Principal

The Totteridge Academy, London, N20 8AZ

28 days remaining to apply

• Closing date

  20 April 2026 at 12:59am

• Date listed

  23 March 2026

Job details

• Job role:
  • Headteacher
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full-time equivalent salary: Competitive salary with benefits package
• Additional allowances:

  Competitive salary with benefits package

Principal job summary

As one of London’s leading secondary schools, The Totteridge Academy has earned national recognition for its high expectations and exceptional achievement. Situated in Barnet, North London, it is a highly popular, co-educational, non selective 11-18 academy with over 1,000 students, reflecting the school’s continued growth and strong demand for places. The Totteridge Academy has an unusually warm, inclusive and aspirational culture: an ethos of continuous improvement that has created a vibrant, purposeful community where students feel supported, challenged and inspired to achieve their best.

With the current Principal moving on to a Trust leadership role, we are seeking a new leader to guide The Totteridge Academy into its next chapter. This is an excellent opportunity for a Principal with the vision, integrity and expertise to build on the school’s national success, sustaining exceptional academic standards within a warm, inclusive and values-driven community. We are looking for someone who believes every student is capable of extraordinary success and who will lead this remarkable school with ambition, compassion and unwavering commitment to excellence.

United Learning is a big group of schools - with over 75,000 pupils and more than 10,000 staff - so we have the capacity to support you educationally and operationally. At the same time, we are values-led and base all that we do on good relationships. Reporting directly to the Regional Director, you will be supported both personally and professionally, benefitting from the strength of a national group supporting your development and that of your staff and school.

We are committed to fairness, diversity and inclusion. We are currently working hard to improve representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic leaders at headship level and to raise our proportion of women leaders to match their representation in our wider workforce. Whoever you are, if you have a strong track record of improving young people’s education and a drive to do more, we very much look forward to hearing from you.

We fully recommend that you take the opportunity to make an informal visit prior to making your application to see the school for yourself. If you would like to arrange a visit or set up a confidential conversation please contact our Head of Leadership Recruitment, Geoff Morris by email on geoff.morris@unitedlearning.org.uk

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

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.

About The Totteridge Academy

• School type: Academy, ages 11 to 18
• Education phase: Secondary school
• School size: 1003 pupils enrolled
• Age range: 11 to 18
• Ofsted report: View Ofsted report
• School website: The Totteridge Academy website
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/the-totteridge-academy

The school
The Totteridge Academy (TTA) is a brilliant secondary school in North London. With approximately 1000 students, and a new Sixth Form which opened in September 2020, TTA is continuing to grow and develop. We were thrilled to have won the TES Secondary School of the Year Award last year, celebrating our phenomenal results (putting us in the top 1% of the country for Progress), inclusive culture, and excellence beyond the classroom.
We are looking for passionate and enthusiastic staff to join our team. Here are some quotes from our 2023-24 staff survey:
· “The sense of community at this school is second to none. I have never felt so supported by the senior team, as well as my department and line manager. This is definitely reflected in the ‘feel’ of the school and our daily interactions with students.”
· “I cannot believe that I work in a school that has such a mix of incredibly high expectations and academic outcomes, alongside things like a school farm, Place2Be, Equine therapy and Peggy, our school dog! TTA truly cares about every aspect of a child’s education, learning and wellbeing.”
· “Teaching and learning is extremely well led, resulting in consistent teaching across the school and therefore much improved attainment from our pupils. It is the single most stand-out quality at TTA that makes me very proud, and has improved my teaching immensely.”
· “The culture of collaboration and continuous improvement is fantastic. I feel as though I would be welcomed, supported and appreciated by any member of staff if I went to them to ask for anything or just to have a chat!”
· “The community is extremely supportive, and the staff genuinely care for the children, their education and supporting one another, both professionally and personally.”
· “So many of the middle leaders are just world class. They lead by example and have relentlessly high expectations and good humour to boot. Teaching and Learning at this school is exceptionally well led.”
We provide a high-quality education in a safe, caring, and focused environment. We teach skills and knowledge, enabling our students to become responsible, well-rounded citizens, equipped with the tools to make effective choices for their futures. We pride ourselves on our inclusive environment with a rich and nurturing culture. We celebrate our differences whilst standing together as a united learning community. Our school philosophy of kaizen (continuous improvement) enables our students and staff to aim high at all times so that every individual can attain his or her best. We celebrate and are proud of the achievements of all of our students, valuing individuality and nurturing happy, confident, and hard-working young people. We have high expectations at TTA and reject the view that success in life is pre-determined or that our talents are fixed. We improve through practice; calm, focused classrooms led by knowledgeable, passionate teachers.
Please CLICK HERE to watch a video about TTA, and visit our WEBSITE HERE to find out about the school.
If you would like to read more about why you should work at TTA then CLICK HERE, or to read some testimonials from our current staff then CLICK HERE.
If you would like to arrange a visit to our school, please contact Vittoria Casey, HR Manager, on 020 8445 9205 or vittoria.casey@tta.org.uk.

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