Careers at WHMAT

Our mission at Washwood Heath Multi-Academy Trust (WHMAT) is: ‘To provide our young people with the knowledge and skills to flourish in their academic and personal development.’

Currently we are a family of seven academies: one all-through, two secondaries and four primaries). Our vision is: ‘To be a family of schools committed to being the best we can be for our young people, our staff and our communities’

All our work together is underpinned by our simple statement of our values. We will be a learning community founded on:

Respect: Equality of opportunity for all; Integrity in all our practices; engagement with our communities and celebrating diversity.

Collaboration: Working together within the Trust and beyond to improve young people’s outcomes and be a progressive, innovative learning organisation to which people feel they belong.

Aspiration: Excellence in everything we do.

We are proud to serve the community within this great city of Birmingham. Our academies are fully inclusive and serve a very rich and diverse community of cultures and faiths, recognised as ‘Rights Respecting Schools’, reflecting our commitment to developing the citizens of the future. Each of the academies is unique in its own identity but the strong links between them has enabled high quality collaboration to ensure the continued successes of everyone in the partnership.

Through delivering outstanding education, we seek to uncover and nurture the hidden potential we believe is in every child, giving them the best possible opportunity to succeed in a changing world. 

This commitment extends to our staff, whose skills and abilities are key to this success. Our Strategic Plan contains the following statement:

We believe that all our staff, in all roles, will be the best they can be for our young people by their commitment to our mission and to their own continual learning journey, in a workplace environment underpinned by our values. We promise that all staff will be supported to:

• model our values;
• grow professionally through collaboration; know and achieve what is expected of them;
• be well;
• be well led and to learn to lead.
• As a multi academy trust with 7 academies, we offer excellent opportunities for all of our employees to develop their career: all driven by our shared vision and commitments to our young people, staff and their wider community.

We are looking for team members who will:

• support our values, mission and vision
• always seek the highest standards for our young people
• respond positively to our requests and requirements
• work collaboratively across our family of academies
• support the development of The Trust, our profile and image, as well as their individual academy.

Aside from the role, the people, our culture and our mission, we have some other things that make WHMAT a pretty awesome place to be. Here’s a few favourites among existing staff:

‘’Being able to see happy thriving children. I appreciate working in a place where everyone goes above and beyond for the children.’’

‘’I love the team atmosphere we have, everyone's friendly and approachable. I really love the way my line manager and director always appreciate the work I do; I am made to feel valued which is very important for me and gives me encouragement to work better every day.’’

‘’High quality, hardworking, principled colleagues with a determination to develop people and do the best for students.’’

‘’Working within a MAT which values and supports its staff and the staff approach each other in a friendly and supportive manner.’’

Grow with WHMAT

At WHMAT, the People’s team mission statement is “Find them, grow them, keep them”

Through our People strategy, we are embedding processes, policies and initiatives so that leaders across WHMAT can:

1. Find talented staff who are engaged & committed to WHMAT’s success and values. “Find them”
2. Provide them with quality training and development opportunities so that they are equipped to meet the changing needs of the education sector. “Grow them”
3. Make WHMAT a great place to work so that they are motivated, engaged and do not want to leave”.

“Keep them”

The mission statement focuses on 3 simple aims – finding talented staff, providing them with quality training and ultimately making WHMAT a great place to work so that you want to stay with us and support positive pupil progress.

Professional Growth

WHMAT is committed to supporting all staff in their personal, professional and career aspirations by providing a range of development opportunities. We foster a culture which encourages you to develop your talent and strengths throughout your journey with us.

As part of our lifelong learning culture, it’s important for you to engage fully with our new Professional Growth appraisal process.  We have intentionally decoupled pay and performance so that employees genuinely use this process to “improve rather than to prove” through bureaucratic evidence gathering.  You will self-reflect against the relevant competencies for your role at the start of the cycle to create your performance expectations, growth goals and your appraiser will hold regular check-ins with you to support your progress.  You will be encouraged to maintain a short online growth diary so that you can showcase your progress against your chosen performance expectations.

Career Pledges

During the Professional Growth process, access a bespoke career pledge for your role to tailor your own development e.g. mentoring, work shadowing, networking and identify internal and/or external training opportunities such as professional qualifications or qualifications via our central WHMAT-funded apprenticeship scheme.