- School type
- Academy, ages 11 to 16
- Education phase
- Secondary school
- School size
- 1299 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 16
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Manchester Communication Academy website
Quick Apply
Head of History
More than one location, Greater Manchester Academies Trust3 days remaining to apply
Job start date
1 September 2026
Closing date
27 March 2026 at 12pm (midday)
Date listed
24 March 2026
Job details
Job role
- Teacher
- Head of department or curriculum
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Key stage
- Key stage 3, Key stage 4
Subject
- History
Working pattern
- Full time: 37.5 hours per week, Monday - Friday. Full time.
Contract type
- Permanent
Pay scale
- M1 - M6 / UPS Plus TLR2c (£8611)
What skills and experience we're looking for
Experience
Planning effectively for student progress
A track record as an outstanding teacher with excellent results.
Successful leadership of subject area within a secondary school.
Demonstrable track record of improving student outcomes in the last three years.
Experience of developing, implementing and improving school policies and practices.
Experience of building an effective team.
Experience in child protection and safeguarding procedures.
Demonstrable evidence of contribution to the wider school and its community.
Successful management of a demanding workload.
Modelling excellence in teaching
Demonstrates a strong understanding of current theories and research in effective practice on teaching and learning
Ensure excellent teaching is demonstrated and there is modelling of high expectations for all students
Effectively judge the quality of teaching; provide appropriate advice and support to secure improvement in the quality of teaching and its impact upon learning
Inspire, support and empower the department to deliver a stimulating Curriculum.
Initiate and support the sharing of expertise, good practice and
research and evaluation about effective teaching and learning.
Holding others to account
Support an ethos and culture of high expectations for all pupils’ aspirations and achievements, removing barriers to learning and consistently challenging low expectations in the school and community
Challenges and confronts underperformance, intervening swiftly to enforce consequences when performance levels drop.
Recognises and praise success and provides high quality support to
others.
Knowledge and Skills
Sound understanding of the National Curriculum in both its teaching and assessment, and the examination system.
An understanding of what constitutes excellent practice within and beyond the classroom and the ability to enthuse others on a journey of continuous improvement.
The ability to share high expectations underpinned by the belief in the potential of all students to succeed and achieve regardless of starting point or circumstance.
The ability to inspire, develop and motivate staff and students.
Excellent awareness and understanding of effective assessment, marking and feedback practice at department and whole school level. (including target setting)
Knowledge of and confidence in the use of student performance data to track progress and raise student achievement.
An understanding of effective quality assurance and the ability to use it to secure improvement.
The ability to put in place effective intervention for underachieving students.
The ability to develop high performing teams.
An understanding of current developments in education and how these can be translated into a specific context.
The ability to coach and mentor colleagues to help them improve.
An understanding of how to engage parents and carers effectively to support students.
Ability to identify and promote school improvement in
creative and innovative ways
Delivering results
Oversee a curriculum that has depth and breadth and inspires students
Set clear and stretching standards and expectations for student performance
Develop and maintain a culture of a learning- centred Academy to ensure consistently high quality teaching and learning is achieved across the curriculum.
Quickly implement strategies for removing or unblocking obstacles
Have a thorough understanding of how effective curricula supports student progress
Manage student performance data diligently and fairly; objectively reject under performance and do not accept excuses.
Achieve a balance between a clear focus on results and attending to the needs of individuals.
Monitor the standards of teaching and learning within the department and implement strategies for sustained improvement.
Comply with legal obligations, policies and procedures
Developing relationships
Develop a system that supports self-improvement for individuals and teams, working both within and across departments
Communicate clearly to a range of audiences, including governors, parents and other stakeholders
Demonstrate respect for an extremely wide range of people from different backgrounds
Listen and empathises with the personal circumstances of others
Provide support to students and their families to enable every opportunity for success
Implement appropriate decisions that lead to school
improvement even if difficult or controversial
Leadership and Management skills
Visible leader with whole-school presence
Ability to lead and manage decisively within a collaborative ethos
Highly effective communication and interpersonal skills suitable for a variety of audiences e.g. parents, governors, staff, students
Highly literate in using ICT as a teaching, learning and management tool
Ability to think strategically and creatively, to develop ideas and implement them successfully
Ability to respond positively and enthusiastically to new challenges, prioritising effectively and delegating as appropriate, but always seeing tasks through to their conclusion
Ability to take decisions after appropriate consultation
Reflect on situations and events and respond constructively
Digest, condense and make sense of large amounts of information
Sensitivity and courage when dealing with difficult situations.
What the school offers its staff
Student and Staff well-being is high on our agenda and your professional development and interests are a priority for us. We want our young people to get the best possible deal and that can only be achieved if their teachers are happy, healthy and know that they are valued. Our commitment to you includes but is not exclusive to:
No marking policy-feedback policy is evidence informed.
No written reports.
One Flexi-Day a year, fully paid.
All quality assurance is collaborative and transparent-we do not apply judgements.
All funeral requests granted without question.
We expect you to attend your child’s nativity or open morning.
No meetings after school.
No additional cover outside of directed time.
Teaching staff have 20% protected non-contact time.
All detentions are centralised and facilitated by pastoral team, not teachers.
We develop leadership positions and undertake shadow-staffing/succession planningexercises to see who we need to retain.
PM is called Performance Development and we focus on how to continue to thrive and excelin the areas of your role that you already enjoy and demonstrate brilliance.
All new staff are buddied up with a mentor outside of their faculty area.
We make a big deal out of events that support your well-being, such as random acts of kindness, Macmillan coffee mornings, cultural diversity celebrations, Thank a Teacher. Staff are recognised and rewarded through our staff recognition scheme
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
Greater Manchester Academies Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure for a Regulated Activity via the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Applying for the job
Please complete the online application.
CVs will not be accepted for this application.
Apply for this jobAdditional documents
If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.
About Greater Manchester Academies Trust
- Type
- Multi-academy trust
- Email address
- k.cunningham@gmatrust.co.uk
Manchester Communication Academy was first established in 2010 and has gone from strength to strength each academic year. The Academy has approximately 1250 students on roll in Years 7-11 and we boast a wonderfully rich and diverse school community. MCA is at the heart of the community and is committed to improving educational outcomes for all of our students. MCA is proud to be a community hub and our outward facing work is outstanding. In September 2026, we will open a new purpose built Transition Centre, a school in its own grounds just for Year 7.
This demonstrates our commitment to the transition process and ensuring every child has the best possible start to secondary school. In addition to this, we will also open a Science and STEM facility, with 11 state of the art Science labs to support increased student numbers over the next 5 years (from 1250-1500). It is a really exciting time to join us.
MCA was recognised by OFSTED in 2024 as a Good school with Outstanding Personal Development and we strive for excellence in everything we do. Implementing an ambitious, text-rich curriculum is a key priority and driving force in our ambition for excellence. We believe in the transformative power of knowledge in ensuring equitable opportunities for success. Our aspirational, bespoke curriculum ensures that all of our students gain the necessary experiences to compete academically, practically, socially and morally in the wider world. In order to achieve this, we invest deliberately in professional development. Drawing upon our EEF Research School, we are able to provide all staff with the most up-to-date and high quality evidence to develop their expertise. During department time, allocated during the academy day, and during weekly subject-specific CPD time, teams explore the ‘best bets’ of evidence-informed practice and work collaboratively to embed this practice within their daily habits. These sessions are engaging, impactful and ambitious, including deliberate practice, instructional coaching and an emphasis on building effective habits.
At MCA, we proactively promote staff wellbeing through our management of workload and additional benefits for staff, such as flexi days and the Employee Assist programme. As a result, our staff are highly skilled and knowledgeable professionals who embrace new opportunities to learn more and keep getting better – a culture that permeates the academy amongst staff and students.
Our students appreciate and relish the opportunity to learn and we support their effective learning behaviours through high expectations with emphasis on metacognition and our work with parents, families and the community. Having the highest expectations of our students means that our teachers can focus on teaching and our students can focus on learning.
We are looking for teachers who are aligned with our values and who have the talent and potential to accelerate the school’s journey to excellence. The position is a great opportunity for someone who shares our passion for delivering educational excellence. If you are aligned to our mission and values and could flourish with this opportunity, we very much look forward to hearing from you.
School Details
Manchester Communication Academy
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