Head of Deaprtment (Learning Support and Foundation Studies)

Richard Taunton’s is a vibrant Sixth Form College in the West of Southampton. Our core business is to provide full time education to 16-19 year olds (currently around 1000) but we also offer part-time adult education courses and provide facilities for a wide range of other community-based activities (including the Open University) in the evenings and at weekends. The College is firmly rooted in its community and it is our vision to be the sixth form of choice for all our community, an outstanding, high achieving college which inspires and challenges young people to be the best that they can be.   

We are working in close partnership with primary and secondary schools and colleges, with our local universities and with the local authority in Southampton, to raise standards and increase post-16 participation and progression. We work with our partners to make Southampton’s schools and colleges irresistible to the families who live in Southampton and in the surrounding area. We also champion positive progression beyond college to Higher Education or into robust employment-related training schemes. 

The College takes partnership and collaboration very seriously. We are members of the national Association of Colleges and the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association.  More locally, we are part of the Wessex Group of Sixth Form Colleges, and work closely with the 9 other colleges in Hampshire, Southampton and Portsmouth to provide the best development opportunities for staff and to enhance the experience and success of our students.   We are also active members of the Solent Colleges’ Innovation Partnership which links the six Sixth Form Colleges which sit in urban communities across the coastal area of the Solent.

If you are an individual with a passion for education, a commitment to lifelong learning and a desire to make a difference to young people of all abilities and backgrounds, you will thrive here.   We are highly committed to the development of our staff, providing annual opportunities to access management training programmes run by the Wessex Group and an extensive range of curriculum specific networks and exam board training.   We also play a very active part in the local school and college network in Southampton which links our staff with colleagues in our local institutions and provides opportunity to get involved in outreach work with schools to support successful transition to college.