Catering and Design Technology Teacher

The Art and Design department at Northolt High School is very successful and Key Stage 4 results have been strong for a number of years. We are looking for a Catering / Food Design and Technology teacher to join our successful team. Our Art and Design department currently offer three GCSEs: Art, 3D Art and Design and Photography and a vocational KS4 course in Catering. These options are all consistently well subscribed. Our expansion of student numbers means that if you are successful in your application to this post, you will be the fourth main scale teacher in the department (we have one senior leader who is also a Photography teacher). We are also fortunate to have two Technicians working in the Art and Design team, one of whom is dedicated to Catering. Teachers all teach aspects of Design Technology as well as their own KS4 specialisms to our Key Stage 3 students. This means that whilst the timetable for this post will consist mainly of Catering lessons, there will also be some Key Stage 3 Design and Technology lessons in addition.

At Northolt High School, our vision, mission and values underpin everything that we do. Our aim is to enable our students to develop strength of character, to be articulate and confident and to secure the best academic outcomes possible. Our school vision is "committed to excellence". Our mission statement describes how we work to achieve this core aim - through "seizing opportunity, instilling ambition, realising potential". Join us and you will be welcomed by a hard-working, dedicated staff and subject team who are united in their focus on student achievement and continuous school improvement.

We work in partnership with an organisation called Sycol which supports us in ensuring that we have clear systems in place, which are developed and agreed by staff collectively. Termly innovation projects involve every member of staff, helping us to quickly and effectively share ideas whilst forging strong partnerships across the staff team. These projects ensure that systemic school improvement is embedded in everything we do whilst at the same time providing all staff members with a high quality leadership development programme.

Northolt High School is a Foundation School in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing schools have traditionally worked very collaboratively and it is no coincidence that Ealing’s performance in national league tables is strong. Schools in Ealing have come together to form the Ealing Learning Partnership (ELP) in conjunction with the Council. This partnership provides us with a range of networks so that Northolt High School staff are able to share and develop ideas and practice with Ealing colleagues across a range of schools. 

We are a relatively small school at the moment with 985 students on roll, but this number is gradually increasing as we are supporting Ealing Council by adding three additional classes onto our school roll over the course of this academic year. We also have a new building project on the horizon which we expect to make our school even more popular. We maintain a broad and balanced curriculum offer for all students. We are developing the school so that it has STEAM specialism (the ‘A’ is for Art) whilst at the same time retaining a breadth of curriculum offer for our students. Our curriculum offer includes a broad range of extra-curricular activities as all teachers offer one after school activity a week. 

We will be the right school for you if you are committed to:

• Ensure outstanding progress and attainment in key stage four courses as required;
• Play a full part in termly innovation projects to contribute to the development of school- wide continuous improvement;
• Continue to promote the profile of your department through contributions to the wider life of the school;
• Undertaking safeguarding training as required and fulfilling all safeguarding responsibilities as outlined in the job description.

We can offer you:

• Great support and training as you develop your career;
• The opportunity to innovate and bring in new ideas to contribute towards improving our school;
• A caring and supportive professional environment, with an early finish every Friday to promote a good work / life balance;
• A thoughtful and well-structured school calendar with careful attention paid to balancing teacher workload;
• A commitment to providing high quality opportunities for you to continue your professional learning;
• A flexible approach to your career, with increasing numbers of our teachers working on part time contracts.

Our recruitment process

One of the Ealing Learning Partnership projects we have been engaged with in the last two years is a ‘No Learner Left Behind’ project to improve the outcomes of our Black Caribbean students. Informed by our work on this project, we conduct an annual analysis of the ethnicity profile of our student body. Our long term aim is to ensure that the profile of our staff group matches that of our students. At the moment, we are underrepresented in the following ethnicity groups: Arab, Asian, Black Caribbean, Black African and Traveller of Irish Heritage. We would therefore welcome applications from candidates who would classify themselves as belonging to these groups.

We are introducing a ‘blind’ selection process this year which we also hope will support us in reducing the risk of any unintended bias during our recruitment process. You will see that our application form is in two parts. Part one, which contains details about candidates’ gender, ethnicity and age, is not shared with the staff who select candidates to bring them forward to the interview stage. 

A Job Description & Person Specification plus an application form can be found on our website: www.northolthigh.org.uk

If you would like to find out more about the school prior to your application, please contact Carol Gleeson, the Headteacher’s PA on cgleeson@northolthigh.org.uk.

Please email your application to: recruitment@northolthigh.org.uk

Interviews to be held on receipt of applications.

The school is committed to safeguarding children and safer recruitment processes are always robustly followed. Our child protection and safeguarding policy can be found on our website in this folder. This role will involve contact with children and engagement in regulated activity relevant to children. Successful candidates’ appointment will be subject to safer recruitment checks and satisfactory completion of an enhanced DBS check. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about

The school reserves the right to research shortlisted candidates on social media platforms and the internet, and the recruitment panel may take this information into consideration during the recruitment process'