Teacher of Drama (with the ability to teach English would be desirable)

Thank you for expressing an interest in the post of Teacher of Drama. 

Milton Keynes Academy (MKA) is an Academy with strong links in the community. Our Academy is underpinned by an ethos based on raising aspirations, raising achievement and providing opportunities, so that we realise our mission of Everyone Achieves. We are relentless in our pursuit of high standards and excellence and emphasise traditional core values of good behaviour, honesty and mutual respect. 

MKA is a vibrant and rapidly improving Academy (Ofsted judgement Good October 2017) with outstanding facilities. We cater for 1400 students aged 11-19 and welcome students of all abilities. Our aim is to maximise the potential of all our learners and be at the heart of the community. 

We are seeking to appoint a talented, inspirational and engaging Teacher of Drama who can communicate to young people a passion and enthusiasm for the subject that extends well beyond the classroom. An ability to teach English as a second subject would be desirable. This post is suitable for an experienced teacher looking for an exciting, fresh opportunity or a newly qualified teacher looking for their first teaching role. 

You will be joining a Performing Arts Team that has a proven track record of students making good progress in line or above the national average.  

The Performing Arts Department currently has five members of staff, led by the Head of Performing Arts. From the moment you join us you will feel welcomed and supported by an experienced and varied team.  As part of your induction into the Academy and the Performing Arts department you will be assigned a mentor who will support and guide you through your early days. 

Drama is taught across Key Stage 3 to all students and it is then offered as an option for students to study at Key Stage 4. Cohort sizes in the subject are good, and students clearly enjoy the opportunity to explore their own creativity and develop their devising, acting, design and technical skills collaboratively in the weekly 2 hours 50 minutes that they spend in Drama lessons. Historically, students studying in the department at Key Stage 5 have performed well and achieved excellent results. Demand for Drama and Theatre Studies at Key Stage 5 is growing, and we are hoping to offer this course or a similar one next year. 

We have built up a large network of partnerships with people from within the industry, and regularly host professional workshops. We also have a strong alumni who regularly come to speak to the students about their career paths, as well as leading practical workshops and giving critical advice on examination pieces. 

The facilities in the Department are excellent, with two drama studios (one which is rigged), a dance studio which converts into our large performance space, and an IT suite. We have a professional technician who is skilled in both lighting and sound, and regularly makes bespoke items of set, often liaising directly with students who act as directors in the designing process of staging and production. He plays a direct role in training technical students, ensuring their ambitious ideas. 

The extra-curricular activities offered in Performing Arts are vibrant. In recent years we have taken part in an MK50 project, where local professionals devised work with our students and performed this within the local community. The Department, in collaboration with the Art and Design Department, held a week-long Arts Festival, where every student in the school got the opportunity to see a live performance, as well as running an opportunity where a group of students created a film which was premiered at the local Odeon. We have also taken one of our shows to Milton Keynes Theatre, where we performed with a cast of over 250, to an audience of over 2500 in one day. 

If you are a talented professional with passion, commitment and resilience, and if you are driven to make a difference to the lives and futures of young people, we would like to hear from you.

If you are interested in this vacancy please contact Stephen Darby, Head of Performing Arts for more information on 01908 341700 or email us at careers@miltonkeynesacademy.co.uk 

The Milton Keynes Academy is sponsored by Edge. Edge is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes practical and vocational learning. To find out more about Edge visit www.edge.co.uk

Thomas Telford School is our school improvement partner and is one of the most successful comprehensive schools in the country achieving outstanding outcomes at all key stages. To find out more about Thomas Telford School visit www.ttsonline.net. 

The Academy is committed to safeguarding the welfare of its students and the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS Disclosure.