Staff Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits we offer to our staff.
Staff CPD
All staff have access to The Centre for Professional Development: a rich and diverse programme of professional development opportunities for staff. As a Trust, our core values resonate powerfully through our actions: Ambition for All is the founding stone of The Centre for Professional Development. The Centre for Professional Development will provide professional development opportunities for staff with diverse roles across the Trust, as well as for staff at differing career stages. The Centre for Professional Development is also home of the Northamptonshire Teaching School Hub, meaning all staff have access to high quality professional development programmes in a range of different areas. Great for teachers wishing to progress within their careers or learn new and exciting skills.
Pay
Teachers – Teachers on our Main Pay Scale receive automatic annual pay progression each September. All of our teachers and leadership roles are part of a supportive and developmental approach to performance and career progression.
Support – Members of our support team receive automatic annual pay progression each September up to the top of their grade. All of our colleagues are part of a supportive and developmental approach to performance and career progression.
Flexible and Family Friendly Policies
BWT have generous policies for maternity leave, paternity leave, flexible working and discretionary leave. All staff have the right to request flexible working from the first day of their contract. We include an informal stage in our flexible working policy to ensure that any concerns or worried can be discussed and talked through and explored with a senior manager before having to proceed to a formal stage.
Emotional and Legal Support
All staff have free access to Health Assured, a confidential counselling service which has been developed to support the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of employees, as well as offering legal advice. Health Assured also offers staff access to a wellbeing portal with a number of resources, guides and plans for a healthy lifestyle. Further information can be found here.
Collaborative Working
As a family of 10 schools in a close geographical area, we have the luxury of being able to work collaboratively with those doing similar roles in different schools, picking up best practice and sharing great ideas.
To support our staff to develop the best curriculum possible, we believe in collaborative planning and sharing ideas and best practice. We have a team of subject specialist Directors of Subject, who support this collaborative approach and are up-to-date with the latest subject developments. We regularly get our subject teams and leaders from across the trust together to share best practice and discuss the latest curriculum thinking to develop our staff. We also use our network of external contacts through our Teaching School Hub to support our curriculum development. Our teachers do not work in isolated bubbles when developing the ambitious curriculum our students are entitled to.
Breakfast and Lunches
Subsidised meals for all members of staff who chose to eat in our restaurants and Dining Areas. BWT is proud to provide all of our catering in-house with fresh and nutritious meals prepared every day in our kitchens delivered by our in-house catering teams.
Discounted access to our BWT Schools Extended Provision
BWT employees can get 20% off the cost of childcare with access to our Trust schools extended provisions and wrap-around care facilities.
Finder’s Fee Offer
The most important and valuable asset of our Trust is the committed and passionate staff who contribute to improving the life chances of our young people. However, recruiting good quality teachers can be difficult at times. To help us recruit yet more excellent teachers into our organisation BWT offers a ‘finder’s fee’ of £1000 (per teacher recruited) to any member of staff, whatever their role in the Trust, who introduces a new teacher who fills a vacancy in any of our schools, and is still employed as a good teacher 6 months down the line
Additional Benefits
All staff can borrow up to £1000 to buy a bicycle through the Bike2Work Scheme and save up to 42% on the cost of bicycles and/or safety equipment, reducing your carbon footprint as you go! The Trust also offers a salary sacrifice scheme to enable our employees a tax efficient way to afford a brand-new car. Put simply, an employee can swap some of their salary before it is taxed, which means they get more car for a lot less.
BWT also BWT subsides the membership to the Chartered College of Teaching, which enables teachers to get aced to training and accreditations, and is a fantastic source for personal CPD.