Director of Academic Support
Bedford School
Bedford
- New
- Salary:
- Competitive salary and benefits, including many opportunities for professional development
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Start date:
- April or September 2025 (or sooner if notice period allows)
- Apply by:
- 29 November 2024
Job overview
Bedford School strives to create an environment in which pupils who are neurodiverse or for whom English is an additional language can flourish, as well as fostering a community that celebrates inclusivity and diversity. The school seeks to appoint an enthusiastic and well-qualified Director of Academic Support. The vacancy arises following the internal promotion of the postholder to the role of Deputy Head (Pastoral). The successful candidate will be the school’s SENCo and lead a large, experienced and well-resourced team of colleagues providing support to pupils with identified SEND and for whom English is an additional language.
We would be keen to hear from candidates with experience in either the state or independent sectors. The successful candidate’s background may include primary or secondary education; whatever their specialism, it is essential the candidate is enthusiastic about the opportunity to work across both Prep and Upper phases of our school.
It may also suit an experienced teacher with qualified teacher status, who has not yet acted as a SENCo, but can point to a track record of excellent classroom teaching and is seeking to broaden their experience. The school is well placed to support our new Director of Academic Support, including by supporting them to undertake the new National Professional Qualification (NPQ) in SEND provision. Existing experience as a SENCo is therefore not essential; what is essential, however, is a personal capacity to provide brilliant teaching and the ability to support colleagues across the school to develop their teaching practice.
We aspire to attract new colleagues to reflect the socially and culturally diverse Bedford community, and welcome applications from all specialists from all backgrounds.
Bedford School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment.
Offers of appointment are subject to satisfactory references and DBS clearance. Short-listed candidates will be invited to the school for interview on the advertised date.
The selection process will involve interviews, tasks and a tour of the school. The Deputy Head Academic Mr Luke Rogers would be happy to talk to prospective applicants and can be contacted through the main school reception on 01234 362200 or by email lrogers@bedfordschool.org.uk
Suitable candidates may be interviewed before the closing date and Bedford School reserves the right to withdraw the position if an early appointment is made. Applicants are therefore encouraged to apply early.
Closing date: Friday 29 November
Interview date: Thursday 5 December
Further details about the role and a link to our recruitment portal, where you can apply using our online application form, can be found on our website:
www.bedfordschool.org.uk/about-us/career-opportunities/
The School 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 and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The School may carry out online searches on shortlisted applicants. 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.
Bedford School is part of The Harpur Trust.
Attached documents
About Bedford School
Awarded five stars in Fortune’s World’s Leading Boarding Schools in 2023 and named ‘Independent Boys School of the Year 2021’, Bedford School is lauded for “its holistic school experience, tailored to the specific needs of the all-boys community, designed to ensure that students’ individual qualities are nurtured without inhibition and lived without awkwardness, so that they be good men.”
Bedford School class sizes are small and we operate vertical tutor groups, giving boys the chance to mentor and lead those younger, learn from those older and simply ‘be’ together without peer pressure. Bedford is a boarding school, first and foremost, with boarders and day boys alike benefitting from the strong boarding ethos. With 250 boys and around 40 staff living full-time on-site, the boarding community gives a heartbeat to the school in a way that nothing else can.
Our curriculum is broad, offering GCSE, IGCSE, A-Level and IB alongside a bespoke curriculum including Theory of Knowledge in Year 10 and an internal research project in Year 12. Every boy finds his individual path, with strong Sixth Form uptake across the sciences, humanities, creative arts and languages – there is no ‘typical’ Bedford student.
Academic results and destinations speak for themselves with 91% of our boys going onto their first or second choice university, including several to Oxbridge each year, and international universities. Many students are successful in gaining places at medical schools.
Facilities are first-class - two simulators (golf and flight), an observatory and planetarium are standout features. Our recently built Music School and Theatre house dynamic creative departments and excellent student performances.
Every boy makes a meaningful local contribution via our Community Partnership Programme, working in mutually beneficial partnerships with individuals from varied backgrounds, and we have run the Ivy House Leadership Award since its inception. We regularly top the schools' leader board in fundraising for Movember.
Sport is a forte: 96% of boys represent the school annually, and our major sports teams regularly make national finals, with many pupils playing at county or national level and at least one leaver almost every year going into professional sport. We work with Northampton Saints, Northants CCC and Woburn Golf Club. But we have a philosophy of ‘sport for all’ and we regularly field E and F teams.
We aim for our boys to be balanced, outward-looking, forward-thinking, kind and sociable young men who are comfortable in their own skins. We invite you to explore our school through the news stories we regularly publish on our website and on social media; these provide an insight into our boys, their stories and successes, and a strong sense of the enviable community that is Bedford School.
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