Head of English

Head of English

Pay Scale: MPS/UPR +TLR 2.3

Contract: Full time

Contract Term: Permanent

Start Date: January 2025

Are you a committed, inspiring and enthusiastic teacher who is seeking a new middle leadership role in a school where ‘Aspiration for all’ is always at the forefront of students’ learning? A fantastic opportunity has arisen at Boroughbridge High School for a Head of English to join our innovative, supportive and friendly team.

What makes Boroughbridge High School a great place to work and learn?

Thank you for considering Boroughbridge High School for the next stage of your career where our belief in ‘Aspiration for All’ means that our students are at the heart of our decision making. With around 450 students, we serve the community of Boroughbridge and the wider rural area, attracting students from more than 35 partner primaries which gives our school a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere. We feel like a family and, as such, we know our students well making Boroughbridge High School a good place to work and learn. We all understand our responsibility to ensure that everyone within our school community is safe, happy and successful.

Success, in its widest sense, underpins our mission which is to ensure that all students leave our school, not only with the qualifications that they need to access the next stage of their education or career of choice, but with the skills and confidence to make an active contribution to the communities to which they belong. We understand that this can only happen in an environment where there are high expectations with staff who have the skills and confidence to create high quality, engaging learning experiences which secure good student progress. We also understand the benefit of partnership working and are federated with King James’s School in Knaresborough.

Just as we know our students well, as a member of staff you will be part of a staff team of 63 with 28 teaching staff, 14 of whom are part-time. You will be known and will have the capacity to make a significant difference to our school community.

What is our curriculum?

High quality teaching within an ambitious, engaging and inspiring curriculum ensures that students are motivated to learn. Ofsted recognised the quality of our curriculum in May 2023 judging it to be ‘Good’, saying ‘Curriculums are well thought out and sequenced.’

At Key Stage 3

We have a three-year Key Stage 3 curriculum enabling students to study the full range of National Curriculum subjects in depth along with an extensive PSHCE (Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship and Economic) programme. Students begin to personalise their curriculum at the end of Year 8 before making their GCSE option choices at the end of Year 9.

At Key Stage 4

At GCSE, students are taught Core GCSEs across the two years. For Option Subjects, students follow a Stage not Age curriculum which means that they study two of their four option subjects in Year 10, taking the exam at the end of Year 10. This enables students to secure two GCSE/BTEC qualifications whilst developing deep knowledge of exam technique in Year 10 which they can then apply to their subjects during Year 11. All students have access to an EBacc curriculum. This is complemented by the PSHCE curriculum.

The English Department

As Head of Department, you will work within the Middle Leader team and will have the opportunity to build upon this successful department and make a significant contribution to whole school priorities. You will lead an experienced team of three further teachers.

English is taught in well-equipped classrooms. In Years 7, 8, 9 and 10, students are taught English for 8 lessons per fortnightly cycle with 9 in year 11. Students are taught in mixed ability classes throughout.

You can find out more about our English curriculum by viewing our Curriculum Progression maps at https://www.boroughbridgehigh.com/curriculum/subjects/

Why is this an exciting time to join Boroughbridge High School?

This is an exciting time to join Boroughbridge High School. Following our Ofsted Inspection in May 2023, we have introduced ‘Learning Phases’ so that our expectations for each phase of learning, Whole class work, Group and Pair work and Individual work, are clear. We have also been working with the DfE Behaviour Hub programme since January which has supported us in embedding our phases of learning and deepening our Behaviour for Learning system. This has enabled us to have significant impact on the standard of behaviour across the school and, as a school community, we are proud of our progress to date. This good progress has been validated during visits from our Local Authority adviser. However, don’t just take our word for it. if you would like to see for yourself, then please contact us at schooladmin@boroughbridgehigh.com and we would be delighted to show you our school on a working day.

In return for your hard work and dedication to our school we can offer you a range of benefits. As an employee of Boroughbridge High School you will be entitled to our range of rewards on the NYCC ‘Everybody Benefits’ scheme and, as a school we will also strive to support you through high quality professional development.

 If you would like to discuss the post, please contact the Deputy Headteacher, Rob Grierson, on rgrierson@boroughbridgehigh.com