Work for Us

Working for CWA

The College of West Anglia is one of the largest colleges in the Eastern region, with a vision of ‘changing lives through learning’. Currently there are around 750 full-time and part-time staff.  CWA has a large and diverse student body including around 2,600 full-time 16-18 year old FE students, 3,000 full and part-time adult FE students (including those recruited through our partnerships) and more than 300 students on higher education programmes. We also have more than 1,000 apprentices in training. The college turnover is around £29 million.

• Our catchment area

  The college serves a mainly rural catchment area covering Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and south Lincolnshire. The main campus is in King’s Lynn – a historic market town with a population of around 40,000. There are two other main campuses located in Milton and Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, the former specialising in a landbased curriculum. We also provide specialist facilities to our sports students, who are based at our sports campus within Lynnsport in King’s Lynn and we have a specialist centre for students with learning difficulties and disabilities on Providence Street in Kings Lynn.

• Our commitment to improvement

  The college has completed several major building projects to improve all of our campuses, including refurbishment of the landmark ‘tower block’ and a new creative industries facility at the King’s Lynn campus, two new technology buildings at our King’s Lynn and Wisbech campuses, a new build and refurbishment of the main building at the Wisbech campus and an overhaul of buildings at our Cambridge campus. A £6.5million centre for Higher Education opened at our King’s Lynn campus in September 2016.

• College organisational structure

  The college is overseen by a board of governors, which comprises members from local industry, public bodies, councils and staff who serve on various committees with no remuneration and determine the college’s direction in terms of its strategy, mission and finances. An executive (senior management team) consisting of the principal, 2 Vice Principals and 1 Assistant Principal leads the college.

• Curriculum structure

  Curriculum is organised into 6 teaching faculties, each with a head with responsibility for courses, student recruitment and teams of teaching staff in designated areas. There are 5 faculties in which the Head is supported by programme managers:

  • Business, Humanities, Science and Computing
  • Care & Public Services
  • Creative Arts & Foundation
  • Landbased
  • Technology
  • English, Maths and ESOL

   

  The college has strong working partnerships with local schools with a healthy number of 14-16 students attending each year.

• Employer-responsive

  CWA is employer-responsive, with activities including work-based learning provision and all offsite employer training delivery. There are two managers, one responsible for employer liaison, partnerships and commercial training and one for apprenticeships and work-based learning. The large employer training offer includes apprenticeship programmes, short bespoke courses and work based assessment.

• Higher education

  In partnership with Anglia Ruskin University, CWA offers a range of higher education programme, delivered in curriculum areas. This provides opportunities for HE courses from HNC and Access up to Degree level. The college also delivers teaching qualifications through the Learning Practice team.

• Business support units

  Our teams of support staff, who are responsible for cross-college activities, are:

  • Funding and exams
  • Finance
  • Human resources
  • The Learning Practice
  • Student services and marketing
  • Property services

  Staff in all departments and units are considered vital to the smooth and efficient operation of the college and essential to continuous improvement.

• Strategic ambitions

  Our strategic ambitions are to:

  • Deliver outstanding learner success
  • Impact positively on local social & economic prosperity
  • Develop a high performance culture
  • Ensure financial resilience

   

  The College of West Anglia is a great place to work with an exciting future – why not come and join us?

---

Employment benefits

The College of West Anglia is great place to work and has a wide range of benefits for its employees, including:

• Generous annual leave entitlement

  Our annual leave entitlement is currently 30 days for support staff*, 37 days for academic staff* and 35 days for management*. All staff also receive an additional 5 days per year, when the college is closed, and nationally observed bank holidays. *All entitlements are pro-rata for part-time positions.

• Contributory pension scheme

  We are part of the Teachers Pension Scheme for academic staff, with an employee contribution of 7.4-11.7% (depending on full-time equivalent annual salary) and an employer contribution of 23.68%.

  We are also part of the Norfolk Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) for support staff and non-teaching managers, with an employee contribution of 5.5-12.5% (depending on full-time equivalent salary) and an employer contribution of 22.2%.

• Staff development and course waivers

  We actively encourage the personal development of all our staff. Staff can apply for funding to attend events and courses and also can have fees waived for some college courses. We have 2 dedicated training days per year for all staff, and lecturing staff can apply for up to 5 days study leave per year (pro-rata for part-time staff).

• Trade unions

  The College works closely with our recognised Trade Unions (UNISON for support staff, UCU for academic staff and NEU for managers) in order to maintain good communication links with staff.

• Flexible working opportunities

  CWA operates a flexible working policy for all staff, allowing you to request flexible working opportunities at any point. This policy and procedure is available on the college intranet or from the HR Department.

• Confidential counselling helpline

  We offer all staff access to a free, 24/7 confidential counselling telephone helpline, provided by Aviva.

• Preferential rates at local gyms

  We have negotiated preferential staff rates for access to gyms including the Bodyworks fitness suites at Alive Leisure in King’s Lynn, Downham Market and Hunstanton, as well as Sports Direct Fitness in King’s Lynn.

• Childcare

  Our King’s Lynn campus houses an on-site childcare centre, Applewood Nursery, offering a safe, friendly environment for your children.

• Healthy workforce scheme

  We are committed to ensuring a healthy workforce at CWA and run various initiatives to promote and assist staff, including health fairs and cycle-to-work schemes.

• Staff discount scheme

  CWA have arranged discounts with many local companies from leisure centres to shed retailers, and we aim to expand this further.

• The Salon and Novus Restaurant

  Staff have access to our industry-standard salons at King’s Lynn and Wisbech, for hair and beauty treatments during term time in both the day and evening.

  Meals, snacks and refreshments are also available at our Novus Restaurant in King’s Lynn, during term-time, including lunchtimes and selected evenings.

---

Our recruitment process

Our recruitment process ensures that all applicants have an equal opportunity to succeed and gain appointment at the college.

Each job advert on our site has links to a full job description and person specification and guidance notes, along with more detailed information about the college and employment benefits. We strongly recommend that you read the guidance notes carefully prior to completing your application.

What happens after I apply for a job?

• What happens to my application after I have submitted it?

  We base our selection processes on the person specification for the job and you therefore need to make sure you have provided relevant information to cover the set criteria.

  Once we receive your application in the human resources department, it is then passed to the selection panel, which is made up of managers/supervisors in the relevant area. There are 2 people who shortlist and they will do so using a standard system and the criteria to be assessed at application stage, indicated on the person specification. Every shortlist is checked by HR once completed to ensure consistency and to check compliance with our obligations under the Disability Confident award to ensure we interview all those with disabilities who meet the essential person specification.

  If you have been shortlisted, you will be informed of the interview date, and if you have to do a presentation, test or task as part of the interview, by email.

  Unsuccessful candidates will also be informed of the status of their application by email.

• Equal opportunities monitoring

  To ensure that we treat all applicants fairly, we ask you to complete equal opportunities information as part of your application. We do this so we can monitor whether the college is inadvertently creating any barriers for applicants and to ensure we do not discriminate in our practices. This information is held confidentially by HR and is not seen by the managers/supervisors shortlisting and interviewing.

  We appreciate that you may not wish to complete some of these questions; there are “prefer not to declare” boxes for many questions, so that the rest of the form can be completed.

• Right to work in the UK

  You must provide original documents from either list A or list B:

  List A

  1. A passport showing the holder, or a person named in the passport as the child of the holder, is a British citizen or a citizen of the UK and colonies having the right of abode in the UK
  2. A passport or national identity card showing that the holder, or a person named in the passport as the child of the holder, is a national of an European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland
  3. A registration certificate or document certifying permanent residence issued by the Home Office to a national of an EEA country or Switzerland
  4. A permanent residence card issued by the Home Office to the family member of a national of an EEA country or Switzerland
  5. A current Biometric Immigration Document (Biometric Residence Permit) issued by the Home Office to the holder indicating that the person named is allowed to stay indefinitely in the UK, or have no time limit on their stay in the UK
  6. A current passport endorsed to show that the holder is exempt from immigration control, is allowed to stay indefinitely in the UK, has the right of abode in the UK, or has no time limit on their stay in the UK
  7. A current Immigration Status Document issued by the Home Office to the holder with an endorsement indicating that the named person is allowed to stay indefinitely in the UK or has no time limit on their stay in the UK together with an official document giving the person’s permanent National Insurance number and their name issued by a Government agency or a previous employer*
  8. A birth or adoption certificate issued in the UK, together with an official document giving the person’s permanent National Insurance number and their name issued by a Government agency or a previous employer*
  9. A birth or adoption certificate issued in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or Ireland together with an official document giving the person’s permanent National Insurance number and their name issued by a Government agency or a previous employer*
  10. A certificate of registration or naturalization as a British citizen together with an official document giving the person’s permanent National Insurance number and their name issued by a Government agency or a previous employer*

   

  List B

   

  Group 1 - Documents where a time-limited statutory excuse lasts until the expiry date of leave

  1. A current passport endorsed to show that the holder is allowed to stay in the UK and is currently allowed to do the type of work in question
  2. A current Biometric Immigration Document (Biometric Residence Permit) issued by the Home Office to the holder which indicates that the named person can currently stay in the UK and is allowed to do the work in question
  3. A current residence card (including an accession residence card or derivative residence card) issued by the Home Office to a non EEA national who is a family member of a national of a EEA country or Switzerland or who has a derivative right of residence
  4. A current immigration status document containing a photograph issued by the Home Office to the holder with a valid endorsement indicating that the named person may stay in the UK, and is allowed to do the type of work in question, together with an official document giving the person’s permanent National Insurance number and their name issued by a Government agency or a previous employer*

   

  Group 2 - Documents where a time-limited statutory excuse lasts for 6 months

  1. A certificate of application issued by the Home Office under regulation 17(3) or 18A92) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 to a family member of a national of a EEA country or Switzerland stating that the holder is permitted to take employment which is less than 6 months old together with a positive verification notice* from the Home Office employer checking service
  2. An application registration card issued by the Home Office stating that the holder is permitted to take the employment in question, together with a positive verification notice from the Home Office employer checking service
  3. A positive verification notice issued by the Home Office employer checking service to the employer or prospective employer which indicates that the named person may stay in the UK and is permitted to do the work in question

  *A positive verification notice is official correspondence from the Home Office employer checking service which confirms that a named person has permission to undertake the work in question

  ***An official document can include for example a HM Revenue and Customs letter, Jobcentre Plus letter, P45, P60 or National Insurance number card but not a payslip

   

  List of European Economic Area (EEA) Countries:
  Austria
  Germany
  Malta
  Belgium
  Greece
  Netherlands
  Bulgaria
  Hungary
  Norway
  Croatia
  Iceland
  Poland
  Cyprus
  Ireland
  Portugal
  Czech Republic
  Italy
  Romania
  Denmark
  Latvia
  Slovakia
  Estonia
  Liechtenstein
  Slovenia
  Finland
  Lithuania
  Spain
  France
  Luxembourg
  Sweden

• What happens at interview?

  Interviews are usually conducted by a panel of  people who have been involved in the shortlisting process. We try to use a variety of methods as part of the selection process as well as asking candidates a series of questions based on the person specification. These can include:

  • Presentation
  • Microteach
  • IT tests
  • Prioritisation and workload management exercise
  • Report writing
  • Data analysis

  Each candidate will experience the same selection process and will be asked the same standard questions. All parts of the selection process will be scored using the same methods set in advance. The panel may wish to ask questions concerning your application during the interview. You will also have an opportunity to ask any questions or clarify any points at the end of the interview.

  At the end of the interview process the panel will make a decision based on your scores for the answers you gave at interview and the results of any tasks (if relevant). We will contact you as soon as possible after all interviews have been held to advise if you have been successful.

  Due to the current COVID19 pandemic, the majority of interviews and interview tasks will be carried out online via Microsoft Teams or Zoom.

• Job offers

  All job offers are made subject to the satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks which includes satisfactory references, medical questionnaire and clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service. We may also require you to see our occupational health provider before you start, should that be necessary.

  All members of staff must have a Disclosure and Barring Service certificate received by the college prior to commencing employment with us. The online application processfor this is sent out immediately after the post is offered. We will receive the outcome of you DBS check directly from our system provider and the certificate will be sent directly to you from the DBS. We also need to have received two satisfactory references and then we will be able  to set your start date.

  If you have a recent DBS certificate from another organisation please provide this to us, as it may be possible to agree an earlier start date if one is in place.

  Once we have agreed a suitable start date and we will send out full information by post.

---

Relocating to the area

The College of West Anglia’s campuses are located across the counties of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. The area is one of outstanding natural beauty from the seascapes of the Norfolk coast and the Broads to the Fens.

• Living in Norfolk and Cambridge

  Norfolk and Cambridgeshire offer a high-quality standard of living, with history, culture, activities and natural beauty to enjoy. There are many historic buildings including the university colleges at Cambridge, Ely cathedral and the medieval centres of Norwich and King’s Lynn. The region also has many arts centres, venues for live performances, beaches and coastal areas, including Hunstanton and Wells, as well as excellent shopping, particularly in Cambridge and Norwich.

  For more information, take a look at Visit Norfolk, Tour Norfolk and Visit Cambridge.

• Housing – buying or renting

  There are many housing areas across the region, with a range of housing available from modern new-builds through to traditional farmhouse cottages. Housing is fairly reasonably priced across West Norfolk and Fenland, with house prices rising in the areas closer to Cambridge city centre. More information is available on websites such as rightmove.co.uk or zoopla.co.uk.

  There are also many estate agents and letting agents, which you can find listed on yell.com.

  Keyhomes East (KHE) provides key public sector workers with access to affordable housing in the East of England. This applies to qualified teachers in colleges, which means relevant staff at CWA can qualify. This is particularly applicable to those living, or wishing to live, nearer to Cambridge. Opportunities are available through this scheme to rent or buy homes – for further information go to bphaoptions.org.uk.

• Moving your family

  The area has many childcare facilities and a range of primary and secondary schools. For full details of schools, please visit the council pages (Cambridgeshire County Council, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council and Norfolk County Council. There are also details of childminders at thechildminderdirectory.co.uk.

  Our King’s Lynn campus also houses Applewood Nursery which caters for children from 2 months to 5 years on a full year basis.

  Staff working at the college can also access a childcare voucher scheme which allows you to purchase childcare vouchers as a salary sacrifice which enables you to save the cost of NI on these providing a saving on childcare costs.

  Further information on relocating to the area is available on the Working in West Norfolk website.