found at https://nelta.co.uk/vacancies/

Please forward your electronic applications to recruitment@beaconacademytrust.co.uk

Please note we reserve the right to close or extend this position depending on application numbers, therefore we would urge candidates to submit an application as soon as possible.