Drama teacher Mulberry School for Girls, Tower Hamlets, east London
A recruitment crisis there certainly is but could it be made into a drama? TV addicts who have seen Channel 4‘s Teachers won’t have picked up many references to recruitment shortfalls: in fact, few connections with real schools at all. Perhaps this is ideal material for an improvised drama lesson.
Good schools know that drama refreshes the parts that other subjects cannot reach: oracy, empathy, confidence, working with others; those things that are supposed to be central to any education.
At the Mulberry School for Girls in east London, the staff know the difference a bit of limelight and greasepaint can make to a child. There is a strong drama tradition with a history of work with external professionls and artists-in-residence. Headteacher Marlene Robottom was made a Dame last year, though that may not qualify her to appear in pantomime.
The school is looking for a well-qualified teacher able to contribute to key stage 3 English. Drama is taught as a discrete subject within the expressive arts faculty and successful candidates will have the opportunity to teach to A-level.
Mulberry has excellent results, beacon status, achievement awards, high levels of attendance and Hugh Grant as head of department (sorry, I made that last bit up). The school is also about as East End as you can get, with a Commercial Road address and an intake that reflects the area’s rich Bangladeshi community.
Call 020 7790 6327 for details about the job opening.
Phil Revell