Director of English

We have an exciting opportunity for a qualified, experienced teacher to join Harris Academy Merton to support the Head of Department and an incredible team, to continue to deliver exceptional outcomes. Ensuring high standards of teaching and learning across the subject area through continuously developing and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning.

About Us

At Harris Academy Merton we promote the ethos ‘'Achievement is Success'' and believe every student has the right to the highest standard of education so that they can accomplish their aspirations. Our aim is to give every student an educational experience that is enjoyable and holistic so that they develop into responsible, articulate and successful young people.

We combine the traditional values of strong discipline, good manners, respect and pride in appearance with contemporary best practice in teaching and technology. With these core values embedded, we develop our students into confident and capable individuals that have a desire to excel academically and personally now and in the future.

Main Areas of Responsibility

The purpose of your role will be:

• To be accountable for student progress and development in the subject area across KS3, KS4 and post 16, including meeting student achievement targets for subject areas which are agreed by the Principal and the Governing Body.
• To ensure high standards of teaching and learning across the subject area through continuously, developing and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning.
• To ensure the provision of an appropriately broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum for students in the subject area, in accordance with the academy aims and policies, as determined by the Principal and Governing Body.
• To ensure that all school policies and procedures are implemented and applied consistently by all staff in the subject area.
• To ensure agreed tutor programme is implemented and that tutors are effective in their role.
• To ensure effective behaviour for learning is evident throughout faculty
• To effectively and efficiently manage and deploy teaching/support staff, financial and physical resources across the subject area.
• To lead development for literacy, through the WORD strategy, within subject areas, to raise standards of Literacy across the Academy

Your main areas of responsibility will fall under the areas of:

• Operational and strategic planning (including rigorous self-evaluation and review of subject area performance, 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

Qualifications & Experience

We would like to hear from you if you:

• Hold QTS (or equivalent) and a good, relevant undergraduate degree.
• Be an excellent teacher with a minimum of four years' teaching experience.
• Have proven success in raising achievement.
• Have experience of leading others, ensuring high quality performance.
• Have successful experience in implementation of monitoring, evaluation and review process to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
• Demonstrate a high level of ICT skills and experience of how new technologies can be used to raise achievement.
• Have recent experience of involvement in innovative curriculum development.
• Have experience of presenting to a wide audience including teachers, other managers, students and parents.
• Understand creative whole school strategies for improving literacy and numeracy and the importance of this in raising achievement.
• Have some successful experience of leading on cross subject initiatives that have contributed to raising achievement.
• Have experience of embedding innovative strategies for Assessment for Learning and Learning to Learn.
• Have recent and relevant experience of managing and implementing change successfully at subject leader level.
• Be willing to use coaching as a model for ensuring on-going professional development.

For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.

Next Steps

If you have any questions about this opportunity, please send us an email, or call to arrange a conversation.

Before applying, please download the Job Pack for full details on the job responsibilities and person specification. This will be helpful for you when completing your application, and throughout the recruitment process.

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible as we may interview and offer to a candidate before the closing date. Please note that we only accept applications submitted before the closing date via our careers website.

Professional Development & Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.

In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes our Harris Allowance for teachers on MPS/UPS, a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan, electric car scheme, 26 days' annual leave (plus bank holidays) for staff who work across the full year, and many other benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our website.

Safeguarding Notice

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.

Equal Opportunities

The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.

We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment.