The Teaching Coach is a platform to help teachers, leaders and support staff by providing a range of quality pastoral, teaching and career resources.
You will find a host of resources here from form times and assemblies through to interview prep, application letters, professional development and guidance. Not to mention, lessons, schemes of work and learning resources.
If you can't see what you need, you can email me at: theteachingcoach@hotmail.com.
The Teaching Coach is a platform to help teachers, leaders and support staff by providing a range of quality pastoral, teaching and career resources.
You will find a host of resources here from form times and assemblies through to interview prep, application letters, professional development and guidance. Not to mention, lessons, schemes of work and learning resources.
If you can't see what you need, you can email me at: theteachingcoach@hotmail.com.
This PDF includes 5 key questions asked on pastoral interview and their answers in detail.
These are intended to support existing or new heads of year as well as being potential questions you may get asked on interview.
In this set I answer:
how do you deal with angry parent?
how do you support a student struggling to fit in?
how do you lead a team?
how do you deal with poor student behaviour?
do you monitor student progress?
These answers are suggestions – they are not necessarily definitive.
If preparing for interview, I always recommend you tailor your questions to the school you’re applying to and ensure you are giving specific examples of what you’re able to offer.
If in post, always remember the policies of your school.
You can also find Set 2 of this resource here: www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12527827
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Updated
This resource is a Head of Year application covering letter. It has been created using knowledge of the role and experience of previous pastoral applications.
This includes sections on:
attendance
behaviour
progress
using experience of being a form tutor and teacher
parent-carer partnerships
high expectations and behaviour management
student development/extra curricular/pastoral development
working with a team of tutors
reading data
working with external agencies
celebrating student achievement
This template is over 4 pages long and packed full of ideas to use!
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This resource is my first set of practice data task for Heads of Year/Pastoral Leaders preparing for interview. The resource provides a fictionalised set of data from a fictionalised year group, space to analyse the data yourself and to come up with your three priorities. In addition, I provide the three priorities I would identify in timed conditions as well as the ‘answers’ I would provide in an interview circumstance.
This is the great way to practice your data analysis skills for interview from a pastoral perspective. This resource goes well with my other resources on raising attainment and analysing data as a pastoral leader.
You can find a 2nd example of this in tray here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-12732369. This is another set of data to provide a 2nd chance to practice prior to interview.
How to analyse data as Head of Year: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-analyse-data-pastoral-leader-interview-cpd-data-analysis-and-progress-achievement-12436735
How to raise attainment as Head of Year: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-raise-attainment-secure-progress-head-of-year-house-pastoral-role-interview-cpd-12425572
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In this 4 page resource I detail guidance for completing a prioritisation task in a pastoral interview. This includes answering the questions:
What is a prioritisation task?
Why do interviews use it?
What questions might you be asked on prioritisation?
What kind of answers could you give to prioritisation questions?
This also provides an example of a prioritisation task and a worked answer of the order I would organise the tasks in as well as my justifications.
Great for preparing you for one of the in tray tasks at interview!
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In this resource, you will find a set of approx. 15 questions which you might be asked on a Head of Year interview and, for each question, a set of bullet points which detail ideas for responses.
These are perfect for getting yourself ready for Head of Year/pastoral interviews!
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In these three PDFs, I answer 15 big pastoral questions.
These are intended to support existing or new heads of year as well as being potential questions you may get asked on interview.
This set includes questions like:
how do you create year group cohesion?
why are assemblies important?
what is included in a successful form time?
why is monitoring attendance important?
how do you improve the resilience of your year group?
what should you do with your failing FT?
why are form tutors important?
how do you deal with an angry parent?
how do you lead a team?
The answers to these questions are suggestions only – they are not necessarily definitive.
If preparing for interview, I always recommend you tailor your questions to the school you’re applying to and ensure you are giving specific examples of what you’re able to offer.
If in post, always remember the policies of your school.
In this resource, we explore 10 questions you might be asked on a SENCo interview and 10 detailed possible answers. This resource is 7 pages long.
This is a complimentary resource to the set 1 and set 2 SENCo questions listed in my shop. It can be used in conjunction or on its own to help you prepare for interview.
We answer the questions:
Why are you interested in the role of SENCo?
What skills could you bring to our SENCO role?
Give us a summary of your understanding of the Code of Practice:
How would you use data to inform this role?
How would you demonstrate value for money in this role?
Tell us about your ability to work under pressure.
A parent arrives in reception angry about the support their child with SEN has received. What do you do?
How would you time manage as a SENCo?
A student with ADHD is struggling in their English lessons – they are not making expected progress and the teacher is challenged by their behaviour - how would you support the teacher to help the student?
Why have you chosen this school to apply to as SENCo?
Please note: whilst the questions are detailed and thorough, they are NOT a definitive list, and the answers are not exhaustive. You may want to select parts of the answers which apply best to your knowledge. You should also add to your answers using experiences of your own and include your learning from these experiences that you would take into the new role. You should never use generic answers in an interview setting. Always link your answers with what you know about the school and their priorities.
UPDATED!
This assembly was designed after a series of fighting and physically violent incidents in my year group at the time.
The message is very clear about the potential fatal consequences of fighting and one punch kills. At the time, I could not find an assembly which fitted these purposes.
It includes:
statements students might hear in relation to violence; as aggressors and bystanders
information about why one punch kills are so dangerous
a list of potential injuries from punches
explanation of potential life long changes
3 news stories about fatal punches and a visual representation of the connection between people involved
The final slides also include an interview with one of the offenders about the impact of his decision on the rest of his life. Very powerful, very moving.
There is also a link to a police video on the dangers of one punch kills.
Please check it is appropriate your year group before using - sensitive content.
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This is an assembly focused on anti-bullying. It covers a variety of topics including:
a link to a starter video from Pixar which begins to explore the treatment of those different to ourselves
defines bullying
exploration of words closely linked to the definition and those which are most powerful linked to bullying
exploration of the different types of bullying and what they look like
exploration how bullying makes people feel and the impact on others
an activity used in the assembly to encourage students to recognise how bullying may feel
provides the case study of Felix Alexander - who took his own life after being bullied, including a video interview with his mum Lucy - a very powerful video.
facts about bullying
how we can stop bullying
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A complete 40 page booklet which includes a focus on ALL basic literacy skills.
This is perfect for form time activities, for intervention sessions as well as for catch up and booster sessions. It could be used for homework as well as summer work.
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REFRESHED FOR 2024
In this resource, you will find resources to help you prepare for a Head of Year or Pastoral Leader interview.
You can also find two smaller bundles here:
Pastoral Leader Interview Bundle 1: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/head-of-year-head-of-house-pastoral-role-interview-bundle-12348298
Pastoral Leader Interview Bundle 2: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/head-of-year-head-of-house-pastoral-role-interview-bundle-12425576
This ultimate bundle of resources contains everything to help you prepare for almost every area of an interview!
This includes:
3 x sets of pastoral interview questions - 45+ questions questions in total (no answers - just questions!)
set 1, set 2 and set 3 of my 5 big pastoral questions - these each include how to answer 5 common questions or scenarios posed in an interview (15 questions and answers total)
set one of my pastoral question and answers series - this details 15 questions with potential responses in bullet point form
NOTE: you may find duplication of questions in the resources above - however, they are all designed to give you breadth and depth of understanding in relation to the questions you may face on interview and the answers you could provide!
2 x data analysis prep tasks to help you hone your data skills - great for practicing data analysis as a pastoral leader
a form time quality assurance form - to help you be able to discuss what you’d look out for in a great form time and how you would quality assure your tutors
example year group planning and improvement planning documents for you to read and be able to reference ideas from
two booklets to read before your interview ‘40 Ideas for…’
a) improving attendance and behaviour
b) working across school and leading a team
guidance on the prioritisation in tray task
a 7 page PDF guide on getting ready for a pastoral leader interview including tips on what to expect, what skills you’ll need to show and what you can practice before the day!
a PDF on student panel guidance and how to ace a student panel - a task which has been included on every HOY interview I’ve attended
an example attendance improvement plan to give you plenty to talk about when you’re asked about how you would improve attendance
guidance on writing a response to a letter of concern from a parent - a common in tray task
a detailed guide to analysing data as a pastoral leader - full of top tips and hints for how to offer your best analysis from a pastoral perspective
my detailed guidance for new heads of year - this will give you a great feel for the role and how you will manage it!
A genuinely awesome bundle of resources to help prepare you for an interview. To aid these, there is also some free resources in my shop which you may want to consider adding to your prep.
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This resource is an example improvement planning document for Heads of Year and Pastoral Leaders. It is designed to identify specific strategies for improvement and suggested methods of improving tracking.
This document is designed for a focus on three key areas:
behaviour
attendance
attainment + homework
This would compliment well with my other improvement planning document on my shop The Teaching Coach.
If you like the resource please consider leaving a review or liking my page: www.facebook.com/teachcoach
This assembly is ready to be used and consists of sections on:
why we should give to charity
the history of charities
how we can support charities
celebrity links with charities
It also includes 3 powerful videos which are designed to get students to reflect on their own views of charity and how they can move forward to support charities more or how they can be more giving themselves.
The assembly also contains a choice of slides for the opening - you can chose from a slide set up for ‘International Charity Day’ or you can chose a slide set up with ‘The Importance of Charity’. This means the assembly can be used for either occasion.
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Please leave a review if this is useful.
In this resource, you will find a detailed guide for answering a parental concern letter when presented as an in-tray task at a pastoral leader interview. This is a common task on pastoral interviews and is usually under timed conditions!
This includes an example letter and a detailed breakdown of how to answer this type of letter. This also includes lots of top tips for completing this task and how to structure your letter.
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In this resource you will find 6 resources to help you prepare for in tray tasks at a Head of Year interview.
an overview of in trays you can expect on a Head of Year/pastoral role interview - this covers 10 tasks you might be asked to tackle
a detailed guide on how to analyse data as a Head of Year
2 x example data analysis tasks
a detailed guide on how to respond to a parental complaint letter
a detailed guide on how to complete a prioritisation task
guidance on a gold fish bowl task
This resource contains a 16 slide presentation for form tutors to use to introduce themselves and their expectations to their form during transition.
This includes:
a welcome slide
a ‘meet your form’ starter where students find out information about someone else
‘who am I?’ form tutor introduction slide
‘what does a form tutor do?’ discussion and slide
‘form rules and expectations’ slides
a ‘find someone who’ bingo get to know your form activity
an all about me worksheet task
a target task for students to set themselves 5 targets
a 5 minute embedded video from BBC about having a positive mindset
3 blank slides for information from your school
a form tutor checklist
a final task for students to share adjectives about themselves
This resource also includes a PDF of over 15 different ice breaker activities which form tutors can use to encourage their form to get to know each other.
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This resource is intended to take your through a prioritisation task which you may find on a SENCo interview.
This resource includes information about what this kind of task looks like, why interviewers include this kind of task, the skills they are looking for you to demonstrate, common pitfalls and how to avoid them.
It also includes top tips on answering prioritisation questions on interview and an example prioritisation task for you to practice prior to interview day
On the PDF, there is a blank chart for you to practice 12 provided priorities and 5 of these have been put into a worked example also.
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This resource is an example form time rota which includes the daily tasks tutors should be completing and a reminder of expectations for tutors in each form time.
It should be used flexible and assembly can switched to a different day depending on your school.
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This PDF contains a set of 18 positive thinking cards. Each card contains a quote or message which relates goal setting.
These have been designed to be used to support students in thinking about setting goals. They can be printed or given to students as a set or used as part of a session. These could also be used during tutor time or PSHE lessons if appropriate.
There are lots of potential uses. :)
These are not a replacement for counselling or other mental health services and are not intended to be reductionist.
Instructions for use are included also.
You can find set 1 on positive thinking here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/little-inspiration-cards-set-1-positive-thinking-happiness-12347514
You can also find set 2 on overcoming challenges here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/little-inspiration-cards-set-2-overcoming-challenges-growth-mindset-12347774
Finally you can find a bundle of inspirational resources, including assemblies and form time resources here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/little-inspiration-card-assembly-form-bundle-positive-thinking-goal-setting-and-overcoming-challenges-12348103
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In this resource you will find 10 positive postcard templates, this includes the back and front of the postcard.
Each postcard includes a different design using phrases like:
congratulations
well done
you are amazing
you are capable of more than you know
today is full of possible
great work
you’re brilliant
These are designed to be used to promote and reward excellent student behaviour and to share this with home.
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