18 May 2025
Hastings
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Vice Principal
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£82,641 - £91,154 Per Year
Permanent
Full-Time
Leadership
Ark Alexandra Academy
Secondary
Not Specified

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Vice Principal

About The Role
Reports to: Principal

Start date: September 2025

Location: Hastings, East Sussex

Salary: Ark Outside London Leadership Scale, points 21 - 25 (£82,641 - £91,154 per annum)

Contract: Permanent, full-time

Closing date: 23:59 on Sunday 18 May 2025

Interview: Thursday 22 May 2025

A fantastic opportunity for an existing Vice Principal or experienced Assistant Principal to join a rapidly improving school with excellent support and an ambitious Senior Leadership Team.

The opportunity:

We are seeking an outstanding Vice Principal to realise our ambitious vision and make Ark Alexandra a world class school. You will have significant skills, drive and a proven track record of having had impact in a Secondary setting. You will understand the importance of working hard and creating a high performing team.

The exact responsibilities will depend on the skills of the successful candidate, and we are keen to hear from any strong leaders excited by the challenge of joining our school. Currently, we are looking for a leader who can demonstrate skills leading across Teaching & Learning, or Behaviour and Culture. A proven track record of impact in this area would be desirable, however, to help you gain experience in all aspects of school leadership, and preparing you for future progression, the exact role and specific responsibilities will be reviewed and agreed annually.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Assistant Principal or current Vice Principal to work in a high performing school within a successful network. This role would suit someone who has ambitions to be a Principal in the future and who is eager to have impact in all aspects of school leadership in a disadvantaged context.

As a member of the senior leadership team, you will be centrally involved in the overall leadership and management of the academy and will help to establish a school culture that maintains exceptionally high expectations for both staff and pupils. You will also have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues across the network and will feed into the development of excellent practice beyond your own school.
Ideal candidates will have:

Experience of leading, coaching and managing staff at a senior level and with a proven track record of success

Experience of delivering life-transforming impact on the outcomes of pupils by raising teacher and leader quality across a range of departments

Experience of leading a high achieving team of leaders within a complex school environment.
We welcome conversations about the role and visits to our school. Tours are available on 13 or 14 May 2025. If you are interested in finding out more about this opportunity or would like an informal and confidential conversation with one of the Headteachers, please contact Carol Sales, PA to the Headteachers, at [email protected]
Benefits
- Salary higher than the national pay scales
- Twice as many training days as standard and network-wide events with Ark colleagues, held by the best minds in education
- Weekly staff training designed to meet the needs of the school
- Coaching for every teacher
- Protected co-planning time
- Access to the high-quality, professional development, including nationally recognised qualifications such as the NPQML and NPQSL
- Opportunities to collaborate with colleagues across the network
Find out more about the benefits of working for Ark at arkonline.org/careers/why-work-with-us/.
About Us
Our school:

Ark Alexandra Academy is situated on the sunny south coast in Hastings, East Sussex and is the largest secondary in the Ark network. A popular school, Ark Alexandra has grown from a 10 to 12 form entry, operating on a ‘One School, Two Campus’ model, which brings with it unique opportunities for growth and development. The school is on an exciting and rapid journey of improvement under a new leadership team, which is underpinned by research and best practice.

We take a traditional and research-based approach to education with a primacy placed on cognitive science and what the best schools do. We are a no-nonsense, mobile phone free school, where staff can focus their efforts on teaching great lessons. We place a primacy on student rewards, House competitions, and extra-curricular activities including DofE (bronze to gold), Army Cadet Force and termly trips, ensuring our students develop the cultural capital they need to succeed.

As a Church of England school, our values of faith, excellence and kindness underpin everything that we do. We have an inclusive admissions policy that welcomes, without preference, students of all faith and none. Our vision is to create a truly great school for the young people in Hastings. We believe that everyone deserves to be accepted, included, and empowered to live a purposeful and fulfilling life.

Visit arkalexandra.org/jobs to learn more about us and see our current vacancies.

Diversity and inclusion:

We aim to build a diverse and inclusive organisation where everyone – staff and students – can do their best work and achieve their full potential. We want to reflect and represent diverse perspectives across our organisation because we know that doing so will make us stronger and more effective. To know more about Ark’s diversity and inclusion commitments, please click on this link.

Safeguarding statement:

Ark is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in its academies. In order to meet this responsibility, its academies follow a rigorous selection process to discourage and screen out unsuitable applicants.

Ark requires all employees to undertake an enhanced DBS check. You are required, before appointment, to disclose any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. Non-disclosure may lead to termination of employment. However, disclosure of a criminal background will not necessarily debar you from employment - this will depend upon the nature of the offence(s) and when they occurred. To read more about Ark’s safer recruitment process, please click this link.

Please note we will be reviewing applications on an on-going basis and this role may close earlier than advertised depending on the level of response. We strongly encourage to submit your application at your earliest convenience.