EXPIRED

Sixth Form Student Support Officer

Monk's Walk School, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, AL8 7NL

This job expired on 9 October 2023 – see similar jobs

• Start date details

  November 2023

• Closing date

  9 October 2023 at 12pm (midday)

• Date listed

  26 September 2023

Job details

• Job role:
  • Teaching assistant
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Part time
• Contract type: Fixed term
• Full-time equivalent salary: H5, £11,745.00 inclusive per annum (actual salary for 21.75 hours per week, term time only)

Sixth Form Student Support Officer job summary

Sixth Form Student Support Officer

Fixed Term Contract until July 2024 in the first instance

Part Time 21.75 hours per week Monday – Wednesday 8.30am – 4.30pm each day, Term Time Only

H5, £11,745.00 inclusive per annum

We are looking to appoint a positive, enthusiastic individual who enjoys working with young people and wants them to succeed, to the post of Sixth Form Student Support Officer.

The successful candidate will support the Head and Deputies of Sixth Form in their work on raising achievement, be responsible for monitoring independent study and making a positive difference for all students.

This job demands a high standard of literacy and communication, with sound organisational and administrative skills.  You will have a strong command of Microsoft Office, be able to manipulate data and demonstrate the ability to learn and work with bespoke educational software. Experience of working with students in a higher educational environment would be an advantage but not essential.

This post is for 21.75 hours per week and is time specific due to the supervision of students. The hours are 8.30am – 4.30pm with a 45-minute lunch break, Monday to Wednesday term time only.

Please look at our website, Ofsted report and Facebook page (Monk’s Walk School Official) for more information about the school. The information pack gives you full details about the post and how to apply.  If you would like an informal conversation about the post or would like to visit us in advance of applying, please contact Victoria Lyall, HR Manager. Victoria’s e-mail address is vlyall@monkswalk.herts.sch.uk.  

Applications should be submitted via the My New Term website by noon on Monday 9 October 2023.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible

It would be great to hear from you.

Monk’s Walk School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We will need to obtain references and conduct online searches in advance of interview for any candidate short-listed. All job offers are subject to satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service clearance. 

Commitment to safeguarding

Safeguarding at Monk’s Walk takes precedence over any other activity in the school. It’s vitally important to us that students feel safe in school so they can learn and thrive. As part of the recruitment process, we will ask about safeguarding students and obviously questions about candidates’ suitability to act as tutor. References will be sought and an enhanced criminal records check will be undertaken for this position.

This job post has expired.

About Monk's Walk School

• School type: Academy, ages 11 to 18
• Education phase: Secondary
• School size: 1421 pupils enrolled
• Age range: 11 to 18
• Ofsted report: View Ofsted report
• School website: Monk's Walk School website
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/monk-s-walk-school-welwyn-garden-city

We are a mixed school of about 1,400 11-18 year old students in Welwyn Garden City, a Hertfordshire new town on the outskirts of London. Transport links are superb – direct rail links to London in less than 30 minutes; M1, A1(M), M11 and M25 all minutes away. WGC is a pleasant place to live – it even has John Lewis! The school is situated in a greenbelt area in the prosperous northwest corner of the city. Our grounds are magnificent and the view from the school is lovely. In September 2020 we opened a new teaching block to replace one of the more rundown ones. The DfE have just agreed funding for a new sports hall for the school.

Monk’s Walk is a genuinely all-ability school. The number of students with learning challenges is below the national average, with 11.6% supported at school action plus or with an Education and Healthcare Plan (EHCP). Our support for students with SEND is a real strength of the school.

We have a small number of blind or partially sighted students who receive specialist support. We also work very closely with Knightsfield School, a special school for deaf children on our campus.

Parental confidence in the school is high; there were 690 applications for 236 places in Year 7 for September 2023. Each year we hear appeals for students wishing to join the school.

The school has an extremely effective behaviour policy and in general behaviour is very good indeed. Our students want to learn and our parents are, on the whole, extremely supportive. Attendance is high, although in common with most schools affected by COVID. Our aim is for our students to be co-operative, courteous and kind.

There is a genuine ‘buzz’ around the school and we have a very strong reputation in the city. In February 2018, the school was judged by Ofsted to be ‘good’ - please read the inspection letter which can be found on our website (or on Ofsted’s) should you wish to apply. We were really pleased with the comments made by inspectors. We are currently ‘in the window’ for our next inspection although I believe Ofsted are running about 4 terms behind (would make us due in Summer 2023).

GCSE exam results in 2022 were the school’s best ever results. 61% of students gained the strong basics (grade 5+ in both English and Maths) and 80% standard basics (grade 4+ in English and maths). Our attainment 8 was 55.7 and progress 8 +0.47. All well above national. Students of all abilities did better than would have been expected, given their starting points. Disadvantaged students made the progress that would have been expected given their starting points – unlike in most other schools in Hertfordshire where it is often well below. Students with SEND did phenomenally well. To look at the school’s provisional results in the league tables google ‘school performance tables 2022’.

In terms of progress, disadvantaged and SEND students do better in the school than they do nationally. BAME students attain very well and have good progress, as do each of the ability groups. We pride ourselves on the fact that Monk’s Walk is an inclusive school.

The school has about 260 in the sixth form and this is the largest sixth form the school has ever had. We are also a member of a consortium with four other schools which provides a wide range of opportunities for students. Monk’s Walk has the largest sixth form of the five schools and currently we have 74 guest students in Year 12 and 65 in Year 13. At Monk’s Walk we concentrate on providing A Level only (with the exception of iMedia), with decent numbers of students studying the facilitating subjects. Vocational programmes can be taken at Oaklands College or in other consortium schools.

A Level results in 2022 were also the school’s best ever, with average point score per grade at 42.17 equivalent to B+. This is even higher than national in 2021 when grades were inflated due to lack of exams. Ignore the information about A Level in the provisional league tables – they currently only give you the 2019 results. We are very proud of the destinations of our sixth form students. In 2022 almost all students who applied made it to their first or second choice university, high quality apprenticeship or employment. Students access a range of universities, with over 40% accessing Russell Group in 2022. We currently have 11 former students at Cambridge University.

We do not pursue academic achievement at the expense of the wider development of the individual, however. Form tutors, heads of year and heads of house all have important roles in the social, personal and academic support of individuals. Our house system is strong, providing a range of all-ability competitions and activities for mixed age groups. Recently we have become the first school in the country to have a recycling machine with the credit going as house points. All members of staff are allocated a house, except me who has to try to stay impartial of course.

Unfortunately, some schools are making cuts in creative subjects such as Art, Music, Drama and PE and even some DT specialisms. At Monk’s Walk, these subjects are strong as we see these areas providing important learning opportunities for our students. All of these subjects are running at GCSE and A Level. We have a full orchestra (as well as other musical groups), as well as the outstanding Drama department. Members of other departments involve themselves in extra-curricular activities in Music, Sport and Drama.

Knightsfield School (a special school for deaf children) is co-located with Monk’s Walk School. We have an outstanding partnership arrangement; at key stage 3 Knightsfield students join classes in Art. A few students are also integrated into GCSE groups. Knightsfield students join ours for lunch every day in our canteen in B Block. One of our music teachers teaches at the school.

The school became an academy in September 2012. The decision to convert was purely pragmatic and trustees have no intention to make changes to teachers’ pay and conditions beyond those made as part of national agreements.

Induction, training and continuing professional development have a very high priority in the school. All staff have an induction programme on joining the school.

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