Faculty Lead for English and Member of the Senior Leadership Team

Located at the heart of Weardale, an area of outstanding natural beauty, Wolsingham School is approximately 15 minutes’ drive west of Durham. For over 400 years, our school has been driven to bring out the very best in all of our students and our educational philosophy rests on four pillars: academic excellence, a rich extra-curricular life, character and citizenship, and exceptional pastoral care. We maintain the highest standards within a family atmosphere and our students are exceptionally well behaved, happy and loyal to the school. True to its atmosphere, the school is in a stunning building that combines original architecture with a new build and is set in extensive grounds.  Staff come to us each day from all over County Durham, as well as Newcastle and Northumberland.

We are seeking to appoint a Faculty Lead for English and a Member of the Senior Leadership Team who is an extremely strong practitioner and is passionate about developing a Faculty that stretches all students to think, to love English and to make excellent progress.  You would be joining a vibrant, supportive, forward thinking team who care deeply about the subject and, like all Faculty Leads, you would have freedom and support to take initiative and implement your vision. The school offers extensive, individually tailored CPD and encourages career development.  The post arises because of the promotion of the previous Faculty Lead for English to a more senior position after many years of superb service.  

In 2019, over 70% of our students once again passed English and Maths, with 75% passing English Literature.  A core part of our philosophy is that education should extend beyond the classroom: we hold over 15 extra-curricular clubs each week, ran over 50 educational visits last year and organise a huge range of in-school activities and events.  In 2018, Ofsted warmly confirmed our ‘Good’ rating saying, “Pupils are very happy at school and wear their uniform with pride.” 

We are also ambitious for the future. Our current Year 7 cohort is oversubscribed and the Governors have recently resolved to join a local, high quality Multi Academy Trust so that we provide an even higher standard of education with more opportunities for many more years to come.   

We are seeking the very best candidate for this key position. The Head Teacher, Mr Jonathan Ferstenberg, would be very happy to answer any questions you have and to take you on a tour of our school and grounds. To request an application pack or arrange a visit, please contact Mrs Jenny Linsley, our Personnel, Finance and Governance Officer, on 01388 527302, or email info@wolsinghamschool.net.  Applications may also be downloaded from our website.  

Durham County Council is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We thus welcome applications from all sections of the community regardless of age, disability, gender, ethnicity or religion. Applicants with disabilities will be invited for interview if the essential job criteria are met. Our school is also committed to the protection and safety of its students. The successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced disclosure DBS check.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Closing date and shortlisting:  11am Thursday 23rd January  

Interview: Wednesday  29th January