Job details
Job role
- Head of year or phase
- Head of department or curriculum
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Subject
- English
Working pattern
- Full time
Contract type
- Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary
- Leadership Scale L10 – L13
Director of English job summary
About us and the role
For September 2022, we are looking to appoint a Director of English to lead a highly successful English department.
We are seeking an innovative, enthusiastic and dedicated English teacher to lead a department that enjoys an excellent reputation both within and beyond the school. If you are an outstanding practitioner with the ability to inspire and motivate students we would like to hear from you.
The successful candidate will not only be passionate about their subject, and have exceptional subject knowledge, but also have a passion and drive to devise, implement, monitor the teaching and delivery to engage students in their studies.
The English faculty in Avanti House School comprises of a warm and wonderful team of nine outstanding teachers. Each team member is an expert in their subject and has the autonomy to exhibit their own unique teaching personality. What the team share, is a strong ethos for collaboration and conveying their passion of literature as a tool to evoke intellectual curiosity, spiritual growth and academic excellence in each child. This shared passion and collaboration creates a strong foundation for success and allows us to achieve the best outcomes for our students; we have a track record of successful GCSE results, with our last GCSE cohort attaining 79% of grades 9-5 in English Language and 85% in English Literature.
Since the Sixth form at Avanti House has been established in 2017, we have had an increasing number of students opting to study A Level English Literature, leading to a rapid growth in uptake Key Stage 5. As a popular option at A Level at the school, we have over thirty students both Year 12 and 13. This growth is based on strong pupil and teacher relationships, deep subject knowledge and continued development of teaching and learning.
Literacy is strongly promoted in our school through the Reading Strategy that sits within our Teaching and Learning Policy. Reading is key to learning across all subjects and is a strong predictor of outcomes to later life. We deepen the development of vocabulary and comprehension by combining purposeful reading with writing in focused learning activities. We provide opportunities for high level, meaningful dialogue. Our four elements of the reading strategy are Oral Reading, Comprehension, Generation and The Art of Writing. We introduce new techniques within these elements to continuously develop our practice such as disciplinary literacy and “speak like a scholar”. Analysis of GL testing identifies pupils targeted for intervention, where Lexia is used for rapid progress in Word Study, Comprehension and Grammar.”
Avanti House Secondary School values professional development and will fully fund the new NPQ leading literacy-NPQLL-for the successful candidate and provide opportunities across the Avanti Schools Trust.
Why should you apply?
You will be working in a fantastic environment.
Avanti exists to help each person become a well-rounded human being through intellectual, moral and spiritual growth, and so make the world a better place.
Benefits include:
Teachers pension scheme
Development opportunities
What will you do?
Work with the Principal as part of a team of middle and senior leaders on the effective implementation and coordination of the vision, ethos and strategy for the school, within the context of the Avanti Schools Trust vision – taking a strategic lead on the leadership and management of the subject of English.
As part of the development of the curricula, find opportunities to ensure that the fundamental British values are both understood and actively promoted within English.
Take a lead on pedagogical development, standards of teaching and learning within the English department – supporting non specialists/less experienced teachers.
Contribute towards developing links across local, regional and national groups, business & industry with an interest in English.
For a more comprehensive list of the job responsibilities, please view the full Job Description
What are we looking for?
Up to date knowledge of the new GCSE/BTEC and A Level Specifications.
Ability to coach and develop members of staff.
Ability to monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching and learning and standards
Excellent organisational skills and ability to delegate.
Clear vision and understanding of how to implement and sustain a high quality of teaching and learning within English.
Please view the full Job Description for more information on the essential criteria and skills required for this role.
Further information
Pre-employment checks
Avanti Services Limited is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All successful candidates are required to have an Enhanced DBS check unless internally appointed and still within the cycle of DBS re-checks.
Any appointment subsequently made will be subject to the receipt of satisfactory references and other pre-employment checks.
Diversity and Inclusion
We want to make sure we are attracting the widest possible range of people and ensure that they are accepted, understood and treated equally when they work here. This means we will work hard to understand that each employee is unique and ensuring that individuals or groups are not treated differently or less favourably on the basis of specific characteristics.
Such characteristics include (but are not limited to) age, disability, gender including transgender, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, and how the school supports pregnant women and new parents.
Commitment to safeguarding
Avanti Schools Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All successful candidates are required to have an Enhanced DBS check unless internally appointed and still within the cycle of DBS re-checks.
Any appointment subsequently made will be subject to the receipt of satisfactory references and other pre-employment checks.
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About Avanti House School
- School type
- Free School, Hindu, ages 11 to 18
- Education phase
- Secondary
- School size
- 1189 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 18
Avanti House Secondary School is an inclusive Hindu faith school based in Harrow, open to students of all faiths.
What makes Avanti Secondary School distinctive is its values-based approach to education. This encourages students to value self, others and the environment and empowers them to be effective learners as well as good citizens. The school offers a traditional and extensive curriculum, but also offers a focused study of Ethics, Philosophy, Sanskrit, Meditation and Yoga.
In 2022 our Year 11 students gained excellent GCSE examination results with 89% of students gaining at least a Grade 4 in both their Mathematics and English qualifications. Students gained excellent results in a wide range of subjects across the curriculum and many have progressed into our Sixth Form. Our Sixth Form has grown from an initial 36 students in 2018 to over 320 this year. This highlights the quality of the teaching and learning across the school and the vast majority of the pupils studying in our Sixth Form progress onto their first choice universities and apprenticeship schemes.
A wide range of extra-curricular opportunities enable the students to develop their own characters and become outstanding citizens. Our most recent Ofsted highlights that the behaviour and attitudes shown by pupils and adults are exemplary and the provision for pupils, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is exceptional.
Avanti House Secondary School is based in a large site in Wemborough Road, Stanmore. The multi-million pound complex boasts state of the art science labs, computing rooms, design and technology workshops and classrooms that will enable students to make outstanding progress through exceptional teaching and learning. The fantastic sports and arts facilities also enable the students to excel and further develop their passions in these areas through extra-curricular activities and our successful sports teams.
