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Head of English
Sawston Village College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB22 3BP5 days remaining to apply
Job start date
1 September 2025
Closing date
29 April 2025 at 11:59pm
Date listed
9 April 2025
Job details
Job role
- Head of department or curriculum
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Key stage
- Key stage 3, Key stage 4
Subject
- English
Working pattern
- Full time: Full-time: 32.5 hours per week - Monday to Friday.
Contract type
- Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary
- Classroom Teacher Pay Scale M1 (£31,650) to U3 (£49,084)
Additional allowances
TLR 1.4
What skills and experience we're looking for
We are now seeking to appoint an outstanding and ambitious teacher and leader as Head of English to join our successful team at Sawston Village College in September 2025. This is a key appointment for the College and the successful candidate will be an influential leader, building on the current strong performance, setting out an exciting vision for the future, developing colleagues to reach their full potential and ensuring the department is recognised locally and regionally for the quality of its provision and the achievement of pupils. The successful candidate will bring warmth, compassion and kindness as a leader, making ethical decisions for the benefit of all. He or she will also bring rigour, forensic insight and a highly developed understanding of what makes an outstanding department.
The English Faculty has a well-deserved reputation for its collaborative and supportive ethos, for achieving excellent results with pupils and for the passion with which it instils a love of all things literature and literacy in young people. This post will provide the successful applicant with a wealth of opportunity to develop their classroom practice and career. Applications are welcomed from those with more experience looking for their next position in a department and school with aspirations for excellence for all.
Please refer to our Candidate Pack for full details about this role - thank you.
What the school offers its staff
Employee Benefits
Anglian Learning offers the following benefits to staff.
- Career Average Revalued Earnings Pension Scheme (CARE)
- Free membership to all Anglian Leisure Sports Centres – Bassingbourn, Bottisham, Sawston, Joyce Frankland, Linton and Netherhall
- 20% discount on Adult Education classes run by Anglian Learning schools
- Employee assistance programme via Health Assured
- Cycle to work salary sacrifice scheme
- Discounted eye care vouchers
- Annual flu jab vouchers
- Perkbox staff discounts
- Investment in personal development
Further details about the role
The English Faculty
The English Faculty at Sawston Village College is a successful, hardworking and friendly team; we work together to share resources and teaching ideas and are committed to developing pupils’ English skills and their enjoyment of the subject. The Faculty enjoys a long history of outstanding performance at GCSE which extends back beyond the pandemic. On all key measures, GCSE achievement has been significantly above national averages in each of the past five years. In 2024, 38% of pupils achieved a grade 7 or above in English Language and 40% in Literature. 80% achieved a grade 5 or above in English Language and 88% secured a grade 4 or above. The equivalent figures for English Literature were 79% and 89% respectively.
Reasons to join us:
High Standards
The attainment of pupils is well above the national average and the English team work hard to support pupils in achieving their target grades. Our record of exceptional performance at key stage 4 is testament to the commitment, professionalism and excellent teaching of the Faculty. As a faculty, we are keen to ensure all groups including pupils in receipt of PP and those with SEND achieve strongly.
Strong Curriculum Provision
Pupils in KS3 follow a syllabus compatible with the National Curriculum and English framework with the opportunity for pupils to develop their reading, writing and speaking and listening skills through exposure to a wide range of texts (both fiction and non-fiction). The English Department has recently collaboratively overhauled their KS3 units to make sure pupils are exposed to diverse, exciting and challenging texts and ideas. The Y7 schemes consider the overarching question of ‘what makes us human?’, the Y8 schemes consider ‘what makes us belong?’ and the Y9 schemes, ‘what does it mean to be powerful?’ Long term plans outline half-termly programmes of study, key assessment activities and success criteria, and schemes of learning are well-resourced with accompanying resources for use with IWBs. Progression of skills, knowledge and understanding lie at the heart of our schemes of learning.
Years 7-9 have seven hours of English lessons per fortnight and one of these hours is a library lesson to ensure our pupils read for pleasure. KS3 are currently taught in mixed-ability groups but setting continues throughout KS4; careful consideration is given to grouping depending on the characteristics of the cohort. Year 7 pupils who enter the College at well below the expected level also follow an intensive Literacy course, taught by our Literacy Co-ordinator, in place of a foreign language. We also withdraw selected pupils from the Y7 English lessons using Direct Instruction to help those less able readers with their reading. Literacy teaching is embedded within our Key Stage 3 curriculum to consolidate pupils’ language skills.
At KS4 we follow AQA GCSE specifications. Almost all pupils are entered for both English Language and Literature GCSEs. All classes follow a carefully designed programme of study with regular internal assessments and external exams at the end of the GCSE course.
Collaboration and Support
Members of the department work very closely and share a staffroom. Teachers are extremely well supported and are expected to contribute, develop and share ideas and resources. This collaborative approach has led to the development of new schemes and accompanying resources. There is a rich dialogue about pedagogy and practice.
Good Facilities and Resources
The Faculty is based in purpose-built accommodation that it shares with several other Humanities subjects. English has seven well-equipped rooms containing plasma screens with integrated audio/visual equipment, large displays and ample storage. Each teacher has their own laptop and there is access to several bookable computer rooms and Chromebooks. There is an excellent College library with its own set of Chromebooks, projector facilities and an extensive range of fiction and non-fiction texts. Each year group has a reading list of twenty books (of which we have multiple copies in the library) to work their way through over the year.
A Rich Language Environment
The library is a very well used facility at break and lunch time and is available for lesson bookings to promote private and group reading and support research skills. The department works hard to promote the benefits and enjoyment that can be gained from reading.
We celebrate National Poetry and World Book Days, organise theatre trips and enter national and local writing competitions. We have also achieved great success performing in the Rotary Club ‘Youth Speaks’ debating competition in the past. Other extra-curricular activities have included a Carnegie book shadowing group and Creative Writing club.
Partnerships
We enjoy very strong links with the Cambridge University Faculty of Education’s Initial Teacher Training partnership and support trainees each term on both this and the CTSN SCITT course. We also work in partnership with local primary schools to support pupil transition, curriculum development and reciprocal professional learning opportunities.
Please refer to our Candidate Pack for full details about this role. Thank you.
Commitment to safeguarding
Anglian Learning is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff to share this commitment and those in regulated activity will be subject to an Enhanced DBS Check and online checks. Certificate of Good Conduct and other applicable checks may be requested.
This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. Our policies for Ex-Offenders, GDPR, Safeguarding and Recruitment can be found on our website: www.anglianlearning.org.
Applying for the job
Apply for the job by following the link below.
CVs are not accepted.
Additional documents
If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.
About Sawston Village College
- School type
- Academy, ages 11 to 16
- Education phase
- Secondary
- School size
- 1162 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 16
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Sawston Village College website
- Email address
- recruitment@sawstonvc.org
Sawston Village College is an inclusive, comprehensive 11-16 academy, set on a picturesque open campus, a few miles south of the culturally iconic and aspirational city of Cambridge. It was the first purpose-built Village College in England and we are proud of the fact that it is still heralded as a model for community education and remains true to Henry Morris’ founding principles. Many members of the local community visit each week to participate in learning, sporting or leisure activities. We are also proud to be a founding member of the Anglian Learning Trust, a family of like-minded schools serving over 5500 pupils from ages 3-19 in this region. The Trust affords us opportunities to learn from each other, prosper from outstanding leadership development and build strong professional networks to achieve ambitious objectives.
Sawston Village College
Thank you very much for your interest in a position at Sawston Village College. We sincerely hope that the information below and enclosed within this pack will encourage you to apply to our friendly and vibrant school.
We are a very welcoming and highly successful school, one in which all staff are valued, and all contribute to our strong caring ethos. The College is named the State 11-16 Secondary School of the Year in The Sunday Times Parent Power list (The Sunday Times, 8 December 2024). Pupils are at the centre of all that we do but we can only succeed when all professionals work together, collaboratively and supportively, to ensure a positive, safe and calm learning environment in which all pupils can thrive. We ensure our staff have the resources, development and opportunities to fulfil their roles and responsibilities. Staff wellbeing is vital to our success, and we consider workload and the working environment very carefully.
We want staff to feel happy, secure and enjoy their work.
Sawston Village College is an inclusive, comprehensive 11-16 academy, set on a picturesque open campus, a few miles south of the culturally iconic and aspirational city of Cambridge. It was the first purpose-built Village College in England, and we are proud of the fact that it is still heralded as a model for community education and remains true to Henry Morris’ founding principles. Many members of the local community visit each week to participate in learning, sporting or leisure activities. We are proud to be a member of Anglian Learning, a family of like-minded schools serving over 8000 pupils from ages 3-19 in this region.
Our focus is the achievement and wellbeing of our 1180 pupils within a school culture based on community, ambition, respect and endeavour. In 2024, the College achieved above national averages at all levels including 73% gaining grade 5+ in English and Maths, 47% at grade 7 or above across all subjects and a very positive P8 score. Pupils secure their preferred post-16 pathway having achieved grades significantly well above average. Academic success, of course, is only one measure and, as an Artsmark Platinum accredited school, we are equally proud of our extensive extra-curricular offer as well as our aim to help all pupils leave with confidence, enriched experiences and hope for the future. Our code of conduct demands that our pupils also understand and appreciate the need for kindness, humility, politeness and good grace.
This success is based upon the following key principles. Firstly, a firm commitment to the belief that all pupils, regardless of ability or background, are able to achieve their potential and have the best opportunities to succeed in education, employment and life. Secondly, a determination to recruit, develop and retain the very best staff, by providing varied and exciting personalised opportunities for professional development, and a caring, supportive environment with an emphasis on teamwork, collaboration and staff well-being. Thirdly, a firm conviction that teaching and learning can only flourish where pupils are well behaved and respectful. Therefore, we have very high expectations and set exacting standards enabling staff and pupils to feel safe and happy. We provide outstanding pastoral care of our young people. Each pupil is a member of a vertical tutor group and a House. Non-teaching pastoral leads work very closely with our inclusion team, safeguarding team and SLT, to ensure that all pupils are known, valued, cared for and encouraged to do and be the best they can. We pride ourselves on the professionalism of our staff and our commitment to ethical leadership; as role models for the young, how we behave as leaders is as important as what we do.
Sawston Village College, as noted by our recent Ofsted report in May 2023, is a highly professional and exceptionally friendly, caring and enjoyable place in which to work and teach. Our staff surveys are highly positive and reflect the care and attention we pay to looking after staff and making the College the success it is for staff and pupils alike. During these turbulent times, we are keen to recruit people with resilience, adaptability and optimism for a better future. Above all, we are looking for staff who take pride in their work, enjoy the company of children and can harness the power of education to transform lives and inspire our future generation.
Thank you, in anticipation, for the time you will give to your application.
Mr J Russell
Principal
Arranging a visit to Sawston Village College
To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email recruitment@sawstonvc.org.
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