Head of Business and Economics

Head of Business and Economics

Required from:                             September 2024

Contract:                                        Full Time. Permanent.

Closing Date:                                 Friday 10th May (9AM)

Interview Dates:                            Wednesday 15th May

This vacancy is a rolling vacancy, and applications will be reviewed as they are received. Interviews and appointments may take place prior to the closing date shown.

About Our School

We are a happy and successful High School with a Sixth Form. We serve the whole community of Droitwich and its surrounding villages, making our intake socio-economically diverse; our sense of belonging to our community is a major driver in the work we do in ensuring that every child can experience life changing learning. We take just as much pride in our Oxbridge and Russell Group acceptances as we do in enabling students who find the social side of school difficult and/or find academic work challenging to secure meaningful, high quality destinations post 16.

Our staff are talented and incredibly supportive of one another. We have a great blend of recently qualified and more experienced colleagues across all parts of the school and we are clear that we benefit from the skills and experience of all of our teachers, whatever their career paths.

There is far more to a school than an OFSTED report but we are really pleased that they have acknowledged all of our strengths in their February 2024 visit, where we were graded ‘Good’ in all categories. They noted that a ‘calm and orderly environment throughout’ and the warm and kind relationships between everyone in school. They also acknowledged our excellent support of SEND students and acknowledged our efforts outside of academic attainment. Our students enjoy the House system, which gives them an authentic sense of belonging and identity as well as providing them with opportunity for competitiveness, recognition, leadership and personal growth. Students’ personal development, in particular the willingness to be kind, compassionate and altruistic is something we place great value in and our investment in our tutor time, pastoral and PSHE programmes reflects that.

You are strongly encouraged to read our ‘Information for Prospective Colleagues.’ We expect that it will give you an even deeper feel for the community we serve, our ethos, our culture and what our school is like day to day.

It is available as a download on TES alongside this document and also on our website here:  https://website.droitwichspahigh.worcs.sch.uk/index.php/school/join-us/job-vacancies/

About the Vacancy

Due to the current postholder seeking a new challenge and experience in their career, we are looking to recruit a Head of Business and Economics to start in September.

We are open minded about the level of seniority and experience required of applicants. The successful applicant could be somebody who is relatively early in their career but has a passion for teaching and learning and driving improvements and would rise to the challenge of leading a small department team successfully. Alternatively, the candidate could be more experienced (perhaps an existing Head of Business or Economics or a department TLR holder in a larger department) who can put their skills and talents to use in leading the department. Please make your position clear with respect to this in your letter of application.

There is, of course, a full job description and person specification available but it is important to stress the selected candidate will need to be a role model in their own classroom, have the credibility to inspire and lead a team and have unwavering commitment to sustaining a culture of ambition, optimism, and high performance.

About our Business and Economics Department

The Business and Economics Department has a strong tradition of supportiveness; colleagues look out for one another and retain a strong sense of purpose. The team is a mix of experience with colleagues who have been teaching at DSHS for a while and one in the early part of their career who joined us in the last 2-3 years. All staff members are subject specialists with strong subject knowledge. The department has two very recently refurbished classrooms that are adjacent to one another so team members are able to support one another.

At GCSE the students follow the Edexcel specification for Business Studies. We are currently exploring our curriculum offer to include GCSE Economics in September. Progress at GCSE has been in recovery for the last few years with definite room for improvement, particularly with disadvantaged pupils. Demand at KS4 is strong; we are expecting at least four groups in Year 10 next year.

We always have one A level Business Studies and one A level Economics class in each Sixth Form year group. Value added in the Sixth Form courses has been on the up and is now regularly above national averages. WE also have a good track record of success in our Sixth Form enrichment offer, where our Young Enterprise groups have recently won several awards and we have had a team get through to the final of the Economics World Cup.

 How to Apply

You will find a job description, a person specification, information for prospective colleagues, an application form and further information on how to apply here: https://website.droitwichspahigh.worcs.sch.uk/index.php/school/join-us/job-vacancies/

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via jobs@droitwichspahigh.worcs.sch.uk

 Droitwich Spa High School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.