Head of Art
Wheatley Park School, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX33 1QHThis job expired on 22 April 2025 – see similar jobs
Start date details
September 2025
Closing date
22 April 2025 at 9am
Date listed
27 March 2025
Job details
Job role
- Teacher
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Subject
- Art & Design
Working pattern
- Part time, full time
Contract type
- Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary
- Main Scale or UPS if post threshold + TLR2(2)
Head of Art job summary
HEAD OF ART
Main Scale or UPS if post threshold
+TLR2(2) (£5643.00)
From September 2025
0.8 to Full Time
Permanent
Due to the promotion of our current Head of Department, we are looking for a new leader to further develop art at Wheatley Park School. You will enjoy the support of an established department team, who have a passionate commitment to the subject and to ensuring that all of our students succeed. We have a truly comprehensive intake, and we work hard to narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. At the same time, we also challenge our high-attaining pupils, ensuring that they have the knowledge, skills and the love of the subject necessary to thrive in higher education. Art is a popular subject at our school, with strong take-up at GCSE, in A Level Art and Photography and students regularly progressing onto Art Foundation courses.
Art is taught in our Georgian mansion, a unique and beautiful environment for creative learning where we have well lit art rooms, a photography base, a print studio and a sixth form studio. These inspiring surroundings also house the music and drama departments, placing the subject in the wider context of the arts within the school: the three subjects enjoy their own team room and shared social space, and have a close working relationship through collaborating on concerts, shows and other community events such as ParkFest, our Wheatley Park School festival.
The ideal candidate will be a confident and successful teacher who has strong subject knowledge, experience in designing an effective curriculum, and the ability to galvanise and motivate a team. You will be a strategic thinker, and you will enjoy considering how to plan and deliver sequences of learning that will give our pupils, whatever their background, the foundations for a lifelong enjoyment of art. You will be someone who can build a team ethos of mutual challenge and support, and a culture of ambition and the celebration of success.
You will also enjoy the additional opportunities that the role offers, such as the staging of the annual Art Show, and the development of a rich extra-curricular offer that has included printmaking, photography and life drawing, for staff as well as students. We regularly support students to enter local and national competitions, and our students’ work has been shown in institutions such as the Ashmolean Museum and the Royal Academy in recent years.
As a valued member of our middle leadership team, you will be able to make your mark positively and we will help you to develop as a leader, preparing you for a more senior post in time. As the school is part of the River Learning Trust, you will have access to up-to-date training on subject pedagogy and leadership, from local and national leaders in education. In order to achieve this, you will have the time to fulfil the demands of the post, and you will have access to administrative and technician support. The post is full time, although we would consider a flexible working arrangement of 0.8 FTE for the right candidate.
We will offer you the chance to be part of a strong and developing school community working in a supporting environment. We are renowned for placing a high value on staff wellbeing and professional development at all levels.
Situated just east of Oxford in a unique parkland site, Wheatley Park School is a flourishing 11- 18 academy with a vibrant comprehensive intake.
Education has the power to change lives, communities and society for the better. At RLT we believe that we can achieve more for our pupils, trainees, staff and communities by working together rather than alone. Schools in RLT are united by a common belief in the benefits of working together, and by our commitment to shared principles.
OUR VISION is for our schools and SCITT to improve rapidly, continuously and sustainably: to be better faster together.
OUR ‘WHY?’ is that children and young people ‘only get one go’ in school and therefore as part of RLT we aim to ensure the best possible ‘go’ for our pupils.
OUR ‘HOW?’ is through the highest support and challenge for our schools and each other, underpinned by our principles.
Our employees benefit from a wide variety of support including extensive continuing professional learning and development opportunities, wellbeing and staff networks and access to Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (TPS and LGPS) for all staff. For more information on what it is like to work for the Trust, and the benefits you could access, please see our “Working in RLT” guide.
This role includes regulated activity relevant to children.
If you would like to know more, or arrange a visit, please contact Mrs Skye Wigley (HR Manager) on 01865 877634 or by email to swigley@wheatleypark.org. Full details can be found on our website here Applications for this post can only be accepted via the MyNewTerm website here. To find out more about the River Learning Trust, please visit www.riverlearningtrust.org.
Closing date and time: 9am Tuesday 22nd April 2025
The school reserves the right to consider and interview candidates ahead of the closing date if appropriate. An offer may be made to an exceptional candidate in this instance.
Interview date: Week commencing Monday 28th April 2025
The River Learning Trust and Wheatley Park School are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and preventing extremism. The Trust is required to conduct a variety of checks and online searches about you as part of their recruitment process in accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. It is an offence to apply for certain roles within schools if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children.
For all RLT Safer Recruitment Documentation candidates should click on the following link RLT Safer Recruitment Documents for Candidates. Please see our website for up to date policies including our Child Protection and Behaviour Policies.
This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020. For further guidance for applicants click on this link List of offences that are not filtered
Our staff are expected to maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school, by not undermining fundamental British values including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
Wheatley Park School, Holton, Oxford, OX33 1QH
Tel: 01865 872441
Commitment to safeguarding
Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.
Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.
Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children
You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.
About Wheatley Park School
- School type
- Academy, ages 11 to 18
- Education phase
- Secondary
- School size
- 1135 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 18
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Wheatley Park School website
Situated five miles east of Oxford on a unique and historic parkland site, Wheatley Park School is a highly successful mixed 11 - 18 academy and proud member of the River Learning Trust. We are a vibrant and dynamic school with a track record of improvement and innovation in recent years. In June 2016 the school was graded ‘Good’ by Ofsted. We are now on the next part of our journey to becoming a sustainably ‘Outstanding’ school in accordance with our core values of Everyone Learning and Everyone Caring. Our truly comprehensive intake is a mixture of both rural and urban with strong ethnic diversity. Our staff work exceptionally well together, providing a collaborative and supportive professional ethos.
School location
Similar jobs nearby
Teacher of Art and Design Technology
Beaconsfield High School
Wattleton Road, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, HP9 1RR
Get a job alert when similar jobs are listed
Find more school jobs in Oxford and Oxfordshire