Assistant Principal: Professional Qualifications Full Time

London Screen Academy

The Assistant Principal for Professional Qualifications will join us at an exciting time. As the newest part of our provision, we have spent the last two years developing an Outstanding Level 4 and Apprenticeship professional qualifications offer, in addition to our established Level 3 provision. This role is truly unique within the education landscape with the aim of creating a ‘school within a school’ at LSA which provides exceptional progression opportunities for young people that are tied directly into industry, delivering a talent pipeline in a way that is aligned to our LSA values.

We believe that students should be prepared to leave LSA equipped and ready for work in the creative industries. The aim of the professional qualifications department is to achieve three key aims. Firstly, offer unique progression opportunities which act to build and solidify the skillsets of students graduating from our Level 3 programme or exceptional external candidates. Secondly, to offer opportunities for adults to access industry standard short courses to upskill them for new roles. And thirdly to offer professional qualifications which supplement the current offer at LSA where industry accredited qualifications will help support young people into work, for example helping our current students achieve industry qualifications such as the Avid Media Composer 101 or Adobe Certified Associate courses.

This role will be responsible for overseeing our successful Level 4 provision which comprises around 100 students studying either Film Production or Creative Enterprise. The Film Production pathway offers students a one year curriculum to hone their skills within a specific department whilst working collaboratively to create a budgeted, high quality short film. The Creative Enterprise pathway is also a one year course which aims to incubate talent to generate new creative businesses or set up young creatives as freelancers within the creative industry by developing their knowledge of the business and supporting them with creative briefs from industry.

The Level 4 provision is uniquely woven into industry, with industry executives and highly experienced professionals being closely involved in the courses. This creates an exceptional experience for students on the course to learn directly from industry professionals, but makes the course uniquely challenging as working so closely with industry means there are very high expectations. The first short film our Level 4 Film Production students created was nominated in numerous categories and won the Best Drama award at the student RTS awards with all other films coming from third year university undergraduates. This is a testament to what we can achieve and speaks to the high expectations that this role would provide.

The role will also be responsible for further developing the ‘professional qualifications’ vision for the school. Currently LSA has offered a small Apprenticeship provision and some limited short courses. However there is now a unique opportunity to review what the potential for this aspect of LSA can be and build the school within a school concept which could eventually evolve into its own campus or at least make use of the significant resource and opportunity that LSA provides through our building, facilities and connectivity with industry. This might include further Apprenticeships, short courses, adult education and more, depending on the vision the post holder brings to the role.

The candidate for this post will manage the course leader for the Level 4 course who themselves manages a small team of teachers who deliver the programme. The post holder will be expected to work up a business case for the expansion of the professional qualifications offer and pending successful proposals will have the opportunity to add to this team over time to build the professional qualifications department.

We are truly thrilled to be looking for this exciting new candidate to join LSA and our Senior Leadership team. The opportunity to create the best education possible, whilst having the genuine connections with industry that lead to authentic outcomes for our wonderful students is a genuine joy and privilege.

If you would like to have an informal chat about the role or have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sam Summerson

Vice Principal, London Screen Academy