Lead Practitioner of English

Cottenham Village College is seeking to appoint a full time Lead Practitioner of English to join a successful subject team in April 2025.

There is a possibility to start earlier by arrangement.

We are looking for someone who can support the Head of English in the leadership and development of the department and further develop the role and contribution of English Language and Literature at the College. The successful candidate would join a team of teachers who are experienced, reflective and enthusiastic. The Lead Practitioner will support the team to explore and embed subject-specific pedagogical approaches in the classroom so that all our young people experience a well-taught and ambitious English curriculum. They will also assist with raising standards of student attainment and achievement within the department, monitoring and supporting student progress and supporting staff development to meet those aims. 

The successful candidate will be an experienced and excellent classroom practitioner with a track record of strong outcomes and of supporting other colleagues.

The English department is driven by the conviction that students are entitled to know and read great works of literature. We are proud to offer our students access to powerful knowledge, and at the heart of this lies our five-year curriculum: knowledge that enables access to complex texts and develops cultural literacy. In the English department subject knowledge is celebrated, and teachers strive to develop it further. Alongside this, curricular thought and a research-informed approach are valued, as we continue to develop a curriculum for our students that challenges them to think and to learn, and establishes high expectations for all. We are supported in this through our Trust-wide subject network where curricular ideas and resources are shared on a regular basis, sharing practice and reducing workload.

 We support the enactment of this ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum through a traditional approach to teaching, behaviour and culture. We believe that schools must teach powerful knowledge, ’the best that has been thought and said’ and an ‘entitlement curriculum’ for all. We utilise explicit instruction and have drawn upon Lemov’s ‘Teach Like A Champion’, Rosenshine and other recent developments in cognitive science. We believe in a culture of scholarship that is warm and strict, disciplined and joyful and where there is ‘purpose not power’. As a school we support teachers by ensuring impeccable behaviour, so that teachers can focus on teaching and pupils can focus on learning.

We are values-driven, and our vision is to provide an inclusive, aspirational and academic education for all our students, so that all of them will learn, thrive and lead successful lives. We are unapologetically ambitious for every child, no matter what their background, prior attainment or needs. We want to ensure that all our students have the option to be able to go to university or aspirational alternative. We are not going to reduce expectations because of a child’s background or home life, or because they are new to English or have a special education need. In fact, the opposite is true. It is our job to redouble our efforts to help children overcome these barriers so that they can flourish.

 We value our staff highly and treat workload very seriously. Our systems are high leverage, ensuring you can really focus on your core purpose – teaching, in a sustainable way, unhindered by bureaucracy or poor behaviour.

 What we offer:

·     A wide range of support and progression opportunities

·        A knowledge-rich curriculum built on ‘powerful knowledge’ influenced by the importance of subject-specificity, and by thinking such as Rosenshine and Lemov

·        Collaborative planning with centralised, shared units of work and resources

·        A feedback policy focused on whole class feedback – no onerous marking policies

·        Disruption-free learning

·        Highly visible/supportive senior leaders who will support you

·        Centralised detentions, including homework detentions

·        No formal graded lesson observations – just ongoing ‘no-stakes’ feedback cycles to develop our practice

·        Excellent ongoing CPD, career development and promotion opportunities across the Astrea Cambridgeshire region

·        Opportunity to complete NPQs

·        An unrivalled professional progression model

·        A very pleasant village location in beautiful Cambridgeshire

 What we are looking for:

The successful candidate will be:

·       A highly effective English teacher with detailed knowledge of curriculum and assessment

·       Passionate about their subject

·       Values-driven, committed and self-motivated

·       Flexible, resilient and positive

·       Empathetic, positive and self-aware

·       Aligned to our values and mission. If you are the type of person who fits with our culture, you will love working here

·      Someone who passionately believes that all children can achieve, no matter what their starting point, background or needs. Someone that does not make excuses for what children can achieve

 Interested in applying?

If this is something you are interested in, looking for a new challenge, have a passion for education or maybe all of the above, take a look at the Applicant Brief to find out more about the role and how to apply.

All applicants will be subject to online checks and due to safer recruitment practice for teaching roles, two references will be requested. All applicants will be required to complete a criminal disclosure statement. All roles are subject to enhanced disclosure barring (DBS).

 We actively welcome visits and would be delighted to show you around our academy to appreciate fully our excellent learning environment.

 Astrea Academy Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All posts are subject to satisfactory background checks including references and enhanced DBS checks.

If you are joining us from another school, academy or trust we recognise your continuous service date with confirmation from your current employer. This can positively impact several entitlements, including increased annual holiday payments which represent an increase in salary. This can be discussed in more detail at interview.   

 All queries should be directed via email to recruitment@astreaacademytrust.org