Job Description
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Head of Biology
TLR 2.2 £4639
Thurstable School seeks to appoint a Teacher of Science and a developing leader to join our highly successful science faculty from September 2019, leading Biology across the school, including A level.
The successful applicant will be passionate about their subject and about learning, and committed to developing their leadership skills in a high trust and high challenge professional environment. You will already be an excellent teacher of science, or know where you are on your journey to becoming so. You will be eager to assist in developing the strategic vision of the science faculty. Your ability to motivate students and your potential to lead colleagues, together with a determination to deliver outstanding outcomes for your students, will be your defining characteristics.
Thurstable is an oversubscribed and highly successful 11-18 school. We offer staff an open and supportive environment, characterised by trust and by honest professional challenge, which is perhaps why Ofsted commented in 2016 that "the vast majority of staff are incredibly positive and proud to be working at Thurstable School".
We see our staff as our most important asset, and offer exceptional professional development and training opportunities, teaching across the age and ability range up to A level, and outstanding facilities for teaching and learning. We welcome informal visits from potential applicants.
Application packs are available from our website www.thurstable.essex.sch.uk or by calling the school on 01621 816526.
Our school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our students and all posts are subject to an enhanced DBS check.
Information about the School
Thank you for taking an interest in joining us as at Thurstable School.
Thurstable School is an ambitious and successful 11-19 academy with 1209 students, located in Tiptree near Colchester in Essex. We are a school on a journey as seen by our excellent outcomes at KS4 in 2022 and our vision is to be a school of character and excellence. Our three guiding values are Aspire, Respect & Endeavour and our mission is to build knowledge and grow character so that as well as flourishing as scholars our students will thrive in life and be the best versions of themselves.
Why join us?
● Every minute counts and our classrooms are disruption free. To enable this we have a simple and centralised approach to behaviour centred on a warm/strict philosophy and shared routines. All detentions are centralised and overseen by senior staff. It is these routines that allow the positive student-staff relationships to flourish.
● We believe that you are the expert. We promote the importance of teacher led lessons based on brilliant subject knowledge, great explanations and skilful questioning. We are committed to helping you continue to develop your subject knowledge and pedagogy.
● We take CPD seriously and we are one of just 8 Steplab Hub schools in England for the quality of our Instructional Coaching model which is based on Rosenshine and Lemov’s Teach Like A Champion. All staff receive one to one coaching for at least and we believe in improving not proving so our appraisal process is linked to engagement in CPD not student grades.
● We are committed to staff wellbeing and adopting sensible approaches to workload. We recognise the efforts and achievements of all our staff on a weekly basis and never take anyone’s work for granted.
● We are on a journey of which you can be a driving part. Our school improvement groups, led by non-SLT members, are crucial to driving change in the school and this year played a key role in shaping our behaviour policy, uniform and staff development model.
We believe this is an exciting time to join the school and help our students reach their undoubted full potential. If you can dream big, work hard and also have a sense of fun, I genuinely believe that you will really enjoy working at Thurstable.
Our website provides a clear picture of our aspirations and our vision; however, please do not hesitate to contact us to seek further information.
We very much look forward to receiving applications from candidates whose personal qualities, values and experiences support and reflect ours. We welcome visits or conversations with prospective applicants.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people therefore this appointment will be subject to vetting, including an enhanced DBS disclosure.
We look forward to hearing from you soon