18 days remaining to apply

  • Earliest start date

    1 January 2026

  • Latest start date

    28 February 2026

  • Closing date

    1 December 2025 at 12pm (midday)

  • Date listed

    13 November 2025

Job details

Visa sponsorship

Visas cannot be sponsored

Key stage

Key stage 3, Key stage 4, Key stage 5

Subject

Media studies

Working pattern

Full time, part time: 0.6/1.0 FTE

Contract type

Fixed term - to 31.8.2026

Pay scale

M1 - UPS3

What skills and experience we're looking for

We are seeking an outstanding classroom teacher to join this successful subject area. The post would suit an ECT or a more experienced colleague. Suitability to teach English would be welcomed.

We are looking for a colleague with an English degree or Media related degree who loves working in a team and has experience of delivering creative, inspiring lessons and engaging students of all levels of ability.

Highcliffe is a thriving over-subscribed 11 to 18 Academy which seeks committed and motivated teachers to support this important curriculum area in the school.

The successful candidate would be willing to positively contribute to the life and energy of our school community.

The school offers outstanding induction, training and career development opportunities through HISP Learning Partnership.

What the school offers its staff

The department is led by a Subject Leader and is composed of fifteen members of teaching staff. The English Department is mainly situated in a suite of rooms in the front of the main school building. All classrooms are equipped with data projectors, a visualiser, and every teacher is provided with a laptop connected to the School Network and the Internet. The Libraryis situated on the English corridor, managed by a full time Librarian and consisting of a lending library of some 10,000 books, computers and other resources for students and staff to use. The Library is a popular place and busy with activities and readers most of the day.

Media Studies is well established subject at A Level at Highcliffe, having been taught for over twenty years as part of the English faculty. GCSE Media Studies was introduced in 2023as an option subject and has proved popular with two classes in two of the three cohorts that have undertaken the subject. At A Level, students have nine lessons of Media Studies across the fortnightly timetable. The class is shared between two of the three media specialists in the department. At GCSE, students have five lesson across the fortnightly timetable. Both follow the Eduqas exam board and are well resourced.

The subject benefits from a specialist media suite with twenty new computers in a specially designed space. The classroom also has an interactive whiteboard and a visualiser as standard. Every teacher is provided with a laptop connected to the school network and the internet.

The English Key Stage 3 curriculum is in the process of being redeveloped with a series of Media and Film lessons in each termly Sequence of Learning. This is to provide students with both the understanding of the subject and also some of the skills that benefit both Media Studies and English at GCSE.

In the 2023 Ofsted inspection, the English Department received a very positive report, described as having a curriculum design that enables pupils to “know more, remember more, and can do more over time.” The Faculty is extremely well managed, a close team of individuals, aspirational and very professional. Staff at all career stages working in it speak extremely highly of their experience. English Language GCSE is one of the highest performing subjects, with outcomes consistently well above national average and positive value-added scores. The A Level suite of subjects linked to English are popular choices and every year we successfully recruit an A Level group in Literature, Lit/Lang, Media Studies and Film Studies.

Ofsted Report

In the 2023 Ofsted inspection, the English Department received a very positive report, described as having a curriculum design that enables pupils to “know more, remember more, and can do more over time.” The Faculty is extremely well managed, a close team of individuals, aspirational and very professional. Staff at all career stages working in it speak extremely highly of their experience. English Language GCSE is one of the highest performing subjects, with outcomes consistently well above national average and positive value-added scores. The A Level suite of subjects linked to English are popular choices and every year we successfully recruit an A Level group in Literature, Lit/Lang, Media Studies and Film Studies.

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

HISP MAT is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share in the commitment. This appointment is subject to an enhanced DBS check, social media check and positive references.

Applying for the job

Apply for the job by following the link below.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

View advert on school website (opens in new tab)

Upload additional documents

If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.

About Highcliffe School

School type
Academy, ages 11 to 19
Education phase
Secondary
School size
1565 pupils enrolled
Age range
11 to 19
Ofsted report
View Ofsted report
Phone number
01425 282323

Highcliffe is a remarkable school with a special atmosphere. We are very highly respected in our community, with whole generations of families coming here for over 50 years from Christchurch and the New Forest. Former students, current students and their parents frequently speak of their powerful emotional bonds to our school lasting a lifetime. Always popular, and usually over-subscribed, in the last two years our identity and success has attracted a rapidly growing number of admissions requests for Year 7. Although we have raised our PAN twice in three years, demand for places still exceeds availability. This is a result of our caring and aspirational ethos combined with our engaging curriculum and excellent extra-curricular opportunities, although our track record of exam success is surely another factor. Our students are lovely young people to work with who respond enthusiastically to good teaching and are keen to learn.

Former students go on to work in international finance, law, education, politics, engineering, medicine, science, and in the Paris fashion houses, or as great chefs, carers, artists, musicians, mechanics, gardeners and much more – but not before they have thrived at Highcliffe academically, creatively and socially. We have an excellent record of success placing students into the top universities in their chosen field. Every year for the last 10 years at least one of our Sixth Form students have, for example, gone on to study at either Oxford or Cambridge universities. We have successful programmes for students accessing careers in medicine, the law and engineering. We are an outwardly focused community with extensive school links in Germany, France, Spain and Japan including a unique exchange programme with a school in Hiroshima.

Our teaching staff are highly experienced, knowledgeable professionals who work together superbly. Our SEND, pastoral, clerical, financial, technical and site staff, who form a good team, are also extremely good at their jobs and committed to the school’s success. We are a friendly, welcoming and supportive environment in which to work or learn, located in a great part of the country. As part of the HISP Multi Academy Trust we offer our team extensive opportunities for professional development; direct collaborative working with Thornden School in Chandler’s Ford and more widely across the Trust region; and career progression routes associated with our development as a regional Hub for school improvement and professional development delivering NPQs, the local ECT programme, the Science Learning Partnership. We are a happy and upbeat school, characterised by warm and trusting relationships between staff and students; one big family. We recently completed a £1.8 million capital project improving heating and hot water, and in December 2022 successfully entered the School Rebuilding Programme to replace 18 classrooms with brand new buildings.

Arranging a visit to Highcliffe School

To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email aparsons@highcliffeschool.com.

School location

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