The Teaching Coach is a platform to help teachers, leaders and support staff by providing a range of quality pastoral, teaching and career resources.
You will find a host of resources here from form times and assemblies through to interview prep, application letters, professional development and guidance. Not to mention, lessons, schemes of work and learning resources.
If you can't see what you need, you can email me at: theteachingcoach@hotmail.com.
The Teaching Coach is a platform to help teachers, leaders and support staff by providing a range of quality pastoral, teaching and career resources.
You will find a host of resources here from form times and assemblies through to interview prep, application letters, professional development and guidance. Not to mention, lessons, schemes of work and learning resources.
If you can't see what you need, you can email me at: theteachingcoach@hotmail.com.
Updated
This resource is a Head of Year application covering letter. It has been created using knowledge of the role and experience of previous pastoral applications.
This includes sections on:
attendance
behaviour
progress
using experience of being a form tutor and teacher
parent-carer partnerships
high expectations and behaviour management
student development/extra curricular/pastoral development
working with a team of tutors
reading data
working with external agencies
celebrating student achievement
This template is over 4 pages long and packed full of ideas to use!
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This PDF includes 5 key questions asked on pastoral interview and their answers in detail.
These are intended to support existing or new heads of year as well as being potential questions you may get asked on interview.
In this set I answer:
how do you deal with angry parent?
how do you support a student struggling to fit in?
how do you lead a team?
how do you deal with poor student behaviour?
do you monitor student progress?
These answers are suggestions – they are not necessarily definitive.
If preparing for interview, I always recommend you tailor your questions to the school you’re applying to and ensure you are giving specific examples of what you’re able to offer.
If in post, always remember the policies of your school.
You can also find Set 2 of this resource here: www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12527827
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In these three PDFs, I answer 15 big pastoral questions.
These are intended to support existing or new heads of year as well as being potential questions you may get asked on interview.
This set includes questions like:
how do you create year group cohesion?
why are assemblies important?
what is included in a successful form time?
why is monitoring attendance important?
how do you improve the resilience of your year group?
what should you do with your failing FT?
why are form tutors important?
how do you deal with an angry parent?
how do you lead a team?
The answers to these questions are suggestions only – they are not necessarily definitive.
If preparing for interview, I always recommend you tailor your questions to the school you’re applying to and ensure you are giving specific examples of what you’re able to offer.
If in post, always remember the policies of your school.
IMPROVED FOR 2024
This resource is an example application letter for the position of SENCo in a secondary school.
This letter should be developed by including your own examples of where you have completed the points referenced and the impact of that work as well as your learning from the work you have completed – using the spaces to help you do this. This letter is for guidance only and should not be used exclusively to apply for a SENCo role but instead used to support the writing of your own letter. Letters should always be tailored to the school you are applying to and your own experiences. This example includes more ideas than you may wish to include in your own letter and is intended to highlight a variety of content you could use.
This template is over 5 pages long and full of ideas which you could use or remove.
This resource is aimed a secondary school SENCo role, but could provide ideas for other stages of education also.
Please note: covering letters should not exceed 2 pages in length.
I never recommend sending blanket templates for prospective roles and always advise an application is tailored to you and the school.
UPDATED!
This assembly was designed after a series of fighting and physically violent incidents in my year group at the time.
The message is very clear about the potential fatal consequences of fighting and one punch kills. At the time, I could not find an assembly which fitted these purposes.
It includes:
statements students might hear in relation to violence; as aggressors and bystanders
information about why one punch kills are so dangerous
a list of potential injuries from punches
explanation of potential life long changes
3 news stories about fatal punches and a visual representation of the connection between people involved
The final slides also include an interview with one of the offenders about the impact of his decision on the rest of his life. Very powerful, very moving.
There is also a link to a police video on the dangers of one punch kills.
Please check it is appropriate your year group before using - sensitive content.
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In this resource you will find a Head of Department/Curriculum Area Lead in tray prioritisation task.
Specifically, these are found on interview days and commonly used as part of the decision making process. This resource includes guidance on prioritisation tasks, as well as potential follow up questions you might be asked and some great answers. It also includes information about why these tasks are used, what interviewers are typically looking for and how to perform the best in these in trays!
Finally, the resource includes a practice task with several scenarios for you to order and justify decisions on. This is a great way to practice before an interview!
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In this resource you will find 5 resources to help you prepare for in tray tasks at a Head of Year interview.
a detailed guide on how to analyse data as a Head of Year
2 x example data analysis tasks
a detailed guide on how to respond to a parental complaint letter
a detailed guide on how to complete a prioritisation task
guidance on a gold fish bowl task
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In this 4 page resource I detail guidance for completing a prioritisation task in a pastoral interview. This includes answering the questions:
What is a prioritisation task?
Why do interviews use it?
What questions might you be asked on prioritisation?
What kind of answers could you give to prioritisation questions?
This also provides an example of a prioritisation task and a worked answer of the order I would organise the tasks in as well as my justifications.
Great for preparing you for one of the in tray tasks at interview!
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This PDF includes 5 key questions asked on pastoral interview and their answers in detail.
These are intended to support existing or new heads of year as well as being potential questions you may get asked on interview.
In this set I answer:
how would you maintain positive parent relationships?
what would you do for high ability students?
how important is the role of FT?
how would you deal with a failing tutor?
how would you target bullying?
These answers are suggestions – they are not necessarily definitive.
If preparing for interview, I always recommend you tailor your questions to the school you’re applying to and ensure you are giving specific examples of what you’re able to offer.
If in post, always remember the policies of your school.
You can find set 1 here: www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12348129
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This resource is my first set of practice data task for Heads of Year/Pastoral Leaders preparing for interview. The resource provides a fictionalised set of data from a fictionalised year group, space to analyse the data yourself and to come up with your three priorities. In addition, I provide the three priorities I would identify in timed conditions as well as the ‘answers’ I would provide in an interview circumstance.
This is the great way to practice your data analysis skills for interview from a pastoral perspective. This resource goes well with my other resources on raising attainment and analysing data as a pastoral leader.
You can find a 2nd example of this in tray here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12732369. This is another set of data to provide a 2nd chance to practice prior to interview.
How to analyse data as Head of Year: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-analyse-data-pastoral-leader-interview-cpd-data-analysis-and-progress-achievement-12436735
How to raise attainment as Head of Year: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-raise-attainment-secure-progress-head-of-year-house-pastoral-role-interview-cpd-12425572
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This resource is an example a Head of Department or Curriculum Area Lead application covering letter which can be used to create your own letter of application or supporting statement! It includes headings for guidance on topics to include also.
This template is 3 pages long as is full of ideas which you could use.
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In this resource you will find a 1 page personal statement template for use when completing an application to NPQSL.
This resource details multiple reasons for the desire to want to complete NPQSL as well as current roles and responsibilities and how you want to develop these.
Great to help you apply for NPQSL!
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This resource is an assistant or deputy SENCo application covering letter or supporting statement.
This template is 4 pages long and full of ideas which you could use. Please note: covering letters should not exceed 2 pages in length. This once is designed to be used as an example and should be edited to suit your specific post and the job description sent to you for your application.
I never recommend sending blanket templates for prospective roles and always advise an application is tailored to you and the school.
Please consider following: www.facebook.com/teachcoach
In this 2 page resource, I cover the goldfish bowl activity.
This is an activity you may come across in a leadership interview.
Specifically, the resource explores what a goldfish bowl activity is, why interviewers use this activity, what types of questions you might see come up and top tips on how to succeed at this activity in an interview situation.
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REFRESHED FOR 2024
In this resource, you will find resources to help you prepare for a Head of Year or Pastoral Leader interview.
You can also find two smaller bundles here:
Pastoral Leader Interview Bundle 1: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/head-of-year-head-of-house-pastoral-role-interview-bundle-12348298
Pastoral Leader Interview Bundle 2: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/head-of-year-head-of-house-pastoral-role-interview-bundle-12425576
This ultimate bundle of resources contains everything to help you prepare for almost every area of an interview!
This includes:
3 x sets of pastoral interview questions - 45+ questions questions in total (no answers - just questions!)
set 1, set 2 and set 3 of my 5 big pastoral questions - these each include how to answer 5 common questions or scenarios posed in an interview (15 questions and answers total)
set one of my pastoral question and answers series - this details 15 questions with potential responses in bullet point form
NOTE: you may find duplication of questions in the resources above - however, they are all designed to give you breadth and depth of understanding in relation to the questions you may face on interview and the answers you could provide!
2 x data analysis prep tasks to help you hone your data skills - great for practicing data analysis as a pastoral leader
a form time quality assurance form - to help you be able to discuss what you’d look out for in a great form time and how you would quality assure your tutors
example year group planning and improvement planning documents for you to read and be able to reference ideas from
two booklets to read before your interview ‘40 Ideas for…’
a) improving attendance and behaviour
b) working across school and leading a team
guidance on the prioritisation in tray task
a 7 page PDF guide on getting ready for a pastoral leader interview including tips on what to expect, what skills you’ll need to show and what you can practice before the day!
a PDF on student panel guidance and how to ace a student panel - a task which has been included on every HOY interview I’ve attended
an example attendance improvement plan to give you plenty to talk about when you’re asked about how you would improve attendance
guidance on writing a response to a letter of concern from a parent - a common in tray task
a detailed guide to analysing data as a pastoral leader - full of top tips and hints for how to offer your best analysis from a pastoral perspective
my detailed guidance for new heads of year - this will give you a great feel for the role and how you will manage it!
A genuinely awesome bundle of resources to help prepare you for an interview. To aid these, there is also some free resources in my shop which you may want to consider adding to your prep.
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This resource is an assembly focused on ‘unplugging’. It was created for National Unplugging Day but could be used for any time you are concerned about the use of technology in your year groups.
At the end of the assembly, students are asked to volunteer their phones for a set amount of time. I chose until the end of the school day. Students were given a plastic sandwich bag and label and their wrote their name on the bag, alongside sealing the bag with a knot. On the way out of the assembly, students hand their phone in - placing them in a box. This box is then safely stored in a locked office or safe.
Students were then able to collect their phones at the end of the day. For participating, students got a reward of a text home and positive reward points.
I tried this assembly twice with my year group and each time got over 60% participation. Students were always exceptionally reflective and were often surprised by how uncomfortable they felt without their phones. This is a great way to get students reflecting on their reliance on technology and their potential overuse of phones and other electronics.
Please ALWAYS be responsible with student belongings - students handing phones in should be treated with respect and stored securely at all times.
Please leave a review if find the assembly use and consider following my page: www.facebook.com/teachcoach
In this resource you will find a 5 page example letter of application for a senior leadership role, for example, assistant principal.
This resource includes many ideas you could include your own letter as well as providing you a useful structure for organising your own application or supporting statement.
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This scheme contains approximately 20 lessons which cover writing skills and reading skills. Good for intervention as well as for form times and catch up.
Lesson 1-2: Baseline Assessment
Lesson 3-4: Spelling Rules
Lesson 5: Homophones
Lesson 6-7: Using commas, full stops and capital letters
Lesson 8: Reviewing language features and word types
Lesson 9-10: Inference and literal meaning
Lesson 11: Paragraphing
Lesson 12-13: Using past tense – is/am and was/were
Lesson 14: Sentence types
Lesson 15: Using punctuation for effect
Lesson 16-17: Writing assessment
Lesson 18-19: Re-complete baseline
You must also allow for additional time in lessons to complete spelling tests.
This unit also contains a reading baseline assessment using Roald Dahl’s Boy as well as a writing baseline focused on GCSE AQA skills and writing from an image.
This resource also includes 6 sets of spelling tests to use weekly as homework.
This unit is ready to use and has been delivered with success before.
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This is a compiled list of websites and resources which are useful for reading to help improve student vocabulary and to ‘close the vocabulary gap’.
These are not my websites - I have simply compiled a useful lists for professional developed purposes.
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This PDF contains a set of 18 positive thinking cards. Each card contains a quote or message which relates goal setting.
These have been designed to be used to support students in thinking about setting goals. They can be printed or given to students as a set or used as part of a session. These could also be used during tutor time or PSHE lessons if appropriate.
There are lots of potential uses. :)
These are not a replacement for counselling or other mental health services and are not intended to be reductionist.
Instructions for use are included also.
You can find set 1 on positive thinking here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/little-inspiration-cards-set-1-positive-thinking-happiness-12347514
You can also find set 2 on overcoming challenges here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/little-inspiration-cards-set-2-overcoming-challenges-growth-mindset-12347774
Finally you can find a bundle of inspirational resources, including assemblies and form time resources here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/little-inspiration-card-assembly-form-bundle-positive-thinking-goal-setting-and-overcoming-challenges-12348103
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