English Teacher

Outwood Grange Academy is a good-rated 11–18 academy based in the cathedral city of Wakefield, near Leeds, from where the successful Outwood Grange Family was born: a Trust that has supported schools across phases in the North of England. We have nurtured a school community that is welcoming and friendly, where students and staff can make excellent progress together, with a focus on creating a culture of success, a positive climate for learning, and increased attainment, achievement and social and emotional development.

We are looking for an energetic, enthusiastic and inspiring classroom practitioner with a real passion for English. We offer an exciting opportunity to join a supportive and motivated team. An excellent knowledge and understanding of the subject is essential. You must possess the skills and determination to make a significant difference to the lives of our students and share our single goal of ‘students first’. Applications are invited from both newly qualified and experienced professionals.

This is a permanent, full-time position starting in January 2025. 

The English Department at Outwood Grange is a large, successful team made up of 20 teachers and three one-to-one tutors. The department is friendly and supportive, and staff in the team put the attainment of students at the heart of their discussions and all they do. There is a combination of some very experienced teachers and a number of ECTs, and those who are new to the profession are nurtured by a mentor from within the team. Whilst there are a range of career opportunities within the school and the trust, the English Department at Outwood Grange Academy is also a fantastic place to start your career, and we are excited about helping staff to flourish in the classroom. 

We have a large allocation of classrooms, with full-time staff teaching entirely or almost entirely in one room. Classrooms have video projectors, large television screens and visualisers, which are housed on bespoke lecterns to enable staff to run the room effectively when presenting from the front. The library is also part of the English Department, not only in a physical sense but also because we believe that reading is at the centre of what we do.

Because of our belief in the vital importance of reading, the department has developed a KS3 curriculum where learning branches from a range of engaging and culturally interesting texts. Students will study three plays by William Shakespeare over Years 7 to 9, including a history, tragedy and comedy, in order to present them with an ambitious curriculum that prepares them for both GCSE and A Level study. Contemporary texts and their reception are reviewed yearly in order to evaluate them for relevance and rigour. Children have a weekly ‘Immersive Read’ lesson, and the team has shared the responsibility – and pleasure – of choosing the texts for this; they range from versions of Dracula to the more recent The House with Chicken Legs.

There is a strong whole-school literacy strategy which aims to ensure that all students can gain the educational and personal benefits of reading. This includes reading in form time, Accelerated Reader and a variety of reading interventions for readers who are not yet proficient. The specialist literacy teaching assistants use the Ruth Miskin phonics programme to support emergent readers. 

As in all OGAT secondary academies, the department prepares students for Eduqas GCSE English Language and English Literature qualifications. The programme of study is fully resourced with high-quality materials produced by staff across the trust who know this specification well. We aim to make all our teachers ‘experts’ in preparing students for GCSE examinations using our thorough and systematic methods devised over many years. We have the benefit of support from the trust’s team of expert English directors, who provide support, materials, advice, and coaching and who model and team-teach in lessons alongside us to develop our expertise. As an indication of our success, each year, our students gain, on average, a progress score of around +0.5.

We believe our success speaks for itself, as we are well above the national average for the number of students achieving a Grade 5 or above in English and Maths GCSEs. We are also proud to have been awarded Gold Status by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health Award. We work hard to ensure we reduce workload on staff, allowing more time in the classroom to put our vision of students first, raising standards and transforming lives into practice.

If you share our vision, then why not join our family?

To view the job description, click here.

To view the person specification, click here.

If you have any questions regarding this role, please contact Sarah Harley (Head of English), on S.Harley@grange.outwood.com.

For more information and to apply online, please click the apply button.

Closing date: Midday on 18 October 2024.

Interview date: 24 October 2024.

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Outwood Grange Academies Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All appointments are made in accordance with safer recruitment practices and the statutory guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education. Online checks will be carried out on all shortlisted candidates, and all appointments are subject to an enhanced DBS check, satisfactory references and checks regarding suitability to work with children.