East Kent College
Assistant Principal (Support)

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About The Role
Exceptional colleges are built by exceptional leaders - Join us as Assistant Principal (Support)
EKC Group is seeking an exceptional and inspirational leader to join EKC Ashford College as Assistant Principal. This is an exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of a thriving college, driving continuous improvement and ensuring every learner benefits from an outstanding educational experience.
Working in close partnership with the Principal, you will provide strategic leadership across the College, championing a culture of excellence, collaboration and high performance. You will inspire and empower teams, ensuring the effective delivery of College priorities, embedding robust performance management and creating an environment where both staff and students can thrive.
Passionate about student success, you will ensure learners are fully engaged in enrichment, social action and wider college life, helping them develop the confidence, resilience and skills needed to progress successfully into employment, apprenticeships or higher education.
As Assistant Principal for Support, you will provide strategic leadership for a wide-ranging portfolio including Safeguarding, Estates and College Services. This encompasses Information, Advice and Guidance, Admissions, Exams, Careers and Finance, ensuring these essential services work seamlessly together to deliver an exceptional learner experience from first enquiry through to successful progression.
This is a unique opportunity for a forward-thinking leader to make a lasting impact at Ashford College, helping to shape its future while delivering exceptional standards in everything we do.
Check out our full range of benefits which include
- Generous Annual Leave
- Flexible Personal Leave
- Competitive Pension Scheme
- Exclusive Discounts & Perks
- Wellbeing and Health Support
- Culture and Recognition
About You
You will be an experienced, credible and values-driven senior leader with a proven track record of delivering outstanding outcomes within education. Commercially astute and entrepreneurial, you will identify opportunities, drive innovation and develop sustainable solutions that enhance both organisational performance and the student experience.
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An inspirational leader, you will champion a culture of excellence, collaboration and continuous improvement, ensuring the College's values and strategic priorities remain at the heart of everything we do.
Working closely with the Principal, you will help shape the strategic direction of the College, driving improvements in student achievement, wellbeing, progression and the overall learner experience. You will be committed to ensuring every student is supported and challenged to fulfil their potential and achieve their ambitions.
You will provide strategic leadership across a broad portfolio of support services. By ensuring these services work seamlessly together, you will deliver an exceptional learner journey, foster a safe, inclusive and high-performing college environment, and ensure the College is well positioned to meet the evolving needs of students, employers and the wider community.
Ready to apply?
No need to spend time updating your CV, just click apply and complete our short application form. You can save your progress as you go, and we’ll review all applications and get back to all candidates after the closing date.
If you are interested in an informal chat about the role, or have any queries, please email us on jobs@ekcgroup.ac.uk
About Us
Outstanding Ofsted Provider
East Kent Colleges Group is an Ofsted Outstanding rated provider. It is proud to be the first General Further Education college organisation in the country to have received the Outstanding grade against each of the strands under the new Ofsted inspection framework. An inclusive provider, our colleagues place our students and the communities we serve at the heart of everything they do across EKC Group and this is illustrated in our ‘Strong’ skills grading by Ofsted.
Commitment to Safeguarding
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and we ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities for upholding these principles.


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As a designated establishment, we are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore have an obligation to carry out checks to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults. These checks include conviction/caution self-declaration, Enhanced DBS check and obtaining sufficient referencing.
It is a criminal offence to apply for a post which involves engaging in regulated activity relevant to children if you are barred from doing so.
If you are successful in being shortlisted to interview, your suitability to work with children and vulnerable adults will be explored as part of the interview process.
Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
East Kent Colleges Group is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all members of our communities. We are particularly keen to increase the diversity of our staff body and encourage applications from candidates where there is underrepresentation in our workforce.
We are proud to hold the Positive About Disability Award and are a Disability Confident Employer. This confirms our commitment to interviewing all applicants who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. With any successful candidate, we will explore any reasonable adjustments to a role due to a health needs or disability.
Similarly, we have a commitment to Care Leavers (Care Covenant Pledge) and to current or previous Armed Forces personnel (Armed Forces Covenant Pledge) with a commitment to interview applicants who meet the positions essential criteria and who have declared this on their application.
We welcome applications from anyone wishing to work flexibly and those considering a return to work from a career break.
We do not engage with agencies for permanent staff and have an in-house recruitment team.
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