Job Description

Salary

Competitive salary plus benefits package

Contractual hours

37.5

Basis

Full Time

Region

Blackburn

Job category/type

SLT

Date posted

06/10/2025

Job reference

REQ004011



The Hyndburn Academy is an 11-16 Secondary Academy serving local communities in and around Rishton, in the borough of Hyndburn, East Lancashire. With around 650 pupils on roll, it is a warm and community-focused school, founded on strong relationships.

Leaders have cultivated a positive and nurturing environment where students feel safe and supported. Staff pride themselves on knowing each child as an individual, fostering a culture of care and respect.

Its sports, technologies, and performing arts facilities are well equipped, offering a wide range of opportunities for talented and creative students both within the classroom and beyond. A substantial investment from the Department for Education will see the school benefit from a brand-new building, with feasibility studies scheduled to begin in early 2026.

Despite these strengths, the school has yet to consistently achieve academic outcomes that reflect its vision and aspirations. Addressing this will be a key priority for the incoming Principal. We are seeking a leader with the vision, ambition, and tenacity to raise standards and drive sustained improvement - someone who combines strategic focus with the empathy and strength to unite pupils, parents, and staff around a shared purpose.

The successful candidate will be supported in creating a school culture where exemplary behaviour enables teachers to teach and students to learn without distraction. If you are a serving Principal or an exceptional Deputy who believes that children and young people can achieve extraordinary things and will build a team to make it a reality, we will be excited to read your application.

We will support the successful candidate in delivering this, creating a school culture where exemplary behaviour allows teachers and pupils to focus on the core business of teaching and learning.

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, so you will be joining a big family. Reporting directly to the Regional Director, you will be supported both personally and professionally, benefitting from the strength of a national Group who will support 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.

If you wish to discover more about this exciting opportunity, need further information or would like to have an informal discussion, please contact our Head of Leadership Recruitment, Geoff Morris, on geoff.morris@unitedlearning.org.uk Visits are warmly encouraged and can be arranged through Geoff.