Head of the Learning Support Service

We think an important indicator of a good school – one that equitably educates all its pupils to a high standard – is the quality of the provision it makes for those of its children who have special educational needs or disabilities. Are we happy with our provision? Our RAISEonline report has us Sig+ for pupils with SEN but our answer is no, not entirely – we want to make it better.

Stratford School Academy is ambitious: we are expanding, we have improved our teacher workforce both in terms of readiness and capacity, our ‘mini school’ approach is innovative and we have Academy Sponsor status. We have asked ourselves what is an ambitious but potentially achievable academic target that, if we can achieve it, will let us say with confidence that we are providing our pupils with a top quality education? One simple answer would be to achieve a Progress 8 score of +0.5. We use this (and a couple of other targets) to drive all aspects of our work, to ask: what do we need to do over the next couple of years to get from where we are to P8 +0.5? In summer 2016 we achieved P8 +0.2 and we think +0.5 is well within our reach in the next couple of years.

Stratford School Academy has two brand new buildings each for 750 pupils. In September 2015 we admitted our first 300 strong Year 7 cohort and grow to 1500 pupils by 2020. We have not gone for the usual Upper/Lower School split but instead operate two ‘mini schools’ educating pupils from Year 7 to 11. Our building on Upton Lane incorporates a Resource Provision for up to twenty children with Autism; the other building on Grosvenor Road will develop a complementary specialism in teaching pupils with Speech, Language and Communication needs.

Our Learning Support Service is a central service that works across both mini schools: its task is (simply) to make sure that we do everything set out in Chapter 6 of the SENCoP 2015 to a very high standard. If anyone criticises us as being too narrowly focussed we would say we are not because we need to work on so many different fronts (School, Local Authority, Health, Social Care) to achieve this.

We have a very clear approach to our work which is to focus our efforts on what educational research (as opposed to fashion) tells us will really makes a difference to student outcomes. So we are heavily influenced by the work of educationists such as John Hattie, Thomas Guskey and Vivienne Robinson. Our current mantra is extending systematic shared practice.

Our Head of the Learning Support Service is also a classroom teacher and must be able to teach to a good standard and still have the desire to improve – because we all can. This is a non-negotiable: class teachers will not take seriously Learning Support teachers who can’t cut it in the classroom.

We try to look after our staff. We provide travel loans and run cycle to work, parking permit and childcare voucher schemes. All staff get priority admission to the school for their children. Teachers have lower than average teaching loads and we don’t expect them to do cover –so you have time to do the job properly. Our school dinners are well worth eating and you get free coffee all day made by a qualified barista. Last but not least you get to work with very nice people and pupils.

If you think this might be the job for you then you should come in and meet us, see the building, hear more about what we do and how we do it, preferably before you complete an application form.

If you do want to visit please call Ellie Field on 0207 259 8770 or email StratfordSchoolAcademy@hays.com . We know that it can be difficult to get out of school and so we can be flexible with times and dates.

Closing Date: 9am on Tuesday 31st January 2017

For further details and to request an application pack please contact Ellie Field on 0207 259 8770 or email StratfordSchoolAcademy@hays.com.  Your application is a direct permanent application to our school, Hays is our recruitment partner for all permanent appointments.

For more information you can also visit our dedicated recruitment website at www.hays.co.uk/jobs/stratfordschoolacademy  or www.stratfordschoolacademy.com

Stratford School Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.