Head of Department - MFL

Leigh Academy Rainham is a new co-educational comprehensive secondary school that opened its doors for the first time to year 7 in 2021 and already highly oversubscribed, our new school is firmly set to be a beacon of excellence for secondary education in Medway.

Working in a brand new school is a unique and rare opportunity and we are seeking a highly skilled Head of Department - MFL with a can-do ethos, drive, grit and boundless enthusiasm as nearly everyday we experience something new for the first time. It is essential that our Head of MFL is a highly effective teacher with an exceptional understanding of curriculum design, is supportive of others and openly shares best practice, modelling this with their growing team. They need to embrace a forward thinking approach to both curriculum intent and implementation, with carefully sequenced high quality learning experiences for our students that ideally embraces a hybrid of NCELP and EPI teaching. The ideal candidate will have a track record of excellent outcomes and an awareness of the latest MFL pedagogy to continue to challenge our students, making us a beacon for MFL teaching in the UK. The MFL team currently consists of 2 staff who are teaching Spanish to year 7 and 8 and we are looking to grow our MFL team and its language offer as the Academy increases in size. The successful candidate will play a fundamental role in managing this growth and the recruitment process going forwards. 

At Leigh Academy Rainham our values are underpinned by high expectations and aspirations, with a focus on modelling exceptional manners and developing students to be the best versions of themselves through our LEIGH learner values of Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Inquisitiveness, Grit, Humility. Our college system ensures that there is a small school model for pastoral care between year groups, encouraging opportunities for healthy competition and celebrations between colleges and a structured approach to collaboration between college subjects. 

Our highly robust and consistent behavioural systems, modelled by all middle and senior leaders, allow all teachers to feel supported and foster a culture within which teachers are enabled to focus on delivering high quality digital learning experiences as part of our IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) Curriculum, as opposed to managing behaviours. All students have a 1:1 device and all teachers play an instrumental role in shaping them into responsible and confident digital citizens through the implementation of their curriculum. The MYP curriculum is delivered to years 7-9 and provides a framework within which all our students can flourish, becoming inquiring, compassionate and culturally aware young adults. As leaders we ensure that departments collectively embed the essential skills, knowledge and attributes needed by students to be highly successful in achieving their own personal goals, as caring members of our community and as leaders in tomorrow’s world. ​​​​​​​

If you are looking for a new challenge in an exceptional new Academy we look forward to hearing from you!

This is a permanent opportunity offering a MPS/UPS commensurate with experience + TLR2a £3,201. 

If you have any queries regarding the role or the application process, please contact Holly Neve (Recruitment Advisor) on holly.neve@latrust.org.uk or 01643 412 263.​​​​​​​

Do you know a great teacher who would like to hear about opportunities with Leigh Academies Trust? If so, make a referral today for the chance to receive £100 as a 'thank you'. Simply complete the referral form by clicking here. T&C's apply.

About Leigh Academy Rainham: In September 2021, we opened our doors to the 180 founding students of our co educational comprehensive school for 11-18 year olds. Already oversubscribed, our new school is firmly set to be a beacon of excellence for secondary education in Medway. The wellbeing and success of each individual child is at the heart of everything and we are driven by the belief that it is our role to ensure all pupils develop an appreciation of the limitless possibilities ahead of them. Every learner is entitled to an enriching, varied and personalised education; delivered through a broad and balanced curriculum that provides challenge, irrespective of need, starting point or background. It is our ambition that in our highly inclusive setting, all our students will flourish, becoming inquiring, compassionate and culturally aware young adults. We will work together to embed the essential skills, knowledge and attributes needed to be highly successful in achieving their own personal goals, as caring members of our community and as leaders in tomorrow’s world.

Our strong learning community works together and shares the value of collaboration; every member of our academy family works together to achieve success, cultivating a strong sense of belonging. Our belief in human-scale education, delivered through our college model, ensures every one of our students is known and valued. Strong pastoral care is at the heart of our academy and we place great importance on building strong partnerships with parents and carers.

Working in a brand new school is a unique opportunity. A flexible approach with a can-do ethos is required, as is drive, grit and boundless enthusiasm. We will be looking to recruit a staff body that has a multitude of talents to enable us to provide a rich academic and co-curricular offer from the outset and look forward to hearing what additional skills, talents and interests you could bring to a role at the Academy. A sense of humour is also essential! 

Being part of Leigh Academies Trust: As of 1st September 2022, our Trust comprises 30 geographically organised academies (14 secondaries, 14 primaries and 2 special) educating 20,000 students, and employing 3,000 talented staff. The Trust is establishing four ‘clusters’ of academies: North Kent; Central Kent; South East London; Medway. In addition, the Trust is responsible for one of the region’s biggest initial teaching training organisations, a large teaching school hub and is an accredited apprenticeship provider. Our future plans are found in our Vision 2030 document available on our website.​​​​​​​

As part of Leigh Academies Trust, you will have ample opportunity to collaborate with your peers both within the academy and across the whole Trust. This is an important part of our vision as we know through experience that we perform better when we work together. You are supported to undertake regular self-development to continue your professional development and hopefully progress further within the organisation.

Our commitment to safeguarding: Leigh Academies Trust and all of our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our pupils, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We adopt a fair, robust and consistent recruitment process across all academies and business units which is inline with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. This includes online checks for shortlisted candidates - you can read more about this in our Recruitment Guidance. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check.