Teacher of Geography (part-time)

King Edward’s School is seeking to appoint a part-time Geography teacher to join a strong and enthusiastic department in an exceptional school from 1st September 2024. Knowledge or experience of teaching the IGCSE and IB exam courses currently taught by the department are not required and plenty of support is available to help a colleague who is new to the IB or who is less familiar with some aspects of the syllabus. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, and no experience of working in the independent sector is required. A willingness to participate in the wider life of the School with pastoral care duties and help with extra-curricular activities, would be desirable. 

The Geography Department

There is a strong tradition of high-quality Geography teaching at King Edward's School. Geography is one of the most popular subject choices at IGCSE and IB and has healthy university uptake. The Department consists of five specialist Geographers who work together as a team across all age groups. We have excellent and attractive facilities which include five classrooms equipped with data projectors, visualisers and Smartboards, a staff office with workstations for all members of the department and a dedicated student computer suite.

Geography is a compulsory subject in Years 7-9 and is taught for two 40-minute periods per week throughout each of those years.

In the Lower School, we teach a tailored version of the National Curriculum, with climate change as a key, overarching threshold concept. The Year 7 course provides our students with the basic tools and skills for successful geographical study and focuses on interpreting images, map skills, developing more extensive writing using geographical language and presenting and analysing data. There is particular focus in Year 7 on the Earth’s natural resources, pollution and climate change, followed by study of plate tectonics, volcanoes and earthquakes. In Year 8, students study weather and climate and then explore themes arising from the study of Asia, especially the legacy of colonialism and population geography. In Year 9, we begin the study of topics from the Edexcel IGCSE Course by exploring river environments and water resources. 

Typically, around 100 students in each year group opt to continue studying the Geography IGCSE Course in Years 10 and 11. Our Year 10 and 11 students are taught for 7 periods over a two-week cycle. We have an excellent record of results at IGCSE, averaging over 57% 9 and 94% 9-7 in the last three years.

At IB, roughly 30-35 students in each year group opt to study Geography, predominantly at Higher Level. The Department was recently awarded a Good Schools Guide Award for Excellence for its outstanding IB Geography results.

Fieldwork is a key part of our teaching programme and includes: a visit to the Shropshire Hills for river and landscape studies in Year 9; two field days in Year 10 on urban geography in Birmingham and coastal landscapes and energy in Somerset; a four-day residential IB field trip in Year 12 to North Yorkshire to study urban and coastal environments; and a day trip in Year 13, again in Birmingham, for Internal Assessment data collection. The Department also runs regular extra-curricular trips, in recent years visiting Iceland and Norway.

Fieldwork is a key part of our teaching programme and includes: a visit to the Shropshire Hills for river and landscape studies in Year 9; two field days in Year 10 on urban geography in Birmingham and coastal landscapes and energy in Somerset; a four day residential IB field trip in Year 12 to North Yorkshire to study urban and coastal environments; and a day trip in Year 13 to Lyme Regis for Internal Assessment data collection. The Department also runs regular extra-curricular trips to Iceland.

For the full job description and details of how to apply, please visit our website: Teacher of Geography - King Edwards School (kes.org.uk)