Teacher of Mathematics

King Edward’s School is seeking to appoint a permanent Teacher of Mathematics to teach across the full age range from 1st September 2023. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and no experience of working in the independent sector is required. The school teaches IGCSE and the International Baccalaureate Diploma; no experience of the IB is necessary as full training will be provided. Full time or part time hours will be considered. A willingness to participate in the wider life of the School with pastoral care duties and help with co-curricular activities is expected. 

The Mathematics Department

There is a rich tradition at King Edward’s School of celebrating the learning of Mathematics in many ways, be it within a classroom, winning national team challenges or developing a steady flow of pupils who go on to study the subject further at the highest levels. This is an exciting department to be a part of, where colleagues work collaboratively on developing problem solving skills of pupils whose enjoyment of being challenged mathematically frequently matches our own. We are a supportive team of expert teachers whom Maths author and blogger Ben Orlin (after working with us for three years) described as “smart independent educators tackling what appears most urgent and resonant to them… I don’t think ‘perfection’ is a meaningful concept in teaching. The job is too varied, too ill-defined. But “greatness” – now, that’s something I’ve seen first-hand.”

https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2017/09/06/there-is-no-perfect-teacher-just-a-bunch-of-great-ones/

All pupils currently take the Higher Level of entry of Edexcel’s International GCSE 4MA1, with around 60% gaining a grade 9 in the subject, and at least 90% of the cohort achieving a grade of 7 or higher. The top sets also study AQA’s level 2 certificate in Further Mathematics. In the IB Diploma programme all pupils study the subject, meaning every pupil continues their Maths education for the full seven years they are at KES. Pupils regularly leave KES to study Mathematics courses at University.

Further down the school pupils are taught in un-streamed form groups during their first year. During this time, the department runs extra weekly workshops for the ablest students, as well as targeted support classes for pupils in the first two years who might be finding the transition more challenging. The first iteration of setting takes place in Removes (Year 8) and is then refined over successive years, where pupils are set according to their needs. The setting is not algorithmic and every year pupils in “bottom” sets score high grades – our aim is to complement pupils’ best way of learning Maths. We use common testing in all years to track progress of pupils.

Every year, pupils in each year group are entered for at least one of the national mathematical challenges, with several pupils at each level proceeding to participate in the various follow-up national and international competitions and Olympiads. The School’s teams have been extraordinarily successful in recent years, winning the nationwide final of the SMC team competition twice and finishing third on another occasion. Beyond the curriculum, teaching is offered to prepare pupils for university entrance, not only for courses in mathematics but also in providing support for applicants in physics, engineering and computer sciences. In recent years the department has hosted Maths lectures on content outside of the IB syllabus, bringing in Simon Singh, Rob Eastaway, Colin Wright, Ben Sparks and James Grime to the school. Teachers have also contributed to this process with a lecture, if they feel they have one to offer. The Mathematics Department itself consists of thirteen members of staff, one of whom works part time, and the responsibilities held in other parts of the school range from tennis to SEN support to Timetabler: we have a range of colleagues to complement our range of students and their developing interests.

We have reshaped our schemes of work to develop the skills we wish our pupils to have. The focus is increasingly on problem solving and thinking mathematically, with the ability to pass tests later on the necessary consequence. The department readily shares resources, and schemes of work that are incorporating the supporting use of ICT are evolving. There are ten rooms dedicated exclusively to the teaching of the subject, and all of these have a teacher’s computer with associated audio-visual and projection facilities for use with an interactive whiteboard. We have ordered two trolleys of laptops for next September, all teachers are issued with a personalised Casio fx-CG50 Graphical calculator. The department meets weekly - the process of working collaboratively, reflecting together on what we do and sharing ideas and resources is essential to this team of excellent teachers.

The School’s rich and diverse co-curricular life makes KES a special place to work, and to learn. Thus, it is expected that all members of staff will not only be subject teachers, form tutors and be attached to a house, but also contribute in some way to activities beyond the classroom and the timetable.

Our twitter account is @KESMathematics.

The full job description and information about the school can be downloaded from our website: https://kes.org.uk/about-us/vacancies/teacher-of-mathematics-2/