Teacher of English
Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS9 8LAThis job expired on 13 October 2023 – see similar jobs
Start date details
January 2024
Closing date
13 October 2023 at 9am
Date listed
28 September 2023
Job details
Job role
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Key stage
- Key stage 3, Key stage 4
Subject
- English
Working pattern
- Full time: 5 days a week
Contract type
- Fixed term - 12 months in the first instance or permanent for the right candidate
Pay scale
- MPS/UPS
What skills and experience we're looking for
Required for January 2024. Governors are seeking to appoint a dedicated and dynamic teacher to join a committed, collaborative and supportive department which strives for excellence for our students. The successful candidate will be an outstanding practitioner with resilience and integrity, who has excellent interpersonal skills, has the ability to work well as part of a team and has the desire to provide students with the highest quality of teaching and learning. They will be able to teach across the age and ability range up to GCSE with experience of teaching GCSE English Language and Literature.
The successful candidate will play a full part in the life of the school community, will be a form tutor and will contribute to maintaining the strong Catholic character of the school and fostering the development of students and staff.
What the school offers its staff
Please visit our website - www.mountstmarys.org
Further information about the job
Closing date: 9am Friday 13 October 2023
Shortlisting: Monday 16 October 2023
Interviews week commencing 16 October 2023
Further information, job description, person specification and application forms are available from Amanda Stubbs at a.stubbs@mountstmarys.org or from our website - www.mountstmarys.org.
Commitment to safeguarding
Our school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
In accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education, the school will carry out an online search as part of the due diligence on shortlisted candidates.
Additional documents
If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.
About Mount St Mary's Catholic High School
- School type
- Local authority maintained school, Roman Catholic, ages 11 to 16
- Education phase
- Secondary school
- School size
- 940 pupils enrolled
- Age range
- 11 to 16
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- School website
- Mount St Mary's Catholic High School website
- Email address
- a.stubbs@mountstmarys.org
- Phone number
- 0113 2455248
Mount St Mary’s is unique, not only in terms of its long history and development but also in its physical structure.
The present accommodation includes a 19th century convent and orphanage, a block dating from the late 1950s and a ‘new’ block erected in 1990. Over more recent years, it has benefitted from the completion of a £12m BSF remodelling which has left us with first class facilities to complement our drive for excellence in all areas. Whilst our history and buildings may be inspiring, it is the work, commitment and determination to support our young people that is central to our drive for improvement. We await a further DFE building commencement early in 2026.
Located very near Leeds city centre, the school is within easy walking distance of the central bus station, Royal Armouries, West Yorkshire Playhouse and all the other facilities of our well resourced city. The district immediately surrounding the school is currently benefitting from substantial regeneration.
Mount St Mary’s draws its students from the East, South and West of Leeds and sometimes beyond, and is always oversubscribed. Approximately 50% of students are baptised Catholics, however, a significant number of our young people come from other strong faith backgrounds and this underpins our work and ethos.
Our student cohort is mixed, both in terms of prior attainment and social background, however the majority of our students come from areas of significant socio-economic disadvantage. This is reflected in 48% of our young people being in receipt of the pupil premium grant. The school serves a community which is a rich, diverse mix of cultures, languages and ethnicity. 52% of our student population are classified as EAL with over 45 different languages spoken at home. We at Mount St Mary’s consider this diversity to be a significant strength and our students and staff work together to form a harmonious community. We are a wholly inclusive school, the result of close teamwork, well sourced provision and dedication.
Whilst we draw students from a broad demographic area, we are rightly proud of where our young people move on to. Every child buys into our aspirations and secures clearly identified and successful progression routes in education, employment or training.
Students at Mount St Mary’s are encouraged to live by our school moto, Quid Retribuam – “How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me” - by always giving of their best in everything they do whether that be academically, spiritually or socially. Such determination and dedication from both staff and students alike means that there are always success stories to celebrate – individual, cohort and whole school.
In April 2019 the school underwent a Section 48 Inspection gaining an overall judgement of Good with Outstanding. The report comments "Students are polite, confident and respectful in the way they treat each other and interact with staff and visitors. They are .. highly articulate and proud of their school and their personal achievements. Behaviour in school is excellent, with a very low level of conduct issues, and a strength of the school as it reflects its Catholic character."
October 2023 saw the school assessed for Excellence in Pupil Development. The award stating: “The most immediate strength identified was that of an all-pervading atmosphere of friendliness, calmness and inclusion. Most schools can achieve this at certain times or in certain areas, but in Mount St Mary’s it was ubiquitous . . . The impact of the School’s work on pupils’ development is enormous. Not only are they, by their own and their parents’ claims, developing to be a new generation of young leaders, but the School is now showing very impressive academic results, to the point where, in 2023, it had the best progress at 16 in Leeds, and the third best in the Yorkshire and Humberside region . . . Behaviour is excellent, although the School would probably say that ‘relationships are excellent'”.
With the return to national progress comparatives in 2022, Mount St Mary’s topped both local and regional tables for P8. This success was replicated in 2023, and again in 2024, where we continue to buck the national trends. With the correct focus on attainment we continue to feature highly in local comparative tables.
All students seek to access extracurricular activities beyond the school day, be that of a sporting nature, academic, performing arts or public speaking. We currently offer in excess of 50 clubs and activities each week. This is an area we value highly and continue to see growth in.
In March 2025 Ofsted visited Mount St Mary's and after an intensive two days found the school to be "Outstanding" in all four reported areas.
Inspectors declared that the school has a deep community spirit. Pupils enjoy coming to this highly inclusive school. Pupils benefit from a broad and ambitious curriculum. “Pupils feel happy and safe in the school. They behave extremely well. The school encourages pupils to be respectful and supportive to each other. As a result, bullying is very rare.”
Ofsted reports that pupils learn from a “rich and well-developed curriculum.” Carefully designed to build knowledge and skills, it also has a clear focus to support pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils to excel.
Pupils develop “strong and purposeful relationships” with staff, while the “rich and varied personal development” programme is described by inspectors as a “strength of the school’s work.”
They added: “Staff expertly deliver the curriculum. This ensures that pupils progress well from their starting points when they join the school. Pupils confidently apply the knowledge and skills that they learn to their classwork and wider learning.
“Pupils are exceptionally well prepared for life beyond school. They speak knowledgeably about diversity, culture and faith. They learn about healthy relationships and the importance of consent.”
The school’s “leadership is exemplary,” according to Ofsted and it is “proactively supported” by the diocese, the local authority and governors.
Staff receive “continuing professional development” to further strengthen their practice and ensure pupils are safeguarded.
Our school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
In accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education, the school will carry out an online search as part of the due diligence on shortlisted candidates.
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