Director of Learning - English

About the role: The Leigh UTC and Inspiration Academy have a rare and exciting opportunity to appoint a Director of Learning for English to lead the highly successful faculty from September 2020. We are seeking to appoint an individual who can build a rapport with our students and engage them in the subject as well as leading and inspiring an established and collaborative team. We consistently provide excellent career opportunities for those who demonstrate ambition and drive. If you would like to join an incredibly strong department, who achieve excellent results year on year, then we want to hear from you!

This position is offered on a permanent, full time basis. For a full list of responsibilities associated with the role, please click here. 

Teaching English at The Leigh UTC and Inspiration Academy: the English Learning Area at The Leigh UTC has been identified by Ofsted as a ‘strength’ and is committed to the sharing of best practice between colleagues. It is a supportive and enthusiastic team, the members of which always go the extra mile to support students. At Key Stage Three we follow the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme, covering a range of fiction and non-fiction texts to immerse students in a breadth of literary and non-literary experiences, and to highlight the power of cross-curricular learning and career opportunities. 

All year 11 students are entered for both English Language and literature and the Learning Area provides IB English Literature and Language at Post 16. The approach taken ensures very good outcomes for students across the ability range and guarantees a supportive, friendly and developmental team.

What are we looking for in you: We will expect you to successfully plan and deliver outstanding English lessons on a daily basis that both challenge our students and significantly advance their learning. We anticipate you will achieve this by being passionate about your subject and transferring your knowledge in a creative and efficient way in the classroom. We also expect our successful applicant to have prior management/leadership experience.

It is imperative that our appointed candidate fully immerses themselves into the culture that we have adopted at The Leigh UTC which is focused on collaborative teaching and learning. At the Leigh UTC, we realise the significance of literacy and English in delivering successful STEM education.

Working with us: Having opened in September 2014 with state-of-the-art facilities originally for Key Stage 4 and 5, The Leigh UTC provides an exciting, innovative, business-led, problem-solving curriculum, enabling students to achieve relevant work-related qualifications and transferable skills for future training or employment. The most unique feature of The Leigh UTC is its business ethos that are emphasised by our students' behaviours and supported by our sponsors.

In September 2017, following the request of the Department for Education due to our continued success, The Leigh UTC marked history by expanding its student intake to incorporate Key Stage 3 – the first UTC in the UK to do this.  Furthermore, being the first UTC to have IB World School Status has enabled us to develop strong links in Germany and Qatar.  Having IB Status will enable us to further develop the mid years programme (MYP) for our Key Stage 3 students and thus providing a joined up pathway from ages 11 to 19.  The overarching mission of the Inspiration Academy is to develop curious, academically-skilled young people who aspire to be principled, compassionate learners.  Our curriculum strives to create students who are self-motivated, competent, willing to take risks and lifelong learners.

Recent Ofsted success! We have recently been judged as Good with Outstanding Leadership in our first inspection since opening. Our key successes and features that our successful candidate can be part of are as follows;

• The promotion of pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding
• Pupils, including the disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, catch up from previous underachievement and make strong and often rapid progress in a range of subjects and disciplines
• Application to learning is often exemplary
• The Leigh UTC makes a real difference for its pupils and surrounding area. Pupils become motivated to find and follow their passions. They leave well equipped to succeed in engineering and related technical and design careers and contribute to the economy.
• The Principal, with his leaders and staff team, model a high-quality working environment. This rubs off on pupils, who value the supportive ethos, work-like atmosphere.

Being part of the Leigh Academies Trust: Being part of a successful multi-academy trust allows the academy to share best practice and collaborate with colleagues from a number of other academies in the local area.  As part of the 'cluster' structure all of our academies are grouped together in key geographical area to enable them to be able to support each other and share resources.  It also offers staff better access to career opportunities as the Trust is committed to developing and promoting from within wherever possible.  We also want the Trust to be an organisation where people can enjoy teaching and become the type of teacher they aspire to be.  For more information on working for the Trust please visit our careers pages.

Diversity at our core: As a Trust we are passionate about diversity and recognise that as individuals we all bring something unique to the role regardless of age, gender, race, beliefs or disabilities which is why we treat all of our people equally, without compromise.

The academy is committed to safeguarding children and successful candidates will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check. Our commitment to safeguarding is underpinned by robust processes and checks which are in place across the Trust.

Recruitment and hiring during COVID-19:  Despite the challenges we face, recruitment and hiring will continue for all Leigh Academies Trust vacancies with as little disruption as possible over the coming weeks and months.  This is for all senior, teaching and support staff appointments.  Applications will still be reviewed and interviews conducted in a timely manner, although interview activities may vary.  We will still conduct face to face interviews where possible, and will abide by social distancing protocols such as no hand-shaking, using large meeting rooms, etc.  Candidates will be given the option to interview via online video if you cannot attend in person - this can be discussed if your application is shortlisted.  If you have any queries or concerns, please get in touch with the LAT Talent Team - talent@latrust.org.uk.