Head of Religious Education
St James' Catholic High School
Barnet
- New
- Salary:
- Competitive
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Start date:
- September 2025
- Apply by:
- 11 February 2025
Job overview
We seek to appoint for September 2025, a practising Catholic who is a dynamic and an inspirational Head of Religious Education (RE) to lead an ‘outstanding’ RE Department (Section 48 inspection January 2020).
As a Catholic school, RE is a Core department; all pupils study RE at KS3, KS4 (GCSE AQA Spec B), KS5 (all pupils study Core RE) and we offer Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies. We welcome applications from candidates currently in similar roles or aspiring Middle and Senior Leaders. The successful candidate will benefit from the support and line management of the Headteacher.
Our candidate will be:
- Be a practicing Catholic (The Head of the RE Department is a reserved role in a Catholic school).
- An outstanding classroom practitioner with a proven track record of excellent results and a compelling vision for improvement.
- Be committed to working in pursuit of success for pupils and of raising standards.
- A team player, able to lead and inspire colleagues and pupils alike.
- Ability to teach to A-level.
- Be sympathetic to the aims, ethos and values of the school.
- Be able to build on a highly effective curriculum.
What we offer you:
- Excellent CPD opportunities to grow and develop, including Middle Leader training and aspiring SLT programme.
- An Ofsted rated ‘good’ school.
- A section 48 rated 'outstanding' school.
- Well-resourced RE teaching base.
- Childcare vouchers.
- A number of wellbeing provisions, including a paid wellbeing day.
A strong community spirit; staff who are very supportive towards each other with a great camaraderie existing throughout the school.
Strong links with other RE departments across the Diocese working in a supportive partnership.
Our leadership team is committed to the professional and personal development of our teachers, and we actively look for ways to make sure that work-life balance is a reality.
The successful applicant will be joining a highly organised, committed, energetic and well-equipped department in a school that has the development of all our members, staff and pupils alike, at the heart of our mission.
If you are an enthusiastic, creative, well-organised professional who wants to develop your craft in a school where human flourishing is at the heart of what we do, we would love to hear from you.
Visits to the school are encouraged - please contact the Headteacher’s PA, Ms Rock at brock@st-james.barnet.sch.uk to arrange.
Please submit your application form to: brock@st-james.barnet.co.uk
Application deadline: Friday, 11 February 2025.
We may interview candidates ahead of the closing date so early application is advised. The school reserves the right to interview and appoint prior to the advertised closing date. This advert may be closed at any time.
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. The successful applicant will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check.
Attached documents
About St James' Catholic High School
St James' Catholic High School was founded in 1934 by the Dominican Sisters at the behest of the Cardinal Bourne to provide Catholic secondary education for the children of the parishes of north west London.
From 1949 until 1996, St James' existed on two, sometimes three sites. The goal of the school community for decades had been to unite on one site. With generous backing of the Funding Agency for schools, the Archdiocese and the Dominican Sisters, consolidation on our Colindale site was achieved in September 1996.
We have a great deal to be proud of here at St James’, but we are far from complacent. We continue to strive for excellence for all students. Staff work very successfully with parents, governors and our wider community, supporting our young people as they undertake their faith and their educational journeys. Our mission statement is our cornerstone and we do all that we can to ensure our students are enabled to “live their lives to the full”.
When Ofsted visited us in March 2017, they acknowledged the fact that "pupils made progress that was significantly higher than the national progress score and in the top 10% of schools nationally." They attributed this excellent progress to our nurturing and supportive learning community and the strong relationships between staff and pupils, as well as our whole-school focus on high-quality teaching, learning and assessement across the curriculum.
On behaviour, the inspectors said that: "During teaching sessions, pupils demonstrate excellent attitudes to learning. They are consistently engaged and enthusiastic (...) listen carefully to their teachers and to the views of others.They are keen to do well in their studies,work very hard and take pride in their work. Consequently, they make excellent progress throughout their time at school".
Excellent outcomes have been secured for students again this summer. 53% of Year 13 students achieved A*-B and have been able to accept their university offers in another very competitive year. 92% of our Year 11 students achieved at least five A* to C grades at GCSE and 85% of students included both English and Maths in at least five A* to C grades at GCSE. We are delighted with these results. These marvellous achievements are down to students, parents and staff at St James’, knowing the roles they had to play and working with enthusiasm and dedication to ensure our students achieved as well as they possibly could.
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