Assistant Principal - Director of English & Whole-School Literacy
Ernulf Academy, St. Neots, PE19 2SH14 days remaining to apply
Start date details
January 2026 or sooner
Closing date
29 June 2025 at 11:59pm
Date listed
11 June 2025
Job details
Job role
- Assistant headteacher
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Working pattern
- Full time
Contract type
- Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary
- £65,090.00 - £71,694.00 Annually (Actual)
Assistant Principal - Director of English & Whole-School Literacy job summary
Are you an ambitious and driven English leader ready to take the next step in your career? Do you thrive in a fast-paced, high-expectation environment where your expertise and leadership can make a real difference? If so, this is your opportunity to join a school on a rapid journey of transformation.
At Ernulf Academy, we’re looking for someone who is passionate about curriculum, teaching, and assessment—and who has a proven track record of delivering exceptional outcomes. As Assistant Principal: Director of English & Whole School Literacy, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our school. You’ll lead a dedicated team, sit on the Senior Leadership Team, and help drive whole-school improvement with a focus on excellence in English.
This role is ideal for someone who is ready to influence at a strategic level while remaining deeply connected to classroom practice. If you're excited by the idea of being part of a school that is rewriting its story—and want to be a key player in that success—then we want to hear from you.
Key Responsibilities- Lead and manage the English team to promote highly effective pedagogy and student learning.
- Oversee curriculum planning and resourcing to ensure excellent progression for all students.
- Lead departmental ‘intellectual preparation’ sessions.
- Provide leadership across the English department and contribute to whole-school improvement.
- Drive the Astrea Reads programme and coordinate reading interventions such as Thinking Reading and Fresh Start.
- Ensure no student reads below their chronological reading age by the end of Year 8.
This is a transformational moment in our school’s journey. When the current leadership team took over in September 2024, Ernulf had never received a ‘Good’ rating from Ofsted. Just one term later, in January 2025, we were rated ‘Good’ in all categories. We are on a rapid mission to become one of the best schools in the country—and we want you to be part of it.
Located within an hour’s commute of North London, Norfolk, Grantham, and Rugby, Ernulf Academy is a school where ambition, simplicity, and kindness drive everything we do.
Our Ethos: Work Hard, Be KindWork Hard
We believe in high expectations, simple rules, and disruption-free classrooms. Our knowledge-rich curriculum is built on ‘powerful knowledge’ and delivered through evidence-based teaching inspired by Rosenshine’s principles and Teach Like A Champion. We back our teachers as the experts in the room.
Be Kind
We are warm, welcoming, and friendly. We teach empathy, respect, and kindness alongside academic excellence. Our zero-tolerance approach to bullying and our strong pastoral care ensure every child feels safe and supported.
In Autumn 2024 alone, our students visited Cambridge University, The British Museum, The National Gallery, RAF Hendon, and Kenilworth Castle—and even appeared on Channel 5 and BBC Radio! Weekly electives include British Sign Language, clubbercise, robotics, chess, girls’ cricket, and more.
What We Offer- A knowledge-rich curriculum and traditional teaching approach.
- Collaborative planning with centralised resources.
- Disruption-free learning and a warm/strict behaviour system.
- Pay above national scales.
- 8 INSET days per year.
- Whole-class feedback to reduce workload and increase impact.
If you're passionate about education, excited by rapid school improvement, and ready to make a real difference, we’d love to hear from you. View the job description and candidate pack for full details. To arrange a visit or discuss the role, contact Sarah McCormick at: sarah.mccormick@astreaernulf.org
We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications—so don’t delay, apply today!Our Commitment to Safeguarding and Equality, Diversity & InclusionAt Astrea Academy Trust, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people is our highest priority. All roles are subject to rigorous background checks, including satisfactory references and an enhanced DBS check.
We are proud to be an inclusive employer and actively welcome applications from individuals who are underrepresented in our workforce. This includes candidates from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, and members of the LGBTQI+ community.
As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to removing barriers to recruitment, development, and progression for disabled colleagues. We are happy to provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to ensure all applicants have the opportunity to demonstrate their strengths and potential.
Ready to Make a Difference?
If you're passionate about inspiring young minds and want to be part of a supportive, forward-thinking team, apply today and help shape the future at Ernulf Academy!
Commitment to safeguarding
Astrea Academy Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All posts are subject to satisfactory background checks including references and enhanced DBS checks.
Applying for the job
This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.
CVs are not accepted.
About Ernulf Academy
- School type
- Academy, ages 11 to 16
- Education phase
- Secondary
- School size
- 733 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 16
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Ernulf Academy website
Principal’s welcome – Ernulf Academy
Welcome to Ernulf Academy, an 11-16 secondary school in St.Neots located in North Cambridgeshire. The academy is part of Astrea Academy Trust, a highly successful multi-academy trust of primary and secondary academies in Cambridgeshire and South Yorkshire.
Ernulf Academy is a school fully committed to an inclusive, comprehensive curriculum for all, which is underpinned by our five core values: scholarship, curiosity, tenacity, responsibility and respect. These values are at the heart of our vision for the school and the important qualities and characteristics we want all pupils to develop. Our pupils are encouraged to develop confidence, independence and resilience. We strive for them to be ambitious and ‘be the best they can be’, whilst being considerate, tolerant and willing to contribute positively to the wider community.
Work hard
We firmly believe in a disruption free learning environment and as such we have established nine core routines which form the basis of our academic day. A knowledge-rich curriculum, built on ‘powerful knowledge,’ underpins our teaching and learning principles. We offer a traditional approach to teaching and learning following evidence-based research by Rosenshine and Teach Like A Champion (TLAC) which lead to inspiring and stimulating lessons. Our enrichment provision aims to take learning outside the classroom and we offer an extensive range of extra-curricular activities including sporting activities, residential visits and educational experiences.
Safeguarding is at the heart of what we do and we recognise the challenges that our pupils face. Therefore, we have a dedicated pastoral team with a Head of Year and Pastoral Co-ordinator for each year group and a ‘Wellbeing’ team including our school therapy dog.
Be kind
Ernulf Academy is a friendly and supportive school, which prides itself on treating everyone as individuals and having a ‘family’ atmosphere. We teach our pupils empathy and respect, and we have a zero tolerance to bullying. A scholarly approach is at our core but enabling our pupils to have a holistic education, preparing them for life in the 21st century and becoming global citizens is just as important.
School location
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