Head of English

Welcome to St Dunstan’s

St Dunstan’s College is a large coeducational day school for approximately 1200 children aged 3 – 18, based in the vibrancy and diversity of Lewisham, south-east London. Remaining true to our founding principle that the school should be ‘ahead of the current time’, St Dunstan’s today is known to offer an ambitious and forward-thinking education that trailblazes in the Sector and thinks differently about how young people are educated for an uncertain future.

St Dunstan’s is a thriving educational community. We were awarded Coeducational School of the Year in 2020, Senior School of the Year 2022 and Most Progressive School in London in 2023. In the summer of 2023, St Dunstan’s was one of the 60 best performing independent schools in the UK for our A Level results and was in the top 100 schools in the UK as listed in the Times Parent Power league table. Responding to significant growth in market share, in recent years St Dunstan’s has undertaken radical development of its estate to expand its pupil roll, firstly through the acquisition of the Jubilee Ground, a 15 acre site for community and sporting activity, just minutes from the school, and then through a 30 million pound building programme, including the development of a new STEM Centre, Junior School, Sixth Form Centre and Performing Arts Hub. An ambitious and creative masterplan for the development of our site has now been finalised and will underpin the rolling programme of works planned for the next 10 years, including our ambitions to be a carbon-zero school. St Dunstan’s is actively expanding into a larger educational group, having initially merged with Rosemead Prep School, in Dulwich in 2023, with this presenting many new opportunities for staff and pupils.

Many of the decisions that St Dunstan’s has taken in recent years have been trailblazing for the Sector. We were one of the first schools in the country to introduce a Centre of Wellbeing, to cater for pupil mental and physical health. We introduced a gender-neutral sporting programme, recently culminating in signing a partnership with Chelsea football club. Our Additional curriculum, of our own design, deliberately seeks to educate young people in the life skills they will require for the future – our work undertaken on toxic masculinity, pornography and race have all been widely covered by the national and educational press. Underpinning our entire educational narrative is a commitment to a renaissance education – a broad, balanced and liberal education that helps young people develop the toolkit they will require to thrive in the future.

The diversity of our south-east London is perhaps our biggest asset, allowing us to cultivate an environment that nurtures individuality. As one of the most socio-economically and culturally diverse independent schools in the UK, ours is a school that actively shuns entitlement and arrogance and rather develops well-rounded, grounded young men and women who have the soft skills to thrive in tomorrow’s world.

We attempt to define the St Dunstan’s Difference as follows:

• Trailblazing a forward-thinking independent education since 1888
• Promoting high achievement without arrogance
• Championing individuality, diversity and equality – albam exorna!
• Developing values through a broad and liberal education
• Supporting wellbeing as central to success
• Growing ambitious and imaginative partnerships
• Providing life-enriching opportunities to our local community
• Infusing social conscience and ethical thinking

Working for St Dunstan’s

We seek to be the employer of choice in the Sector, with staff wanting to work at St Dunstan’s as a consequence of its clarity of purpose and vision, our unique identity and reputation, and a sincere commitment to staff development, creativity and voice, wellbeing, diversity and equality, and a culture of trust and transparency. Some of the benefits of working for us include:

• Tuition fee remission and no registration fees
• Private Health Care Insurance (50% paid by employer) with reduced health club membership
• Health care cash plan
• Free lunch and beverages, during term time
• Free off-road parking
• Salary Sacrifice Schemes
• Season Ticket Loan
• Free winter and summer social events
• Annual flu immunisation
• Use of College leisure facilities including gym, tennis courts and pool

conditions apply

Our Commitment to Safeguarding Children

The College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Applicants will be required to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers, checks relating to prohibitions, sanctions and restrictions on teaching and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) with children’s barred list check. The School will carry out online searches on shortlisted applicants and all applicants will be required to provide details of their online profile, including social media accounts, as part of their application.

The safeguarding responsibilities of the post include promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young persons for whom they are responsible for or with whom they come into contact with. All staff are required to adhere to and ensure compliance with the School’s safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures at all times and to complete appropriate training.

In the course of carrying out their duties the post-holder becomes aware of any actual or potential risks to the safety or welfare of children in the School, they must report any concerns to the School’s Safeguarding Lead, or in relation to concerns regarding a member of staff, the Head.

The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The School is therefore permitted to ask job applicants to declare all convictions and cautions on a self-declaration form in advance of attending an interview (including those which are “spent” unless they are “protected” under the DBS filtering rules) in order to assess their suitability to work with children.

Further information and copies of the School’s Code of Practice and Policy on the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders is available from the HR team.

St Dunstan’s Trustee Limited (registered number 14407568) on behalf of St Dunstan’s Educational Foundation (registered number 312747.