Lead Practitioner for Modern Foreign Languages
Baines School
Lancashire
- Quick apply
- Expired
- Salary:
- LPS Scale 1-5
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Start date:
- 01/09/2024
- Apply by:
- 20 May 2024
Job overview
A major focus for the MFL department is ensuring that every student, no matter their age or ability,
receives the highest quality education possible and the opportunities to develop their language skills as
well as improve their confidence. We want to enthuse our students to have a love of languages. We
scaffold the learning to support our weakest students, whilst extending and challenging our most able
learners so that all students achieve their very best. All students in Year 7 study French, with the most
able linguists also studying Spanish in Years 8 and 9.
The ideal candidate:
• is an enthusiastic and inspirational teacher of French and Spanish
• can model excellence inside and outside the classroom
• can share best practice and enthuse other staff
• is flexible, resilient, has a ‘can do’ attitude and is relentlessly positive
• can inspire students of all abilities to be the best they can be
• is driven by moral purpose to serve the community of Baines School
• has the passion to inspire young people to love languages, regardless of their ability
We will offer you:
• excellent CPD opportunities
• friendly and vibrant staff and students
• staff and governors who are loyal to the school
• stretch and challenge
• opportunity to be part of a school improvement journey and make a real difference to students’ lives
The reasons we are now advertising for this role are to:
• Increase capacity at Key Stage Four to allow higher and foundation students to be taught
separately for personalised learning in terms of speaking skills and listening skills where possible.
• Prepare for the new Language GCSE which will be rolled out in 2024. One of the primary purposes
will be modelling and leading improvement of teaching skills. The new MFL GCSEs are intended
to make languages more accessible for students. The subject content will mostly focus on
vocabulary, grammar and phonics, the new curriculum will encourage students to use their
language skills interchangeably and the new assessment will involve tasks where students have
to read-aloud to test students’ sound symbol correspondences. As the new assessment criteria
will drastically affect students’ learning objectives, it is important to start looking at introducing
some changes into KS3 now in preparation.
• Support the subject leader in the day to day running of the department.
• Increase capacity at Key Stage 3 to allow team teaching and in class interventions, to develop a
love of languages and increase our EBACC uptake due to students genuinely wishing to study a
language at GCSE
• Support local primary schools with language provision.
• This role will evolve with the skills of the successful applicant.
The Modern Foreign Language department at Baines School is a professional and supportive
department which currently consists of four teachers, one whom is the school SENCO, another is an
Assistant Headteacher and there is a Head of Department. Teaching and Learning in the Modern
Foreign Language department is a strength of the school.
We are looking for an outstanding classroom practitioner with high expectations and a passion for
developing their students’ potential. The MFL team collaborate well to share ideas and strategies to
enhance teaching and learning and to inspire students to love the subjects they study and a wish to
succeed.
The Department contributes to the school’s curriculum offer with GCSE Spanish and French.
As a school we are trying to grow the number of students studying languages at key stage 4. All students
studying languages at key stage 3 are now strongly encouraged to select an M.F.L. option at key stage 4.
We have a three year key stage 3 to ensure a broad and balanced curriculum. All students in key stage 3
study French and in years 8 and 9 four groups also study Spanish.
The department regularly reviews the Schemes of Learning, Assessments and teaching practice, utilising
internal and external CPD and links with other schools, both secondary and primary. Our students have
above average attainment at key stage 2 and key stage 4. We have regular assessment points throughout
the key stages and improving our progress measure is a key focus for the department.
There are enrichment opportunities offered in after school clubs.
The successful candidate will be joining a department where there is a strong team spirit and a love of lea
We are currently in the consultation process as we have applied to become part of Cidari Multi Academy
Trust. Being part of Cidari will support our pace of improvement and we hope to convert on 1st September
2024. My vision for the school is that all staff and students are Encouraged, Engaged, Empowered to be
the best version of themselves, and that they are Positive, Professional and Persevere in all they do.
Attached documents
About Baines School
We are pleased to provide the following information for candidates interested in applying for a post at Baines School. It is only a snapshot of our school and the area it serves, but we hope that there is enough information here and on website baines.lancs.sch.uk to encourage you to apply.
Baines School has a long and proud heritage. In 2017, it celebrated its 300th anniversary. The school is also unique in the North West in holding its voluntary-aided, non-denominational status. It is proudly comprehensive in nature and renowned in the locality for the support it offers to the social and personal development of its young people at all stages of their school career. Baines is rooted in the local community but owing to its close geographical proximity to Blackpool Authority, the intake each year is wide-ranging and diverse in nature, although ability upon intake is high.
The third ‘Requires Improvement’ judgement from the 2019 Ofsted inspection should not deter applicants. There are challenges facing the school but we have a clear drive to rapidly raise standards. We are working hard to strengthen the typicality of high quality teaching and learning that leads to consistent pupil progress and several active partnerships that have been supporting this drive.
We are proud of the many successes of our young people and of the range of opportunities that our dedicated teaching and associate staff offer them. The work of our governors and of the Former Pupil Association provides additional support and funding for the direct benefit of the pupils. They actively encourage the development of wider activities which further contribute to the enrichment and success in the lives of our young people whilst they are with us and beyond.
The area served by the school
Poulton-le-Fylde is an attractive, small town situated close to Blackpool and the Fylde coast. We are well connected to the rest of the country by an excellent network of motorways and roads, with large centres such as Manchester and Liverpool being just over one hour away. The town has its own railway station, with regular services to Preston and the West Coast Main Line. The school is situated in a pleasant residential area and there is an extensive building plan for new houses in the area.
The school site
We have a spacious site with a number of different buildings ranging from the very oldest which was built 300 years ago, to the most recent additions around twenty years ago. Most recently, the science laboratories and English rooms have undergone major refurbishment and a new Independent Learning Centre and suite of classrooms were completed in 2011. It is an attractive campus with wide corridors, it does not feel cramped and we are surrounded by playing fields, a wooded area and open land.
Our Students
We are an 11-16 school (having previously been an 11-18 school). Students start school in Year 7 with overall levels of attainment that are above the national average.
Our students have a positive attitude to school. The vast majority attend regularly, enjoy lessons and the wide range of other activities provided. In and around school there are high standards of the pupils’ behaviour and politeness. The students speak warmly of the support they receive at Baines and the great majority are confident, polite and friendly young people. They are demanding in that they expect and want to do well, and come to the school with high expectations supported by their parents/carers. We are an over-subscribed school. Our older students are role models who are thoroughly and actively engaged in the work of the school, the quality of what we do and contribute to supporting us in our aim of continual improvement.
The young people of Baines School undertake significant work for charities and there is a varied offer of enrichment activities in which all staff and pupils are actively encouraged to take part. We are the largest school contributor to the Teenage Cancer Trust in the country (over £100,000 so far) and hold the national record for the largest team entry in the Race for Life.
Our skilled and dedicated support staff represent a further strength within the school. These colleagues offer wide-ranging and expert support to some of our most vulnerable young people and they actively engage in the full spectrum of school life both in the classroom and beyond.
We look forward to hearing from you
Clare Doherty
Headteacher
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