Subject Leader Modern Foreign Languages

Subject Leader Modern Foreign Languages

We are looking for a dynamic and inspirational leader for our well-established modern foreign languages team. The successful candidate will be an outstanding teacher in his/her own right and able to teach French and Spanish with a least one language to Key Stage 5.

Examination results at Wycombe High School are outstanding.  An impressive 45% of all A Level grades in 2017 were A* or A grades. The whole school A* rate was 14%.  The significant majority of our students gained their first choice university place an exceptional achievement given this years competitive climate.  Our results at GCSE are equally outstanding, with 86% of all grades A*-B and 41% of all grades were A*.

Modern Foreign Languages are among the most popular options at Wycombe High School.  Examination results are excellent, well above national averages and in line with school achievement and our reputation for academic excellence.  In 2017, A Level grades at A*/A  were 60% in French and 43% in Spanish and A*/B grades were 90% in French and 100% in Spanish. At GCSE 76% of all grades were A*/A in French and 42% in Spanish. 83% of GCSE grades in Italian were A*/A.

The successful applicant will be interested and driven to further develop languages at our School, for example High Wycombe has a local Chinese School and there are opportunities for collaboration.

He/she will have strong leadership and interpersonal skills, the desire for modern foreign languages to be amongst the most popular subjects in the School and the drive to ensure this subject area delivers the best experience (and results) of any school in the County, or indeed nationally. The successful candidate will have a clear vision of how these aims might be achieved and how the subject and department can be strengthened whole school.  Strong organisational skills are also essential.

He / she will also be committed to strengthening extra-curricular opportunities and events, including visits abroad.  

The Languages Team offer French and Spanish from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5. We are committed to providing a high quality learning experience for all our students, within and beyond the classroom and there is much innovative teaching and learning practice to observe.  Students achieve excellent results at all levels. They have the opportunity to participate in school-based linguistic experiences, home stays and overseas visits.  The school has been awarded the International Schools Award. The successful applicant will be joining a team with four other members, all of whom have a strong and shared commitment to supporting each other and to continuous improvement.  Course planning has been strengthened this year, with Schemes of work being regularly revised and updated. Team members contribute to developing new, exciting and stimulating resources to keep up-to-date with subject developments.

Languages are taught in specialist rooms with projectors, speakers, interactive whiteboards. All students work on tablets in lessons with some textbooks accessed electronically. All students have up-to-date textbooks, supplemented by extensive and innovative resources. Students are also encouraged to subscribe to magazines. 

All staff are encouraged to develop professionally, to improve and extend their classroom techniques, share effective teaching strategies and contribute to the continuing development of a stimulating and supportive learning environment.

Wycombe High School is geographically placed in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. High Wycombe is the county's largest town and is a lively, modern location with plenty of tourist attractions & points of interest. The school is close to the towns main amenities. High Wycombe offers excellent rail, road and coach links. Chiltern Rail links High Wycombe to London Marylebone in as little as 23 minutes and the M40 and M4 offer easy access to many other parts of the UK. There is a coach park, with parking facilities, within five minutes walk of the school offering coach access to many cities and to Heathrow and other airports.  The town centre offers the Eden centre with a range of shops and restaurants, as well a shops and leisure facilities including a busy and popular theatre, bowling alley and cinema. The town is also home to a state of the art leisure centre, with 50m swimming pool, climbing wall, squash courts, sports hall and modern gym.

The town offers a number of excellent sports clubs including Wycombe Hockey, Rugby, Swimming and Cricket Clubs, Bucks Squash and Badminton Centre.