Personal and social development teacher

Big Creative Independent School (BCIS) job specification (personal and social develpment teacher)

Big Creative Independent School is a small well-established school based in Walthamstow, East London with a long track record of delivering positive outcomes for Alternative Provision learners and sits within the wider Big Creative Training college. Our mission is to re-engage and improve the lives of young people through high quality training and creative industry experiences. 

BCIS specialises in working with young people in year 10 and 11, from disadvantaged backgrounds who are passionate, creative and interested to find out more about the creative industries. BCIS mainly engages with young people who have a wide range of issues and experiences that have had a negative impact on their educational experience to date. Consequently, their current personal and social development, behaviour and academic progress may not reflect their true ability. Often mainstream schools were unable to engage them enough in their interest or provide the individual support needed for them to ultimately be successful.

The BCIS curriculum has high expectations for all learners regardless of students starting point; the aim is that by the time students complete the curriculum, they will be better prepared for the challenges to come and will be empowered to lead purposeful lives with integrity.

We are now looking for an outstanding teacher of Personal and Social Development to join our team based. The successful candidate will have maths and English at GCSE grade “C/4” or above, and will be educated to degree level with evidence of outstanding practice working with 14-19 year old learners in a city environment.

Are you a compassionate, skilful and inspirational teacher with a huge desire to support and guide our students towards living safe, healthy and mindful lives? You might not have taught personal development before but we’d like to hear from you if you’re someone who really wants to make a difference in the lives of our young people, to inspire them to think about their place in the world and their life choices, and support them to lead purposeful lives with integrity.

The self-development programme (SDP) at BCT has been successfully developed and delivered in-house as noted by Ofsted at our most recent inspection in 2017. We are looking for someone to take the reins in the BCIS 14-16 year old setting and move that SDP programme forwards to the next level, and to ensure that student self-development remains at the heart of everything we do.

Staff have designed a comprehensive personal development programme through which learners gain a very good understanding of the creative industries, and of issues pertinent to them in their personal and work lives. BCT Ofsted 2017

Key tasks

• Work in a way that promotes the safety and wellbeing of children and young people

• Champion the organisational values of respect, resilience, integrity, independence and kindness, and ensure they are at the heart of the self-development programme

• Identify emerging trends, developments and research that are relevant to the self-development of young people and ensure all relevant topics are covered 

• Where external expertise is required, research and engage with specialists to ensure that learners have the best available information and support

• Work with the BCIS manager to create an exciting and relevant scheme of work

• Build on and develop existing resources to ensure continuing relevance to the lives of young people 

• Ensure the programme is skilfully differentiated and tailored to meet the specific needs of each group 

• Ensure learners are able to develop their skills at an appropriate level

• Work with the vocational tutor team to embed the principles of the student self-development curriculum into the learners’ studies

• Complete referrals to internal and external support as and when required

Desired qualities

• We would prefer to appoint a qualified teacher but will accept applications from unqualified people with the correct experience and aptitude

• Passionate about the opportunities afforded by wellbeing education to positively influence the lives of our learners

• A positive role model who leads by example and models the organisational values in their everyday life and work

• Confident and assertive with excellent leadership skills

• Ability to inspire, challenge and lead young people

• Great team player and able to work on own initiative as required

• Able to relate to, and develop relationships with, young people

• A common sense approach and a range of life experiences

• Experience of working in the creative industries is desired but not essential

• Extremely organised and able to manage own work load effectively

• Highly motivated and driven to succeed in a rewarding environment

Benefits of working for BCT

• Supportive, developmental environment with a creative and innovative approach to education

• Be part of a successful and expanding organisation

• Pension and healthcare cash plan

Salary and days of work

• This is a 10.5 hour a week part time position (Mon afternoon and all day Friday)

• 40 weeks a year term time only 

• Paid at £6,417 (unqualified) and £8,769 (qualified) per annum (pro rata)

• The start date is Monday 4th October however we will consider a later start for candidates with longer notice periods

How to apply

If you wish to apply you must complete the application form here by 5pm on 27th Sep http://www.bigcreative.education/bct-staff-application-form/ 

To find out more about BCT and our approach to education please see www.bigcreative.education 

Big Creative Training was rated “good” by Ofsted in 2017. You can read the full report here 

“Leaders and staff successfully ignite young people’s enthusiasm for learning” (Ofsted)