Head of Biology
Thomas Gainsborough School, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 0NHThis job expired on 27 January 2020 – see similar jobs
Job start date
1 September 2020
Closing date
27 January 2020 at 5pm
Date listed
14 January 2020
Job details
Job role
- Teacher
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Subject
- Biology
Working pattern
- Full time
Full-time equivalent salary
- Main pay range 1 to Upper pay range 3, £24,373 to £40,490
Additional allowances
Thomas Gainsborough School is a consistently high performing, well-resourced school in South Suffolk. The school continues to invest in high quality professional development and provides a range of employee benefits. This is an excellent opportunity for any teacher to develop their practice and continue their career progression.
Head of Biology job summary
As a popular and successful school, we are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic, hardworking leader of Biology to contribute to the successful teaching of science across the school.
You will be required to:
Ensure that all groups of students make outstanding progress in Biology across all key stages
Develop or contribute to the range of activities and support for STEM students, particularly those on our unique Key Stage 3 STEM pathway.
Therefore, we are looking for someone who:
Has experience of teaching Biology at Key Stages 3-5
Has a record of raising attainment of their students
Has an up to date knowledge of curriculum developments, current education policy and progression routes for STEM students.
Is committed to high standards and ensuring that all groups of students make progress
Is willing to work flexibly
Has excellent interpersonal and communication skills Is able to solve problems and be proactive
Has an excellent sense of humour
KEY TASKS & RESPONSIBILITIES
General Teaching Responsibilities
1. Engage in identifying and implementing the priorities of the School Improvement Plan,
participating fully in school self-evaluation;
2. Comply with and uphold the policies of the school;
3. Fully understand and comply with the school's policy on safeguarding. Remain alert to
students’ pastoral needs and provide support, in conjunction with school’s SENCo and
Learning Support Assistants (LSAs);
4. Proactively uphold the school’s behaviour policy establishing class rules and setting out clear
and fair sanctions in accordance with the school’s systems; high standards of behaviour
should be expected at all times;
5. Work as part of the school’s teaching team and actively behave as a team member to
support colleagues;
6. Oversee and work closely with LSAs, setting out tasks appropriate to the assistant's role and
ability; supervise the work of support staff, students and voluntary helpers as required;
7. Ensure that the learning spaces provide a welcoming and stimulating environment to
students and adults. Classrooms will be vibrant, well organised and serviceable. Work
should be attractively displayed and be clearly and appropriately labelled;
8. Make effective use of PPA time to raise standards;
9. Lead assemblies as required;
10. Play an active role in the full life of the school.
Specific Responsibilities
Class / Subject Teacher:
1. Teach the designated class / subject group(s), implementing agreed planning, assessment
and target setting; work with others to provide Curriculum Enrichment for students.
2. Plan students’ work to provide an inclusive and personalised curriculum which meets the
needs of the children, including those with Special Needs and those who are Able, Gifted
and Talented;
3. Carry out regular assessment, recording, monitoring and record keeping according to school
policies, maintain appropriate records which monitor the progress of the students; mark
students’ work regularly in accordance with the school’s marking policy;
4. Develop home-school links with parents/guardians of students in the class / subject group(s);
5. Complete termly and half-termly assessment records for the class / subject group(s), using
the school’s systems, including preparation of Student Progress Reports for presentation to
the Principal, Senior Leadership Team and Governing Body, as appropriate;
6. Complete student reports for presentation to parents (academic report and the achievement,
effort and social report); meet students’ parents at parent evenings, 3 times per year;
7. Manage and monitor the work of other adults in the classroom (including volunteers);
8. Liaise closely with the SENCo regarding the learning needs of students;
9. Liaise closely with the Designated Teacher for Safeguarding regarding students’ welfare
needs.
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
The post of Head of Department carries significant leadership responsibility for the curriculum area
and the staff working therein. The post has a broad responsibility, as a Middle Leader within the
school, to promote and support the wider educational progress of all students.
Line Management responsibility
1. Monitor the effectiveness and impact of Performance Management arrangements within the
Department;
2. Provide input to Performance Management of individual staff within the Department in terms
of setting objectives, monitoring and assessing work performance;
3. Provide interventions as necessary with staff colleagues to improve teaching and learning.
Curriculum and Assessment
1. Develop / update schemes of work as required, ensuring that teachers are clear about the
teaching objectives in lessons, understand the sequence of teaching and learning in the
subject, and communicate such information to students;
2. Provide input as required on the choice of appropriate teaching and learning methods,
including ICT, to meet the needs of the subject and of different students;
3. Implement and monitor policies and practices for assessing, recording and reporting student
achievement, and for using this information to recognise achievement and assist students in
setting targets for further improvement, consistent with school policy;
4. Support teachers and support staff in maintaining a strong culture of behaviour for learning
within the Department, ensuring that systems of reward and sanctions are consistently
applied and their effectiveness regularly evaluated by the team;
5. Work with teachers and support staff in the Department to help ensure effective development
of students’ individual and collaborative study skills necessary for them to become
increasingly independent in their work and to complete tasks independently when out of
school;
6. Help Teachers in the Department to establish a partnership with parents to involve them in
their child’s learning of the subject, as well as providing information about curriculum,
attainment, progress and targets;
7. Actively assist and be pro-active in developing effective links with the local community,
including business and industry, in order to extend the subject curriculum, enhance teaching
and to develop students’ wider understanding;
8. Seek and implement ways of developing and promoting out of hours learning for students in
relation to the subject area.
Monitoring and evaluation
1. Monitor the quality of work throughout the Department through regular book scrutiny, in
accordance with the relevant school’s policy;
2. Identify appropriate attainment and/or achievement targets;
3. Monitor student standards and achievement against annual targets;
4. Monitor planning, curriculum coverage and learning outcomes;
5. Monitor standards of student behaviour;
6. Plan and work with staff colleagues to implement strategies where improvement needs are
identified;
7. Ensure that relevant attainment / achievement targets are met;
8. Monitor the quality of marking and reports;
9. Monitor implementation of the Department’s Extended Learning policy [or equivalent];
10. Lead evaluation strategies to contribute to overall school self-evaluation
Leading staff development
1. Identify relevant curriculum area improvement issues;
2. Contribute to the professional development of colleagues using a range of strategies
including coaching and mentoring;
3. Evaluate the impact of all improvement activities on the quality of teaching and learning;
4. Provide staff in the Department with relevant subject, curriculum area or student
performance information;
5. Support staff to maintain the highest standards of behaviour for learning;
6. Keep up-to-date with new developments and initiatives in the relevant areas of curriculum
and assessment and work to continuously improve knowledge and best practice amongst all
teachers and support staff
7. Maintain and develop personal professional expertise and share this with other teachers;
8. Act as a role model of good classroom practice for other teachers, modelling effective
strategies with them
Commitment to safeguarding
Unity Schools Partnership is committed to safer recruitment, equal opportunities, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. An enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check will be required.
About Thomas Gainsborough School
- School type
- Academy, ages 11 to 18
- Education phase
- View all Secondaryjobs
- School size
- 1576 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 18
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report (opens in new tab)
- School website
- Thomas Gainsborough School website (opens in new tab)
- Email address
- kfuller@tgschool.net
Thomas Gainsborough School invests in high quality professional development and provides a range of employee benefits. We are closely linked to the Unity Research School and lead the way in many local and national initiatives including being an EdTech Demonstrator School and being an ArtsMark platinum school. We provide excellent support care and support for our staff and students. There are Lead Practitioners to support colleagues in continually improving their practice. As a large, successful and popular school their are opportunites for colleagues to develop at every stage of their career.
In September 2015 the school moved into an award-winning new building, where subjects are taught in specialist rooms either in our Sixth Form block or alongside other History classrooms. The team is very supportive and expectations for students are high.
Thomas Gainsborough School is a consistently high performing, well resourced, and truly comprehensive school, with a firm belief in excellence for each and every student, placing students at the heart of their curriculum. You can find out more about the school at www.tgschool.net
The school continues to invest in high quality professional development and provides a range of employee benefits. This is an excellent opportunity for any teacher to develop their practice and continue their career progression.
The school is located just south of Sudbury in Suffolk and is within easy reach of Colchester, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds. There are also many delightful and affordable villages in the surrounding area, which also make travelling to London, Cambridge and Norwich a possibility.
Many of our staff work flexibly in different ways including part-time working. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours of flexible start and end times. Please talk to us at the interview stage about the flexibility you would like and we will explore what’s possible for specific roles.
School location
Similar jobs nearby
Get a job alert when similar jobs are listed
Find more school jobs in Suffolk