We are seeking a passionate and dedicated Teaching Assistant to join our team on a one-year fixed-term contract from September 2025. As a Teaching Assistant, you will work closely with teachers and other support staff to provide tailored assistance to students, helping them overcome learning barriers and succeed academically and socially. This role involves a mix of classroom support, one-on-one interventions, and small group work, making it ideal for individuals who are enthusiastic about education and ready to make a positive impact on students' lives.
Salary: G4 – SCP 13 - 16 - (£24,405 - £25,183) FTE (Pay Award Pending)
Actual Salary: £21,272 - £21,950
Working hours: 37 hours, 39 weeks (Term Time Only plus 5 Inset Days) Contract type: 1 Year Fixed Term Contract
Start date: 15.09.2025
Fortis Academy is a very large 11-18 academy serving a local area of high-density housing in Birmingham’s outer suburbs. The Academy is the largest employer in the ward, with over 200 employees. It is part of the North Area Network of schools, one of six network regions in the city. The setting is uniquely split into a Foundation Academy and Senior Academy.
Fortis Academy’s vision is Enriching Lives. This is underpinned by the values of Character, Resilience and Aspiration. Our curriculum centres around three key areas; a rich and ambitious knowledge-based academic curriculum, a continuous attention to physical and mental well-being, with increasing use of 21st century technologies to support improved outcomes. We believe this combination will help our students lead confident, healthy, and fulfilled lives as adults and ready for the world of work.
All candidates are required to provide a supporting statement on the formal application forms which states clearly your reasons for applying, skills and experience for this position.
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. Sponsored by the charity Shaw Trust, 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.
As a group of schools, we take an evidence-informed approach to developing the quality of our teaching and learning, learning from research and best practice in the sector. We value a non-hierarchical, supportive approach to developing great teachers. As a people-focused trust, we consider the professional development of our staff as a fundamental responsibility. Where any schools face any barrier, it has the mutual support of the others in sector to call upon for subject specific or general support, all facilitated by a group of servant leaders at trust level. Our Heads meet regularly and genuinely support each other in a non-competitive environment. We have team of directors with vast experience at headship, senior and middle leadership levels and our team of subject directors are supporting
subject staff across the trust to design and deliver the very best curricula, providing subject specific pedagogical support.
Our secondary schools are currently driving ‘PedTech’ across the sector: we believe teaching and technology should go hand-in-glove and are passionately committed towards providing a fully digitally enhanced curriculum. We are very close to achieving full 1:1 device delivery and are sprinting towards better use of iPads in lessons to enhance the experience and learning.
Please visit our Careers site for more information on Fortis Academy on Fortis Academy Career Site (schoolrecruiter.com)
Shaw Education Trust offer the following employee benefits with your Teaching or Support Staff employment:
- An excellent Local Government Pension Scheme (Support Staff) / Teachers Pension (Teaching Staff
- Support Staff only based on working full time, all year - Generous holiday entitlement from your first day of employment (37 days holiday rising to 39 days after 5 years’ service including Bank Holidays)
- Electric Car Scheme: Environmentally friendly vehicles with our electric car scheme.
- Access to Medicash Health & Wellbeing Plan: Enjoy health services designed to support your well-being.
- Free DiscountForTeachers Scheme for all staff (Support and Teaching), Exclusive discounts to save money with a wide selection of discounts and exclusive offers from hundreds of the biggest brands.
- Free Eye Tests
- Cycle to work scheme
- Access to our Institute of Education and fantastic opportunities to help you grow, contribute and flourish in your role and in the Trust.
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.
Safer Recruitment & Equal Opportunities Statement
Fortis Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment, click here to review Safeguarding and Pupil Protection Policy https://www.shaw-education.org.uk/our-trust/key-information
This position is subject to robust vetting procedures, including an online search for all shortlisted candidates, in line with our Trust’s commitment to safer recruitment.
An enhanced criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), formerly known as the CRB, is required. You will be asked to disclose all relevant unspent and, where applicable, unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions, and convictions.
Shaw Education Trust is an Equal Opportunities employer. We are fully committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection processes promote equality, diversity, and inclusion at every stage.
In accordance with our safer recruitment policy CVs alone will not be accepted.
Application deadline: Friday, 29th August 2025 at 9am
Interview date: W/c Monday, 1st September 2025
We reserve the right to appoint before the closing date as we review applications on an on-going basis and interviews may be arranged as suitable candidates are identified, therefore, we encourage early applications.
Successful candidates will be subject to a fully Enhanced DBS check along with other relevant employment checks.
Job Types: Full-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 12 months
Work Location: In person
Expected start date: 15/09/2025