Second in MFL Department

The school reserves the right to close this advert early and interviews may take place before the advertised closing date. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early for this role to avoid disappointment.

Ark Greenwich 

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This is a rare and exciting opportunity to work at one of the highest performing schools in the country. If you are committed to making a lasting difference in our local community and want to work in a seriously ambitious, respectful and high performing school, this could be the job for you. This role is suitable for main scale teachers.

At Ark Greenwich we take the wellbeing and workload of our staff seriously. We are committed to sustainable high performance and recognise our staff are our primary resource. To find out how we approach staff wellbeing and workload, please click here 

Ark Greenwich is a new, ambitious school model based on what we know excellent schools do. We have created a highly respectful and disciplined environment where our staff and scholars can fulfil their potential. We are one of the highest performing schools in the UK. Progress 8: +1.3, Attainment 8: 6.3, EM4 +: 81%, EBacc entry rate: 90%. 

Ark Greenwich exists to empower young people, regardless of socio-economic background, to grow and be successful. This is an ambitious and forward-thinking school that encourages innovation and values its staff. We are proud of our highly respectful and disciplined community and of the outstanding academic outcomes achieved by our scholars. Expectations for all members of our community are unashamedly sky high. We work tirelessly to impact the lives of the young people we serve. Scholars at our school are passionate about MFL and achieve exceptional outcomes. We also place a primacy on our industry leading extra-curricular and character education programmes. 

How is Ark Greenwich different?

•       We are part of the Ark family of schools and benefit accordingly from outstanding networking and career opportunities and first-class CPD. 

•       Staff wellbeing is one of our main priorities. We provide breakfast for staff each morning, lunch for early careers staff and have a 6pm/weekend work-related communication curfew to ensure our staff can maintain a work/life balance. We do not do knee jerk reactions, fads or last-minute deadlines. Our systems and processes for communication, marking and feedback and assessment are streamlined and the approaches we take are research led and based on the needs of our local context. 

•       This is a small school model (600 scholars aged 11-16) because we believe that our close-knit community provides the optimum conditions for success.  

•       Behaviour for learning is exceptional so our teachers can focus their time on the things that matter – planning and delivering brilliant lessons for our scholars. 

•       This is a strict no excuses, no mobile phone school.  

•       Our curriculum is traditional and academic, and we do not take shortcuts to boost our position in school league tables – we do not, for example, offer equivalencies such as Btecs or Vcerts,

•       We put high-quality teaching at the heart of what we do. We are committed to providing staff with weekly high-quality training. We run coaching for staff who want to see rapid progress in their discipline. Live coaching and current best practice in the field of education is central to our approach. 

•       We don’t grade individual lessons or ask for lesson plans.

•       Our scholars enjoy a compulsory co-curricular program on a Wednesday afternoon which includes a strong focus on community volunteering and we facilitate 12 drop-down days per academic year ensuring scholars benefit from a range of life-enriching experiences. 

If you are ready to add further value to our high performing MFL department and to work alongside a brilliant school leadership team, then you will find this job extremely rewarding. 

Alignment with the school’s vision, values and approach to education is essential. 

The Role and the Department 

As 2nd in charge of the Modern Languages department, you will support the Head of Department to lead, develop and manage the effective delivery of an outstanding curriculum, which enables the highest level of pupil progress and attainment. A successful candidate will be capable of further bringing Modern Languages into the very heart of our school community through enrichment opportunities, trips, and visits. A passion for your subject and a commitment to extracurricular activities is essential.

Modern Languages provision at the school is very strong. All scholars study either French or Spanish in Year 7 and 95% of scholars continue a language to the end of Year 11. Curriculum allocation for MFL is generous, with scholars studying MFL for three hours each week. The most able 30% of scholars participate in the prestigious Mandarin Excellence Programme as well as learning French. The faculty’s approach to pedagogy is distinctive and progress and outcomes are high. In 2022, 50% of scholars achieved a grade 7+ at GCSE and 96% secured at least a grade 4. The department’s progress score in 2022 was +1.2, which places is as one of the highest performing MFL departments in the country. Typically, 10-20% of scholars continue studying a language at A Level/ IB. The department is heavily influenced by cognitive science and other high performing MFL departments across the UK and its approach is regularly shared at subject association meetings, on Twitter and via the Chartered College of Teaching’s Languages Network.

All teachers in the department offer French GCSE level, with Spanish and Mandarin also available.

This post would suit an experienced and ambitious subject specialist who is sympathetic to challenging perceived orthodoxy and who wants to play a leading role in a very high performing department. 

About Ark Schools

Ark is a network of high-achieving, non-selective schools and one of the country’s top-performing academy groups. We run 38 academies in London, Birmingham, Hastings and Portsmouth educating more than 26,000 scholars. 83% of Ark schools are now rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted.

To find out more about Ark Greenwich, please visit our website via www.arkgreenwichfreeschool.org 

Closing Date: Monday 27th February 2023 at 12noon. The school reserves the right to close this advert early should the right candidate be found. Interviews may take place before the advertised closing date. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early for this role to avoid disappointment.  

Ark value diversity and are committed to safeguarding and promoting child welfare. The successful candidate will be subject to DBS and any other relevant employment checks.