
Subject Team Leader Media Studies
Harris Academy Ockendon, South Ockendon, RM15 5AYThis job expired on 27 March 2025
Start date details
Negotiable
Closing date
27 March 2025 at 11:59pm
Date listed
17 March 2025
Job details
Job role
- Head of department or curriculum
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Key stage
- Key stage 3, Key stage 4, Key stage 5
Subject
- Media studies
Working pattern
- Full time
Contract type
- Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary
- £34,575-£51,971 + TLR
Pay scale
- MPS/UPS (London Fringe) + £1,500 Harris Allowance + TLR
Additional allowances
Performance and Loyalty Bonus + Pension Scheme (TPS) + Harris Wellbeing Cash Plan + Additional Harris Benefits
What skills and experience we're looking for
Are you a passionate teacher looking for your next step? We are looking for a qualified, experienced teacher to join Harris Academy Ockendon as Head of Media Studies.
Perhaps Harris Academy Ockendon is the school you've been looking for. If you're ready to be part of something extraordinary, we'd love to hear from you.
We would like to hear from you if you:
- Hold QTS (or equivalent) and a relevant undergraduate degree, and, ideally, management training
- Demonstrate successful teaching of GCSE at good or better level
- Have experience of initiation and effective management of change
- Show evidence of raising achievement in present post and showing good value added for groups
- Have knowledge of current curriculum developments in subject and their implications
- Have good knowledge and understanding of current educational thinking
- Show good understanding of how children learn and how to raise standards of achievement
- Have good communication skills in speech and writing
- Display excellent organisational skills
- Are able to build and sustain professional standards and relationships with students
- Are able to contribute towards creating a safe and protective environment
For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.
What the school offers its staff
A School That Transforms Lives!
At Harris Academy Ockendon, we are passionate about three things:
Being great at number 1 and number 2 should not mean we can't do number 3!
A School That Inspires Excellence
We are an 11-18 academy with a thriving Sixth Form, set in a modern, welcoming building designed to ignite curiosity and ambition. In February 2024, Ofsted rated us ‘Outstanding' in every category, stating:
“Pupils benefit hugely from attending this remarkable school. Staff and leaders' sky-high expectations are immediately evident in pupils' scholarly demeanour. The school and trust have created a centre of true excellence. Pupils experience an extraordinary education at Harris Academy Ockendon.”
But what truly defines us is our culture. We help our students and staff dream bigger than they ever thought possible and support them in turning those dreams into reality. At HAOC, three values shape everything we do: Work Hard. Be Kind. Take Responsibility.
These are not just words; they are the foundation of a school where people feel valued, supported, and inspired to be their best.
A Leadership Team That Believes in You
Our Principal, Ms Jo Rainey, is a leader who believes in transformation. Originally from Belfast, Jo took over at Ockendon in 2018, turning it from one of the lowest-performing schools in the country to one of the very best. With a strong sense of integrity, deep passion for student success, and unwavering commitment to staff and students, Jo has built a school that people want to be part of.
Our Executive Principal, George McMillan, knows that no school is beyond success and no child is beyond achievement. Originally from Glasgow, he has led several schools within the Harris Federation to excellence and Harris Academy Greenwich to world class status twice over, proving that high expectations, great teaching, and an ambitious culture can change lives.
Together at HAOC, Jo and George have created more than just a school, they've built a thriving community where students flourish and staff grow, finding purpose, progression, and fulfilment in their careers. This is a true centre of excellence, where every student is empowered to reach their full potential and every educator is supported to lead, innovate, and inspire.
Why Join Us?
- A high-achieving, inspiring 11-18 academy with a Sixth Form full of ambitious young people.
- A stunning, modern school building that provides an exceptional learning and working environment.
- An unbeatable location, just outside the M25, attracting staff from across Essex and London. Many of our team travel from Kent, Surrey, Southeast, and Central London because they love the school so much!
- A supportive, well-balanced working culture, where your professional growth matters, but so does your well-being.
- The backing of the Harris Federation, one of the most successful school groups in the country, while maintaining a unique and vibrant school identity.
Flexible working opportunities
Harris Federation is committed to fostering a positive and supportive working environment for our staff, recognising that achieving a balance between professional and personal responsibilities is essential. We understand that each individual’s circumstances are unique, which is why we offer flexible working options that can be adapted to meet the needs of both the academy and our employees.
Our approach to flexibility includes a range of solutions, from tailored working hours to part-time arrangements, where appropriate, ensuring that we maintain our high standards of education while supporting the wellbeing of our staff. Whether you are a classroom teacher, support staffor part of our senior leadership team, we work together to find solutions that align with both the operational needs of the academy and your professional development.
Harris Federation and our academies are dedicated to creating an inclusive and collaborative environment, where every member of staff can thrive and feel valued in their role.
Further details about the role
The purpose of your role will be:
- To be accountable for leading, managing and developing the subject area.
- To raise standards of student attainment and achievement within the whole subject/curriculum area and to monitor and support student progress.
- To ensure the provision of an appropriately broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum for students studying in the department, in accordance with the aims of the academy and the curricular policies determined by the Governing Body and Principal.
- To teach the relevant subject across the age and ability range.
- To facilitate and encourage a learning experience which provides students with the opportunity to achieve their individual potential.
- To effectively manage and deploy staff, financial and physical resources within the department.
- To share and support the school's responsibility to provide and monitor opportunities for personal and academic growth.
Your main areas of responsibility will fall under the areas of:
- Operational and strategic planning (including formulating the subject and faculty improvement plans, and leading the development of appropriate syllabuses, resources, schemes of work, marking policies, assessment and teaching strategies)
- Ensuring the delivery of an appropriate, comprehensive, high quality and cost effective curriculum and leading development of the subject and its delivery
- Staff development (including recruiting, building and managing an effective team of motivated staff)
- Student outcomes (including ensuring the effective operation of target setting, monitoring and evaluation systems and the input and maintenance of accurate student data)
- Pastoral system (including being a form tutor to a selected group of students)
- Teaching, including acting as an outstanding role model
Commitment to safeguarding
The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.
About Harris Academy Ockendon
- School type
- Academy, ages 11 to 18
- Education phase
- Secondary
- School size
- 1435 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 18
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Harris Academy Ockendon website
- Email address
- info@harrisockendon.org.uk
- Phone number
- 01708 851661
A lovely secondary school where the students say, “Good Morning”, and actually mean it. Check out our school via our video.
“I am passionate about three things:
Leading staff to become happy, successful, highly trained professionals who stay in the game and don't burn out or lose their way.
Creating a fulfilling secondary experience for students where they can grow to become well-rounded, ambitious and successful young adults ready to put a ding in the universe.
My life outside work.
Being great at number 1 and number 2 should not mean we can't do number 3!”
- George McMillan, Executive Principal and National Leader of Education.
We are an 11-18 academy with a thriving Sixth Form and a lovely building. It is a school where we are as passionate about developing our staff as we are about developing our students.
Our location just outside the M25 means we attract staff not only from Essex but from London. Indeed, over half our staff live in Kent/Surrey/South East and Central London. Some of our team even travel from West London because they like the school so much.
Our role here is to help students and staff dream bigger than they ever thought possible, and to make that dream come true through our culture of “work hard, be kind, take responsibility” which beats at the heart of our school.
The Executive Principal is George McMillan. Originally from Glasgow, he graduated from the University of Aberdeen with an MA (hons) degree in English Literature and a burning desire to teach. After teaching in Edinburgh, then moving to senior management in Chafford (Essex), George took over Harris Academy Greenwich in 2011 and led its transformation to hitting the top 15% of schools in the country for progress 7 years in a row. Harris Greenwich is one of only a handful of schools in London to retain its Outstanding status (2014 then 2022) under the new Ofsted framework, and the World Class School status twice in a row.
The Principal is Ms Jo Rainey. Originally from Belfast, she graduated from the University of Ulster with a first class degree in History and Geography. Over the past 21 years, she has taught history and led in schools across London and Essex with most of her senior leadership career being spent in Hackney. Jo has been Principal at Ockendon since 2018. She is highly respected for her strong sense of integrity, her passion for student life chances, and loyalty to the school.
The Harris Federation is a highly successful group of schools who serve many of the most deprived areas of London and Essex. We are collaborative, enterprising and share a passion for turning lives around, yet each school is autonomous and free to set its own vision and strategy for how it does that.
Each Harris school feels completely different in terms of culture and ethos. Perhaps this is the school you've been looking for.
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