Recruit, Retain and Develop

We are committed to the professional development of all staff and we have a bespoke programme for teaching and support staff to ensure we recruit, develop and retain the very best colleagues.

Career Pathways

There is a Career Pathways programme in place for teachers at AHS, which starts with Initial Teacher Training (i.e. the recruit strand of our mission) and supports colleagues through their development from Early Career Teachers to becoming Excellent teachers. There are also bespoke pathways for Middle Leaders in Behaviour and Culture, Leading Teaching or Teacher Development as well as routes into Senior Leadership and Headship.

We thus seek to:

  • create a bespoke pathway to develop each person’s individual talents and ambitions
  • provide our staff with the highest quality research-proven CPD training
  • offer access to skilled leaders and mentors
  • give staff opportunities for development from Initial Teacher Training to senior management
  • provide capacity for in-school practitioners to model and coach

Our aim is to recruit the best teachers and then retain them by ensuring we support them develop by providing high quality CPD. Training is provided in-house, via visiting speakers and PTSA, as well as external courses that are relevant to the needs of individual members of staff. Opportunities to observe and shadow colleagues are encouraged.

The fact that staff retention is excellent and we have numerous examples of staff being recruited and then promoted, including an NQT who was promoted to a Middle Leader position within school and who now sits on SLT is evidence of our commitment to recruit-retain-develop.

Learning, Training and Development

Support staff in our schools benefit from our Learning, Training and Development programme which aims to ensure they are equipped with the necessary skills, qualifications and resources to fulfil their roles to the highest standard.

At AHS our aims for all support staff mean they will:

  • be confident in fulfilling all aspects of their role to the highest level
  • have an understanding of how their role fits into the wider organisation
  • act as a source of support, advice and guidance to their colleagues
  • identify any training and development needs for themselves and staff they manage
  • be guaranteed an interview for roles within the Trust if they fulfill the job criteria
  • be given support and advice to develop their skills to progress to posts at the next level

Just like with teachers, we aim to recruit the best support staff and retain them by developing their expertise, so they feel happy and fulfilled in their roles. The fact that a significant number of our support staff have worked here for a prolonged period and we that we have examples from these teams who’ve gone on to progress into different roles, such as EAL Co-ordinator, is evidence of our commitment to recruit-retain-develop.