Head of KS3 Science

Thank you for your interest in joining the staff team at Priory Community School - an Academy Trust (PCSA). 

PCSA is an inspiring and exciting organisation to be part of and is now part of The Priory Learning Trust. You can find further information online at www.priory.n-somerset.sch.uk. We are an inclusive Academy serving the north side of Weston-super-Mare.  We are proud to say that ‘students of all abilities make outstanding progress’ Ofsted 2014. Our students have achieved great results on leaving - way above the national average.  

We are delighted to say PCSA has opened a new £2.5m science centre this year called The ‘Spencer Science Centre’ after our first Head, Mr Arthur Spencer. I believe it is second to none and is a truly inspirational educational facility – amongst the best in the country.

Our school numbers are increasing due to our popularity and demographic changes in the area.  We currently have 1267, 11-16 students on roll and had 350 first choice applications for our 256 Year 7 places in 2017. We will be increasing to 1500 students in September 2018. Approximately 30% of our students are pupil premium students. Ofsted visited in November 2014 and graded us as ‘outstanding’ in all areas – overall effectiveness, behaviour and safety, leadership and management, achievement, quality of teaching and early years. These are clearly a great outcomes for us and richly deserved for all staff, students and Academy Councillors.

We are a very successful and forward-thinking school. Our recent success stems from our ethos of ‘STUDENTS FIRST – CHERISHING STAFF’. The staff fully support safeguarding of all our students. All staff must wear PCSA identification badges and undergo full DBS checks. Please be aware that Priory Community School - An Academy Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

PCSA is a vibrant community with an outstanding local and national reputation. We have a Careers faculty that is second to none which has achieved the Careers Mark, Inclusion Mark and the International Schools Award. The school has a big community dimension with 60 local groups using us as a venue in the evenings and at weekends. We have our own Ofsted ‘outstanding’ Pre-School on site and we believe passionately in continued professional development.  We provide many opportunities for professional development. 

Extra-curricular activities are strong.  Sport, music and the arts have a very high profile. Computing is very evident; we have complete wireless coverage and all teaching staff have access to a personal laptop – either Apple or Windows based. We use IT as a valuable learning and teaching aid. Our site has been extensively re-developed through a £7m expansion and then through several successful Academy funding bids.  

We have a superb new main building, and a four-classroom extension to Humanities and an updated Computing and Design block.  We have a first-class environment in which to ensure our students get the very best education they can and learn the skills needed to succeed in the 21st century. 

Our new £1.4m SEND block, called The Sir Richard Branson Centre opened in 2013 with our new fitness suite, The Paula Radcliffe Centre, opened in 2015. 

 If you join us you will find we have a dynamic staff, who are eager to progress in the profession. We invest heavily in teacher training and have been able to recruit some great people through this system. We are proud to announce that we have been awarded the status of National Prestigious Teaching Award.  We support career ambitions through our ‘CHERISHING STAFF’ approach. Other aspects of this approach are that we only expect one formal tutor based written report per year (data reports are more important to us and are more ‘learning centred’) and we have a low 'directed time' allocation. 

We are based just off junction 21, M5, which makes PCSA a very easy commute in the Southwest. Added to this we offer a great benefits package including heavily discounted rates to our state of the art fitness suite. 

There is rarely any cover needed with five Cover Supervisors in place. We try very hard to make working here a joy. Please be clear though - we expect a lot from our staff and you must be an outstanding individual or have the potential to be outstanding in what you do.  There must be huge commitment to the cause of STUDENTS FIRST from us all. We believe very strongly in teamwork and in allowing colleagues the freedom to develop their leadership skills. PCSA has an outstanding reputation for career progression and truly cherishing staff.

In short, we believe at PCSA we provide a world-class education for world-class learners.