Teacher of English
Reporting to: Head of English
Location: Ark Greenwich
Contract: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full Time
Start date: September 2019
Salary: Ark MPS/UPS Inner London
This is a rare and exciting opportunity to work at one of the highest performing schools in the country. If you are passionate about the importance of English and want to work in a seriously ambitious and high performing school, this is the job for you.
Ark Greenwich
Ark Greenwich is a new, ambitious school model based on what we know excellent schools do. We have created a highly respectful and disciplined environment where our staff and students can fulfil their potential. Our aim is to become ‘the best school in London’ and we are close to achieving this because academic outcomes are first class and because we value and respect our staff.
Joining the school team is a superb opportunity for an ambitious and motivated teacher who wants to make a lasting difference to the communities they serve.
Ark Greenwich exists to empower young people, regardless of socio-economic background, to grow and be successful. This is an ambitious and forward-thinking school that encourages innovation and values its staff. We are proud of our highly respectful and disciplined community and of the outstanding academic outcomes achieved by our pupils. Expectations for all members of our community are unashamedly sky high. We work tirelessly to impact the lives of the young people we serve. Students at our school are passionate about English and keen to develop their skills through the popular weekly enrichment sessions and lunch time clubs.
How is Ark Greenwich different?
- We are part of the Ark family of schools and benefit accordingly from outstanding networking and career opportunities and first class CPD.
- Staff wellbeing is one of our main priorities. We provide breakfast for staff each morning and have a 6pm/weekend work related communication curfew to ensure our staff can maintain a work/life balance. We do not do knee jerk reactions, fads or last minute deadlines. Our systems and processes for communication, pupil marking and feedback and assessment are efficient and streamlined and the approaches we take are led by research and the needs of our local context.
- This is a small school model (600 students aged 11-16) because we believe that our close-knit community provides the optimum conditions for success
- Behaviour for learning is exceptional so our teachers can focus their time on the things that matter – planning and delivering brilliant lessons for our students.
- Our curriculum is traditional and academic and we do not take shortcuts – we do not offer vocational courses or equivalencies such as Btecs or Vcerts.
- We put high-quality teaching at the heart of what we do. We have 60 mins of staff training every week and run coaching for staff wanting to see rapid progress in their discipline. Live coaching and current best practice in the field of education is central to our approach.
- We don’t grade individual lessons or ask for lesson plans.
- Our students enjoy a compulsory co-curricular program on a Wednesday which includes a strong focus on community volunteering and we facilitate 12 drop down days per academic year ensuring our pupils benefit from a range of life enriching experiences.
- This is a strict no excuses, mobile phone school.
If you are ready to add further value to our highly performing English department and to work alongside a brilliant school leadership team, then you will find this job extremely rewarding.
Alignment with the school’s vision, values and approach to education is essential.
The Role and the Department
We invest heavily in our outstanding English department which we believe is one of the strongest departments in the country; dedicating 5 hours a week to English for every student in KS4 and 4 hours at KS3. Pupils at AGFS achieved outstanding GCSE outcomes in English Literature and Language in 2018 – 25% grade 7-9, 64% grade 5+ (strong pass) and 79% grade 4+ (standard pass.) The English Progress 8 score was +0.6.
About Ark Schools
Ark is a network of high-achieving, non-selective schools and one of the country’s top-performing academy groups. We run 38 academies in London, Birmingham, Hastings, London and Portsmouth educating more than 26,000 pupils. 83% of Ark schools are now rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted.
Our aim is to create outstanding schools that give every pupil, regardless of their background, the opportunity to go to university or pursue the career of their choice.
To find out more about Ark Greenwich, please visit our website via www.arkgreenwichfreeschool.org
Closing date: 09:00 Monday 22nd April. The school reserves the right to close this advert early should the right candidate be found. Interviews may take place before the advertised closing date. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early for this role.
Ark value diversity and are committed to safeguarding and promoting child welfare. The successful candidate will be subject to DBS and any other relevant employment checks.
Job Description: Secondary Teacher of English
Reporting to: Head of English
Location: Ark Greenwich Free School
Contract: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full Time
Salary: Ark Main Scale, Inner London
The Role
You will be instrumental in our mission to provide every student a great education and real choices in life, regardless of their background. A passionate practitioner, you will deliver high-quality, rigorous lessons that drive achievement and inspire a love of learning that extends beyond the classroom.
Key Responsibilities
· Set high expectations so that all students are inspired, motivated and challenged to reach their full potential, and in doing so meet their progress and attainment targets
· Plan and teach well-structured, differentiated lessons that are aligned to the agreed curriculum and cultivate every student’s intellectual curiosity
· Use data to inform teaching and learning, identify areas for intervention and provide feedback to students, staff and families in order to promote progress and outcomes
· Manage behaviour effectively to create a safe, respectful and nurturing environment so that students can focus on learning
· Work collaboratively with both school and network colleagues as a committed team member, building successful, high performing teams
· Participate actively throughout the network, by attending relevant meetings, and, as appropriate, delivering network-wide training and initiatives
· Work with colleagues, students and families to develop a strong school community
Other
· Actively promote the safety and welfare of our children and young people
· Ensure compliance with Arks data protection rules and procedures
· Liaise with colleagues and external contacts at all levels of seniority with confidence, tact and diplomacy
· Work with Ark Central and other academies in the Ark network, to establish good practice throughout the network, offering support where required
This job description is not an exhaustive list and you will be expected to carry out any other reasonable tasks as directed by your line manager.
Person Specification: Secondary Teacher
Qualification Criteria
· Qualified to teach and work in the UK
· Degree in English or related subject
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
· Demonstrable commitment to raising attainment of all pupils in a challenging classroom environment
· Excellent understanding of both subject and general teaching pedagogy
· Be or demonstrate the potential to become an outstanding teacher
· Effective and systematic behaviour management
· Knowledge of the national secondary education system, examinations and curriculum
Behaviours
· Genuine passion for and a belief in the potential of every student
· A robust awareness of keeping children safe, noticing safeguarding and welfare concerns, and you understand how and when to take appropriate action
· Deep commitment to Ark’s mission of providing an excellent education to every student, regardless of background
· Excellent interpersonal, planning and organisational skills
· Resilient, motivated and committed to achieving excellence
· Reflective and proactive in seeking feedback to constantly improve practice
· Commitment to regular and on-going professional development and training to establish outstanding classroom practice.
· Commitment to and understanding of professionalism in line with the National Teaching Standards
Other
· Right to work in the UK
· Commitment to equality of opportunity and the safeguarding and welfare of all students
· Willingness to undertake training
· This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check
Ark is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in our academies. In order to meet this responsibility, we follow a rigorous selection process. This process is outlined here, but can be provided in more detail if requested. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.