Sir John Thursby Community College

Sir John Thursby Community College is a mixed 11-16, multi-cultural, fully inclusive school which values all students, staff and our community partners. We have over 1,100 students on roll and over 150 staff enjoying working together to provide the best for everyone. We are also fortunate to work in a fantastic building that was one of five community high schools within the Building Schools for the Future project in Burnley.  We work hard to support and develop our staff and make sure they can thrive as valued members of our team.

Everything we do is driven by our strategic vision and our high ambition for students and staff.  Three words are central to what we do: Belong, Believe and Achieve. We are committed to ensuring that all our students have bright futures and we commit to our beliefs which are set out in our Strategic Vision and we are characterised by the way we treat our people.

In our latest Ofsted report in April 2023, the school was graded ‘good’ in every area and inspectors commented that the pupils ‘enjoy attending this thriving and popular school’ and that they ‘feel a strong sense of belonging to the school community.’ The report also identified that students ‘achieve well’ and that ‘almost all pupils successfully move on to apprenticeships, A levels or other forms of education, employment or training’.

People and relationships are at the heart of what we do. One of our key values is that all members of our school community are known, valued and loved and we work hard to ensure this happens. We were delighted that Ofsted saw this in our relationships with our young people when they commented that ‘staff know pupils very well’. We work hard to create an environment in which staff feel a strong sense of belonging to our school, our students and our families. We are firmly committed to ensuring that all our staff have a positive work/life balance and as a result we give all our teaching staff a minimum of 20% non-contact time and staff have excellent CPD opportunities.

In our 2023 staff survey, 97% of staff were proud to be a member of our school community and 95% said that they enjoyed working at the school. Staff commented that:

· ‘Leaders care and lead by example’

· ‘SJT is a great place to work’

· ‘I love being part of the SJT team and appreciate the opportunities that the school provides for its staff and pupils’

· ‘The staff are extremely positive and supportive of each other and value relationships with their students’

· ‘I do believe this is a great place to work, and I feel lucky to have this opportunity’

We have a highly ambitious curriculum with over 70% of students following the EBacc subjects. Our results are consistently strong with students Attainment 8 above expectations and Progress 8 in 2022 +0.16

We have a positive behaviour system which has ‘high expectations of pupil’s behaviour’ (Ofsted 2023).

We are proud of our achievements and continue to go from strength to strength. I would encourage you to come and visit SJT to see why we all believe that it is a special place to work and make a difference. We look forward to receiving your application and please contact us if you would like any further information.

https://youtu.be/Kgk_syuQTfA  Follow the link to watch 'Burnley By Drone' to see a beautiful area in which to live and work.