Head of Department (Religious Education)

Emmanuel College, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE11 0AN

43 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  September 2026

• Closing date

  24 April 2026 at 10am

• Date listed

  12 March 2026

Job details

• Job role:
  • Teacher
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Subject: Religious education
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full-time equivalent salary: £57,155.63 - £64,712.81 Annually (Actual)

Head of Department (Religious Education) job summary

Emmanuel College are looking to recruit a Head of Department (Religious Education) who will enthuse pupils to learn with a combination of great subject knowledge, energy and dedication.

We have high expectations for our students as they grow and develop and all our staff provide important role models to them in terms of positive attitude, work ethic and diligence.

The successful candidate will be responsible to the Vice Principal (Quality of Education) for:

The rapid progress and exceptional academic achievement of all students in Religious Education with a particular emphasis on:

being a visible example of our ethos, core virtues and leadership expectations that we hold, and through this contributing actively to Good Morning Emmanuel;

ensuring decisions are driven by quality of provision and student progress data;

building a cohesive staff team where the development of staff as teachers (both subject knowledge and quality of instruction) and leaders (career development and succession planning) is a core part of your practice.

Implementing an exceptional Religious Education curriculum and providing opportunities for students to grow in character with a particular emphasis on:

working in collaboration with colleagues within Emmanuel and the multi-academy trust to align with our cross trust aims and principles, ensuring that our KS3 provision is embedded in the religion and worldviews approach and an exceptional experience for our students;

ensuring the curriculum contains a clear progression from KS2 to KS5 and beyond and that all staff can articulate what is taught, why it is taught at that point in the curriculum and what it will lead to next for the students;

implementing schemes of work that clearly define the substantive and disciplinary knowledge and vocabulary that students need to master and which lead to consistently exceptional teaching; while building meaningful curriculum links to a wide range of enrichment opportunities to engage all groups of students and build their cultural capital.

Ensuring that the teaching of Religious Education is consistently exceptional with a particular emphasis on:

ensuring that schemes of work and lesson resources support consistently exceptional teaching and are regularly

reviewed/improved through collaborative planning;

leading regular quality assurance of effectiveness of teaching across the department, continually identifying examples of best practice to be disseminated and areas for improvement to be addressed through collaborative planning and support;

creating a culture of reflective practice and improvement and professional dialogue across your team so that staff are motivated and supported to develop their own skills and subject knowledge, and to support each other.

Further information is available in the job description and person specification.

Join us and in addition to working with committed and helpful colleagues, the Trust can offer access to the following benefits:

• Defined benefit pension scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Daily lunch allowance
• Access to our exclusive Benefits Hub
• Free parking
• Employee centred and family friendly policies and practices that support you in and beyond the workplace
• Enhanced sick pay, maternity leave and paternity leave (dependent on length of service)
• Cycle to work scheme
• Funded eye tests and glasses for DSE users (subject to T/Cs)

Emmanuel College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff to share this commitment. Where the post is engaged in regulated activity, and/or an opportunity for contact with children the position will be subject to an enhanced DBS check. In addition, as part of the shortlisting process, and in accordance with statutory guidance, we may carry out an online search (for publicly available material) to help identify any incidents or issues that have happened which we may want to explore with shortlisted applicants at interview.

Designation

Emmanuel College is designated as a school having a Christian character and the provisions of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 apply to this establishment, accordingly the post of Head of Religious Education is a reserved post.

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Commitment to safeguarding

Emmanuel College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff to share this commitment. Where the post is engaged in regulated activity, and/or an opportunity for contact with children the position will be subject to an enhanced DBS check. In addition, as part of the shortlisting process, and in accordance with statutory guidance, we may carry out an online search (for publicly available material) to help identify any incidents or issues that have happened which we may want to explore with shortlisted applicants at interview.

Applying for the job

This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

About Emmanuel College

• School type: Independent school, ages 11 to 18
• School size: 1543 pupils enrolled
• Age range: 11 to 18
• Ofsted report: View Ofsted report
• School website: Emmanuel College website
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/emmanuel-college

At Emmanuel College we have a reputation for academic excellence, yet we place a far higher premium upon character development.

The results our students achieve place Emmanuel firmly amongst a small handful of the best comprehensive schools in the nation, yet our student intake is carefully tailored to be representative of inner city Gateshead and Newcastle (two-thirds of our students come from “disadvantaged and highly disadvantaged” areas, and the average IQ is 100 with as many low-attaining as high-attaining students).

Our staff are dedicated professionals, yet most would describe what they do in terms of vocation rather than career.

We have a distinctive Christian ethos, yet we apply no faith test on intake. Parents choose Emmanuel for its orderly, calm, safe environment and emphasis upon respect for authority.

If you have a passion to make a difference in the lives of the young people of Gateshead and Newcastle, and demand the best from yourself as well as others, we would like to hear from you.

School location

Get a job alert when similar jobs are listed

Find more school jobs in Gateshead and Tyne and Wear