Lead Practitioner of English

Do you want to join a progressive, high achieving school and take your teaching career to the next level?  Are you keen to challenge young people with opportunities they may not know even exist? We aim to raise students’ aspirations, so that they believe in themselves and achieve their full potential.

Testbourne Community School, an 11-16 comprehensive school with an extremely able cohort, is an Outstanding School (Ofsted 2010) which provides a forward thinking, outward looking and vibrant learning environment. We pride ourselves on the strength of staff and student relationships and we have a strong community at the heart of our ethos. We know that the life chances of our pupils are determined by inspirational teachers like you. We are working together to continually raise expectations, improve our practice and raise standards of students’ achievements.

In 2019, 76% of our students achieved a Grade 4 or higher in both English and Maths with most subjects also achieving above national average scores.  82 grade 9s were obtained across our cohort and 15 students had an average grade of 8 or above.

The post has arisen as part of our strategic plan to increase the capacity of the English department and to facilitate our focus on the development of teaching and learning through the use of an expert coaching team.  The position provides an exciting career opportunity for an ambitious candidate who would like to further develop their career as part of our dynamic teaching and learning team with a relentless drive for the highest standards of learning and achievement.  The successful candidate will join our staff team who are at the cutting edge of pedagogical thinking.

Due to the nature of the post, the successful candidate will have a track record of excellent teaching and examination results alongside an ability to mentor, coach and lead others.  

We are dedicated to offering the right candidate systematic professional development to enable them to achieve excellence. We provide a highly supportive environment with opportunities to develop as an education practitioner and leader.  The school has strong ties with local school alliances and consortia and therefore has access to a strong professional network in which to share good practice and support your growth as a professional and a leader. 

 In summary, the successful candidate will:

• be an excellent teacher of English; 

• have a passion for learning and teaching and be committed to raising standards;

• be up to date with current pedagogical thinking;

• be able to inspire others to ensure the delivery of high quality learning experiences for our students; 

• have fantastic subject knowledge and, in particular, understand how to teach highly challenging lessons so that students can reach the top grades in the subject;

• have extremely high expectations of themselves and others;        

• be ambitious and committed to ongoing professional development.

 We can offer you:-

• a highly professional and collaborative working environment focused on developing a love of learning;

• the resources and facilities to continue to improve students' progress and attainment;

• an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and develop skills in a committed, evaluative and continually developing team;

• first rate personal career development to assist you in the fulfilment of your ambitions.