Teacher, Courtlands Special School

Courtlands is a friendly and ambitious school which is part of Transforming Futures Trust in Plymouth which caters for primary aged children (4-11) with Moderate Learning Difficulties and Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs.  Our innovative curriculum is based on meeting individual’s needs rather than schemes of work, and it provides a wide range of curriculum and therapeutic input. 

Our children love coming to school and enjoy all that we have to offer, through their therapies to the extra-curricular clubs and activities, but most of all the personal relationships they have with their peers and us. They tell us that they feel very safe and well cared for and proud when they make progress. They behave exceptionally well when calmly and consistently supported to reflect on their own needs and learn to empathise with others and to be proud of their own achievements. 

We are looking to recruit an outstanding teacher to join the team. We are looking for a teacher with a real passion for working with complex but rewarding children in a supportive and compassionate environment. You will need high levels of emotional resilience, and effective coping strategies born out of successful experience of teaching and supporting children with complex needs including Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties including ADHD and attachment disorders; Communication and Interaction needs including autism and speech & language difficulties. This could be in either a special school or mainstream school, with mainstream experience being an advantage. We welcome applications from experienced teachers for this post and although this position is not suitable for newly qualified teachers in general, if you are newly qualified and have considerable and sustained SEND experience in addition to teacher training then we will consider your application. In addition to leading a class you will have responsibility for a curriculum area or support a curriculum leader in their role, depending on experience. 

We can offer you a motivated and skilled staff team and a real opportunity to make a difference to the future of our wonderful children and school.  We look after our staff with award winning care for their wellbeing (National Wellbeing in Schools Award 2019).  You won’t be taking marking home to do in the evening, and you will be given the freedom to meet the needs of the pupils in your class, along with the resources to do it.  You will receive training in a wide range of SEND and real time support and mentoring from a leadership team whose door is literally open all the time.

For the last three years we have been on a journey to become a trauma informed community, responding to the adverse childhood experiences of many of our pupils, including challenging school experiences before being matched with the right setting for them. Three of our staff are qualified as Trauma Informed and Mental Health Practitioners through the TISUK post graduate diploma and all our staff have received extensive training and support on relationships which place playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy at the heart of our work alongside our pupils. We believe that every interaction, no matter how fleeting, is the opportunity for an intervention to help our pupils grow as people who know how awesome and valued they are, especially at times they are struggling and communicate through unkind or unsafe behaviour. We want staff who see the children’s challenges for what they are, who can use PACE with the best of them, and can remain calm under pressure.

Find out more about who we are and what we do on our website: https://www.courtlands.transformingfutures.org.uk 

How to apply: 

Download the Job Description, Candidate Pack and Application form below. For more information or to apply, send a completed application to the HR Team at TFTrecruitment@deltservices.co.uk.