Teacher of Science

A fantastic opportunity has arisen to join our hugely successful science team. We are looking for someone who is passionate about science; teaching engaging lessons that will help students appreciate the importance of the subject and develop the skills they need for life.

The Science Department

Our science department is one of the strongest departments within the school and prides itself on a culture of collaboration and teamwork. We have been a driving force to improve efficiency of working: collectively planning schemes of work and lessons, regularly sharing resources, and having an interactive feedback policy, with live marking and verbal feedback, to replace written feedback.

In years 7 and 8, students study selected topics from the Exploring Science course. At KS4 students have the option to choose to study Extended Science (Edexcel) and staff teach across all specialisms up to KS4. Our progress 8 scores are amongst the highest in the school, and are well above the national average, placing us well within the highest performing departments in the country.

  2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Combined Science +0.61 +.07 +.056 +0.38 +0.06

Biology +0.78 +0.31 +0.98 +1.78 +0.93

Chemistry +0.84 +0.23 +0.87 +1.66 +0.76

Physics +0.65 +0.15 +0.76 +1.61 +0.55

We have a hugely popular sixth form and offer both Chemistry (AQA) and Biology (Edexcel) at A-level. Many of our students go on to study Science in further education, including students achieving places at Russell Group Universities and Oxbridge.

The Science department offers a range of extracurricular activities, such as Science club at KS3 and Science surgery at KS4. At KS5, we have ties with careers services such as UpSkill Me, local Biotechnology companies and we are a case loading school for the medic mentor family, all of which help to support our students in making choices and gaining experience ready for their next steps. Our school is on the outskirts of Slough Trading Estate, one of Europe’s largest, and puts us in a unique position to be able to collaborate with several multinational companies based there, such as O2 and Mars.

The department has an experienced technician team, working in 2 well equipped prep rooms, supporting teachers to deliver a wide range of practical activities across all year groups. We have 11 well-equipped laboratories, all with interactive smart boards, providing all teachers with their own lab space. The department is also fortunate enough to have an administration assistant, based in our science office.

CPD within the school and department is excellent and many of our science teachers have progressed to the senior leadership team, including our current Deputy Headteacher, Assistant Headteacher, SENDCo and two Directors of Learning. We also currently have 3 members of the department who hold TLRs and provide multiple opportunities for all team members to continue their development. Prior to COVID, Westgate also collaborated with other secondary schools in Slough, who visited our school as a benchmark for outstanding practice and to share ideas.

The Westgate School is heavily oversubscribed and our Sixth Form continues to expand due to the strong reputation our school has within Berkshire and the local community. We believe that #betterneverstops and are continuing to make our school not only an ‘Outstanding’ place to learn, but an amazing place to work. 

As part of our commitment to driving positive change, we are overstaffing in each department and giving our teaching staff additional PPA to ensure that they have more time to invest in our students’ learning, are afforded the time and space to continue their professional development and maintain a healthy work/life balance. Consequently, we are looking for talented individuals to enhance the quality of education at our school. 

For further information please refer to the attached application information and we would also strongly encourage visits to the school, to see why The Westgate School is an outstanding school. Please email Mrs Venturini on sv@westgate.slough.sch.uk to arrange a visit.

We look forward to receiving your application for our vacancy.

We reserve the right to interview prior to the closing date if suitable applications are received. You will only be contacted if you are successful in our shortlisting process.