Location: Acton, West London — Excellent transport links, Acton Town station only 5 minutes’ walk and ample car parking onsite.

Salary: Ark Main scale (Inner London) Plus TLR 2C

Start Date: September 2024

Contract: Full-time hours, permanent contract.

Closing date: 24th May 2024

Interviews: On a rolling basis – (We reserve the right to close the advert early on appointment of a suitable candidate, early application is advised)

Fantastic opportunity to join a high-performing school in West London where everyone strives for success. 

About the role:

We are on an incredible improvement journey and we are sowing the seeds of greatness for our local community. However, there is still much to do and we are looking for an expert leader of Geography who can help drive us forward. You will continue to develop and implement a disciplinary Geography curriculum, enabling a dedicated department to teach highly effective sequences of lessons that will allow students to fall in love with the study and practice of the subject.  

As Head of Department, you will promote outstanding teaching and learning and a strong school culture within a nurturing and rigorous environment. You will ensure that a high-quality geography curriculum is delivered to develop pupils’ understanding of how their lives are both shaped by and have an impact on the environments they inhabit.

View more information on our Geography curriculum here

The ideal candidate will:

• Combine subject matter expertise with a passion for teaching Geography
• Have the commitment, skills and character required to be a team player
• Share the Ark Acton Academy vision and be aligned with the six pillars underpinning it
• Value and support practices driving continued progress across the network of Ark schools

View more information and a full job description here.

About Ark Acton;

Our ethos is clear, and we are unwavering in our dedication to it. We simply believe that every child regardless of background or prior achievement, can be successful if given great teaching and pastoral support.

We place the curriculum – what we teach – at the heart of the academy and it informs all decisions we make. We are looking for someone who shares our belief in disciplinary thinking and who will help improve and refine our curriculum thinking.

In the words of Alex Standish, we believe that “school subjects then are a way of inducting children into the intellectual habits of humankind, and hence into a disciplinary conversation about knowing our world” and we are looking for someone who shares this belief to join our team.

Benefits of Working at Ark Acton:

At Ark Acton we have stripped away anything we feel gets in the way of being a great teacher so that we can focus on the main thing. This includes:

• Feedback policies that sit at department level
• No graded lesson observations
• No report writing
• No parent’s evenings
• Only 2 data points a year
• No ½ termly data metrics to track progress
• Protected Department meeting and co-planning time built into the timetable and a teacher’s overall loadings.

We are heavily committed to staff welfare and development, and this includes:

• Weekly staff training and coaching for every teacher
• Subject-specific knowledge development
• Free use of our leisure centre
• Access to the school counsellor
• Access to Ark’s employee rewards and benefits programme.

For Further information on the school please visit the school site at https://arkacton.org

View our Safeguarding information and policy here

View more information on the benefits of working for Ark here.

For further information, a confidential discussion or any technical queries please contact M.Murphy1@arkacton.org.

Ark is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in its academies. In order to meet this responsibility, its academies follow a rigorous selection process to discourage and screen out unsuitable applicants.

Ark requires all employees to undertake an enhanced DBS check. You are required, before appointment, to disclose any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands, or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. Non-disclosure may lead to termination of employment. However, disclosure of a criminal background will not necessarily debar you from employment - this will depend upon the nature of the offence(s) and when they occurred. To read more about Ark’s safer recruitment process, please click this link.

Ark Schools are committed to attracting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce, with a broad range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. To read more about Ark’s diversity and inclusion statement, please click this link.