Headteacher
Unsworth Academy, Bury, Lancashire, BL9 8LP15 days remaining to apply
Job start date
1 January 2026
Closing date
18 September 2025 at 9am
Date listed
2 September 2025
Job details
Job role
- Headteacher
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Key stage
- Key stage 1, Key stage 2, Key stage 3, Key stage 4
Working pattern
- Full time
Contract type
- Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary
- L30 -L35 £101,533 - £114,759 – Pay award Pending
Headteacher job summary
Unsworth Academy, a coeducational secondary school for ages 11–16 and part of Shaw Education Trust, has built a strong reputation for achievement and inclusivity. Established in 2017 and rebranded as part of its rapid improvement journey, the school earned an overall 'Good' rating in its first full Ofsted inspection in November 2019, including 'Good' for education quality, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership & management.
In April 2025, during an ungraded inspection, Ofsted noted that school performance “may have improved significantly across all areas,” suggesting that many judged categories might now be Outstanding. The school awaits its next graded inspection
Key Responsibilities will include:
- Define and enact a clear strategic vision, fostering a culture of relentless ambition and inclusion.
- Lead further enhancements in curriculum design and delivery, ensuring all subjects reach coherence and depth.
- Promote outstanding behaviour, safeguarding, and the personal development of every pupil.
- Collaborate effectively with the Shaw Education Trust and trustees to maintain strong governance and accountability.
- Champion the strengths highlighted in recent inspections—ambitious curriculum, excellent staff development, and enriched pupil experiences through activities and trips
The ideal candidate will be a proven transformational leader with a track record in school improvement, a deep understanding of Ofsted frameworks and readiness to exceed expectations and skilled at nurturing a collaborative, high-performing staff culture. You will be committed to educational equity and raising outcomes for all pupils, especially disadvantaged and SEND learners and passionate about holistic student growth—academically, personally, and socially.
This is a unique chance to lead a school with a bold vision, strong foundations, and a passionate team. If you are a values-driven leader who is committed to transforming lives through education, we would be delighted to hear from you. If you would like an informal discussion about working for Shaw Education Trust in this role, please contact Sarah Murcott, National Director of Secondary (see job advert attachment for email details)
For a tour of the school, please contact Rachel Owen, Operation Admin Assistant, at (see job advert attachment for email details)
Join Shaw Education Trust – Support, Teach, Lead… Make the Remarkable Happen
At Shaw Education Trust, we believe every role holds the power to transform a life. Whether you're supporting behind the scenes, inspiring in the classroom, or leading with vision, you’ll be part of something extraordinary.
We are a dynamic and growing family of Primary, Secondary, and Special Schools, proudly serving communities from Birmingham to Bury. Our mission is to unlock opportunity for every young person—whatever their background, ability, or starting point.
Our people are our greatest asset, and we are deeply committed to their growth. Through high-quality training, apprenticeships, talent acceleration, and research opportunities, we empower our staff to thrive as skilled, confident professionals and we champion wellbeing, value every voice, and create a culture where you feel supported, motivated, and inspired to make a real difference.
You will join a collaborative network of schools where shared expertise and professional community fuel success. Every academy in our Trust has an equal voice, and every colleague plays a vital part in shaping tailored learning experiences that raise aspirations and build brighter futures.
At the heart of our work is a deep respect for the children and young adults we serve—our “precious cargo.” We are proud to "exactly like nothing else” and bridge the gap between education and the wider world, preparing every student for further education, employment, or training in inclusive environments where integrity, equality, and opportunity thrive.
If you have the heart, passion, and drive to help shape lives and create futures filled with promise, we would love you to join our incredible team.
Support. Teach. Lead. Belong. Thrive.
Together, let’s make the remarkable happen.
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. This is driving up standards through the sharing of the very best practice, whilst allowing each school sufficient flexibility for autonomy to do what is right for their local context. A by-product of this approach has been the reduction in planning workload for colleagues, meaning they can spend more time on the things that matter and fostering strong relationships with pupils and delivery of the curriculum.
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.
Colleagues within the Trust benefit from: Access to a full range of courses both in-house and professionally accredited. These courses include all of the National Professional Qualifications – NPQH, NPQSL, NPQEYL, NPQLL, NPQLT, NPQLTD, NPQLBC are all delivered by the Shaw Education Trust as a delivery partner for Ambition Institute. In addition, we provide access to the NPQEL for Executive Leaders.
- Experienced leadership and subject-specific support.
- Guidance from former HMIs and serving Ofsted Inspectors within the Trust.
- Access to the Trust’s Institute of Education and SCITT.
- Opportunities to work with different schools within the Trust as a Professional Advocate.
- Participating in peer reviews.
- Access to a suite of online courses.
- Placement projects within our family of schools.
Further information about the job
Commitment to safeguarding
Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.
Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.
Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children
You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.
Applying for the job
This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.
CVs will not be accepted for this application.
View advert on external website (opens in new tab)About Unsworth Academy
- School type
- Academy, ages 11 to 16
- Education phase
- Secondary
- School size
- 968 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 16
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Unsworth Academy website
At Unsworth Academy our mission is to work together to inspire and challenge our learners to achieve excellence.
This mission is summed up in our new motto: Inspire, Challenge, Excel
Our Vision: Outstanding in everything we do.
This is our end goal. This is what we are striving to achieve in everything we do.
Our values: Respect, Pride, Ambition
These are our core principles and standards. These are what we consider to be most important to us as a school - to have respect, pride and ambition, for ourselves, our school and others.
Our partnership will secure the very best outcomes for your child. Our partnership will ensure that they achieve their full potential and leave us in Year 11 with the confidence and qualifications to enable them to lead very successful, fulfilling and productive lives.
School location
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