Teacher of English

Teacher of English

Salary: MPS/UPS incl. Fringe

Part Time (0.5 FTE), Permanent

Required for September 2024

Rickmansworth School is an outstanding school (September 2023). We are an 11-18 heavily oversubscribed co-educational partially (35%) selective academy with around 1540 students on roll, increasing to around 1575 students over the next year. Academic results are strong at KS4 and KS5 with the vast majority of students securing their first choice university destinations.

The School is in a very strong, stable financial position with over £6M recently spent on school expansion including a new Sixth-form centre, performing arts theatres and an Innovation & Design Centre. The School is also supported extremely well by a fantastic PTA and Foundation. Our outstanding staff well-being programme includes access to our fitness suite and swimming pool, flu vaccinations, complimentary eye tests and a fortnightly wellbeing afternoon. Our students enjoy learning and are an absolute pleasure to teach. We believe every child deserves the best and we aim to achieve excellence in all aspects of school life. 

The School’s admissions criteria gives preference to staff members’ children. 

About the English Department

Our aim is to ensure all aspects of the department are innovative, inspiring and highly academic, with a focus on outstanding teaching and learning. We believe the best lessons are taught with the students at the centre of our planning and teaching; our lessons aim to be fast paced, challenging and memorable.

We are constantly reviewing and adapting our curriculum planning, with a focus on development and transferable skills; from KS3 through to KS5. This spirit of renewal and progression is essential to meet the needs of the reformed curricula at GCSE and A Level.

We want students to be aware of the journey from Year 7 through to Year 11 (and beyond) in terms of skills and knowledge. Thus, at KS3, we aim to provide students with a curriculum full of texts from different eras and different cultures, and a multitude of tasks that engage students and empower them with the skills they need to thrive as independent and academically curious learners.

GCSE and A Level results are consistently excellent. In 2023, 89% of students achieved 9 to 5 grades in English Literature, (44% achieving a grade 7 or above), and 89% of students achieving 9 to 5 in English Language (38% achieving a grade 7 or above). At A level 82% of our students secured an A*-B at Literature and 57% secured an A*-B for Language and Literature.

Beyond English, Film Studies has been the main addition to our offer in recent years. Great success at A Level led to the introduction of an equally successful GCSE. It has been a pleasure to witness the combination of traditional academic virtues in analytical essays with the inspired creative work which is celebrated annually at our prestigious awards evening. Moreover, in conjunction with Film Studies, the two English A Levels of English Literature and English Language and Literature help to provide the choice of a variety of inspiring subjects best suited to students’ interests and future pursuits. 

The successful candidate will:

• Be an outstanding teacher of English discipline up to A Level
• Have excellent subject knowledge and an understanding of computing 
• Provide dynamic and inspiring lessons
• Ensure students are at the centre of planning and teaching
• Focus on teaching and learning
• Provide learning with a focus on development
• Provide students with a full curriculum 
• Engage and empower students with the skills to thrive as independent learners
• Contribute to department planning for learning at all key stages; this includes writing schemes of work or long-term plans and creating and sharing resources

We can offer you:

• Excellent CPD opportunities
• A school recently rated Outstanding by Ofsted where students’ behaviour is exemplary
• A professional working environment where teamwork is highly valued
• A partially-selective school with a focus on academic achievement (Progress 8 in 2023 is +0.55) 
• Admission criteria where preference is given to staffs’ children
• A school which invests heavily in the future 
• A hugely talented and cohesive support staff
• An outstanding wellbeing programme

Applications from ECTs are welcome.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and are an equal opportunities employer. Applicants must declare any criminal convictions and submit to a check with the Disclosing and Barring Service as the post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Further details can be obtained from the website www.rickmansworth.herts.sch.uk, by calling the School on 01923 773296 or by email to applications@rickmansworth.herts.sch.uk.

We are required for only shortlisted candidates to conduct online searches about an applicant as part of our shortlisting process in accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance 2023 in order to identify any incidents or concerns which are publicly available online. On signing the declaration on the application you will be agreeing to the acknowledgement that such searches will be conducted as part of the shortlisting process.

Deadline for applications: 08:00 Thursday 23 May 2024

Interviews:        ASAP

We reserve the right to interview and appoint prior to the closing date.