Residential Graduate Sports and Boarding Assistant

We have an exciting opportunity for two graduates to develop their skills and gain extensive and worthwhile working experience in a friendly and supportive independent Prep school. The post will be particularly attractive to any graduate considering a career in teaching and for whom a residential role would be an exciting opportunity. 

The Role

Sport

The ethos of Westbourne House School’s sport is ‘Sport for excellence, sport for all’. The school strives to give children the opportunity to play a wide range of sports. The pupils are lucky to have so much time dedicated to sport. Each age group has one PE lesson a week and on top of this they have a minimum of two games sessions. In addition, inter-school fixtures on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon, plus some Saturdays for Years 4-8. There will also be a variety of activities run on a Saturday which you will be expected to contribute to and assist with.

We are looking to appoint talented and enthusiastic graduates to significantly contribute to the thriving Games programme. The successful candidate will need to be able to competently teach and officiate a variety of sports. The major sports include: rugby, football, hockey and cricket for the boys; netball, hockey, rounders and cricket for the girls. Swimming and athletics would also be advantageous. It is likely that you will be responsible for an age group which will involve planning and leading games sessions, selecting teams for matches and taking those teams on match days. The role will also involve some administration tasks as required, attendance at sports tournaments, so a willingness to drive a mini-bus would be essential. 

Boarding

There is a strong and happy boarding community at Westbourne. We aim to create a real sense of home for all our boarders. Living at school gives children the chance to make the most of every day, as well as relax with friends. 

The role will require the successful candidate to live on site and to contribute fully to boarding school life. This will involve supervising in boarding houses alongside the houseparents (early mornings before school and later evenings for bedtime), as well as weekend work (on a rota basis) and assisting with boarding activities and trips.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be a part of a highly skilled and experienced Sports Department, to immerse yourself into the boarding community and contribute to the wider life of this busy school.

More Broadly (and by mutual agreement)

To help support the pastoral life of the children by supporting Tutor Teams; to offer additional activities to enrich the children’s school experience e.g. a talent or interest that you have such as Chess or Art and to be willing to involve yourself and contribute to the wider life of the school.

This is a full time, term time only, fixed term position until 5th July 2024. The salary for this role will be £15,871 per annum.

About the School

Westbourne House is situated just to the east of Chichester in beautiful grounds of over 100 acres. There are approximately 380 boys and girls, aged 2½ -13. Most children go on to major Public Schools across the South.

The school enjoys outstanding facilities. Teaching is extremely well resourced with excellent teaching rooms, the majority equipped with interactive whiteboards; there are also sets of laptops which can be booked for class-based work. There are rooms for Art, Ceramics, ICT, Design Technology and Food Technology, a separate Science block and Music School, as well as a modern, 300-seat theatre/assembly hall. The School also has a large (30 acres) lake on the north boundary for kayaking.

Academic standards are high, with consistently outstanding Common Entrance results together with an excellent scholarship record; last year no fewer than 36 awards and scholarships to senior schools were won across a range of disciplines, totalling 140 over the last five years.

Westbourne House uses the High Performance Learning philosophy to guide all pupils in becoming good learners. The school believes that all pupils have the potential to perform at the highest level regardless of their current performance level. The Advanced Cognitive Performance Characteristics (ACPs) and Values, Attitudes and Attributes (VAAs) of HPL are the “thinking” and “behaviour” characteristic and these are delivered specifically and systematically throughout the curriculum.

The Music and Drama departments also excel consistently: all children are involved in school productions; a large number are members of school choirs and there are regular concerts.

Saturday school consists of sports matches, as well as optional enrichment activities, such as kayaking and coding.

There is a wide variety of sport on offer, and a large number of teams represent the school most Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. As well as extensive playing fields, there is a 25-metre swimming pool, dance studio, sports hall, squash courts and a full-sized astro-turf pitch.

There are around 100 boarders, many of whom board for two or three nights in one of seven houses on the school grounds. The school offers full time boarding allowing the children to further enjoy the beautiful facilities and grounds the school has to offer.

We can offer: 

• Strong, supportive staff team
• Valuable teaching experience
• Single accommodation on site and meals during term time
• Discretionary school fee discount
• Use of the school’s facilities – swimming pool and sports facilities, subsidised staff yoga class
• Employee Assistance Programme

Please apply by completing the application form from our website via the Apply button. CVs may be attached, but not in place of the application form. Please return completed applications to Robyn Aubrey at hr@westbournehouse.org.

Closing date: 16th June 2023

We reserve the right to interview and offer to a strong candidate prior to the closing date. For this reason, early applications are encouraged. 

Westbourne House is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with current and past employers and the Disclosure & Barring Service.