Director of Studies

We are seeking to appoint an outstanding and dynamic teacher with proven management skills to join our Senior Leadership Team in a new role as Director of Studies. Our current Senior Leadership Team comprises the Head, Prep School Head, Senior School Deputy Head and Bursar and we believe that an extra individual of the right calibre will enable us to take Battle Abbey forward to achieve our ambition of becoming one of the best small schools in the country. Our active and fully committed Governing Body support us in this aim. 

Battle Abbey is a small independent, co-educational, day and boarding school with 450 pupils aged 2 – 18 years old and we celebrated our centenary in 2012. We have gone from strength to strength in recent years; we have achieved a managed growth in pupil numbers and expanded our facilities with a new Sixth Form Centre and boarding house. This year, we plan to build a superb Early Years Centre which will provide excellent facilities for children from 3 months to 5 years old. Throughout the recent developments, we have been committed to maintaining the School’s fundamental nature as a happy, caring, family school. 

Our Prep School has achieved a place in the Times Top 100 Independent Prep Schools List for the last 2 years and our Senior School pupils continue to achieve outstanding results. We accept pupils with a range of abilities and are very proud of their many and varied achievements, especially at GCSE and A Level (we are 130th on the Times UK coeducational A Level results list). We also have an excellent reputation for the creative and performing arts and for adding real academic value to the students in our care. 

We performed well in our ISI Educational Quality Inspection conducted in March 2017 and achieved a ‘Good’ for the quality of pupils’ academic and other achievements and an ‘Excellent’ for the quality of pupils’ personal development. However, we are committed to improving educational standards further and have drawn up a list of targets that we hope to achieve over the next 2 years. The Director of Studies, although based in the Senior School, will work across the entire School to ensure that these targets are achieved. The Director of Studies’ principal tasks will be to support teaching and learning, monitor standards, curriculum development, assessment and reporting throughout the whole school.

This is an exciting opportunity for a well-qualified and passionate individual with a proven track record of leading successful change as a middle or senior leader in either an independent or state school and who is seeking a new challenge. Candidates who have aspirations towards Headship will find this post particularly appealing. They will have an excellent understanding of how to use data intelligently, create effective school processes, and manage people well.  Essential attributes include the ability to think strategically, outstanding communication skills, good judgement, sensitivity, enthusiasm, resilience, trust and loyalty. They should be able to demonstrate a background in teaching and learning and curriculum monitoring and development.  We will be publishing further information about the post early next week but wanted to give you as much notice as possible about this exciting opportunity. Applications will need to be submitted by Monday 29th January and interviews will be held on Thursday 8th February and Friday 9th February. 

Battle Abbey offers its teachers a special working environment, which does not exist in larger schools, and this, combined with the enchanting Senior School location and buildings and the warm, good-humoured and supportive atmosphere, makes the post especially attractive. We welcome visits from potential applicants so you can see at first hand the opportunities on offer.