Teacher of Geography
Ardingly College Senior
West Sussex
- Expired
- Salary:
- Competitive
- Job type:
- Full Time, Maternity Cover
- Apply by:
- 8 July 2024
Job overview
This is an outstanding opportunity for a highly motivated graduate to join our highly successful and thriving Geography department for the academic year 2024/25 – start date to be agreed at interview but ideally from October half term. This post would suit an enthusiastic, well-qualified and talented teacher, either experienced or newly qualified. Excellent subject knowledge, innovation, strong practical skills and organisation will be highly valued.
We are fortunate to be accommodated in the heart of the main school site, with four dedicated Geography classrooms, all equipped with Apple TV and Smart Boards. The department is well-resourced, with a wide range of audio-visual resources and a supply of journals, including Geography Review and Geographical. Furthermore, we are members of the Royal Geographical Society and the Geographical Association.
At GCSE, we teach Edexcel IGCSE, with 48% of students in 2023 obtaining a grade 9 and 100% achieving a grade 5 and above. At A-level, 60% of grades awarded were A*–A, following the CIE A level specification. The IB results were similarly strong, with 100% of students achieving a grade 6 or 7. The department is particularly proud of its record in adding value to students, which is among the strongest in both the College and the country as a whole. Geography is a popular university route for Ardingly College leavers, with students in recent years going on to study at Cambridge, Durham, UCL, Bristol, and Exeter.
Geography is an extremely popular option subject, with approximately 80% of pupils studying the subject at GCSE and about a third of all sixth form students opting for either A-level or IB Geography. The enthusiasm for the subject is fostered by the abundance of societies and trips that supplement the pupils’ classroom experience. Year 9 pupils visit Sicily on a biennial basis, and Year 11 pupils take part in an annual expedition to Iceland. Local field trips are also offered to every year group to ensure an enriched geography experience at the College
Ardingly College looks after the welfare and professional development of all staff and enables them to live and work with a strong sense of purpose and satisfaction. The College provides a collegiate, supportive and stimulating environment in which to work. A generous remission for teaching staff children is available at the College. Currently, Nursery fees are discounted at 50% (pro rata), and from Reception to Sixth Form, remission increases to 65% (pro rata), assuming a place is available and entry requirements are met.
Remuneration is pensionable. From January 2021, the College offered all teachers the Aviva Pension Trust for Independent Schools (APTIS), which provides the teacher with flexibility between salary and pension contributions and includes Death in Service cover of 3 times salary. Further details regarding our generous employer contribution rate towards the private teachers’ pension scheme are available upon request. We also offer discounted private health care and access to a Health Cash Plan Scheme giving financial support towards the costs of optical, dental, and medical costs.
During term-time, all staff are provided with hot or cold lunch from the staff dining room, or a grab-and-go option. Staff also have access to a range of additional benefits such as gym membership, staff swimming, other sports and wellbeing activities and various social events.
The total remuneration offered represents a salary, pension & benefits package that reflects the substantial contribution made by teaching staff towards the success of the College.
Please visit Working here - Ardingly to find out everything the College has to offer and all the benefits available to our staff.
To view the full job description and apply online, please visit www.ardingly.com/vacancies.
Closing date: 5.00pm on 8th July 2024, although applications may be considered upon receipt.
Ardingly College is an independent co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 2–18, a member of the HMC and a school of the Woodard Corporation.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All employees are required to undertake child protection screening appropriate to the post, including enhanced DBS checks.
About Ardingly College Senior
Ardingly College is a successful and modern co-educational school in a beautiful and traditional school setting in West Sussex.
The Prep School has over 200 pupils from Reception to Year 6, as well as a Nursery. Reception and KS1 are based in the Farmhouse and Years 3–6 in the main school building, School House. The Prep School lives and breathes the values of Shaping My World, through which primary-aged children learn to explore the world around them in ways that are adventurous, curious, generous, and ingenious.
The Senior School has over 800 students from 11 to 18, 300 of whom are boarders. The school puts the values of Collaboration, Compassion, Engagement and Resilience at the heart of its education and strives to help its students to become ready for the next stage of their lives beyond school in a programme known as World Ready. Students are drawn from the South-East and London as well as abroad, and a modest but growing endowment supports a bursary programme for talented students with limited financial means. In recent years, the College has educated half a dozen Ukrainian and Afghan refugee children free of charge.
The wellbeing and welfare of our students is paramount, with a strong emphasis on pastoral support provided through house staff, the Health & Wellbeing Centre, the Chaplain, the DSL and the Mental Health Lead. In the most recent ISI inspection of educational quality in 2018, the College was judged excellent for both student achievement and personal development, and in 2021, the College passed all elements of the Regulatory Compliance Inspection.
The curriculum is designed to be broad and stimulating, with over 25 subjects offered and a choice of A Level, IB Diploma or BTEC courses in the Sixth Form. Academic results are high and have been on an upward trajectory since 2015. Results in 2023 surpassed those achieved by the pre-pandemic 2019 cohort, with 90% of Sixth Form candidates achieving grades between A* and B at A Level, or 7–5 in the IB Diploma. At GCSE, two-thirds achieved between grades 9 and 7, with 48% scoring all 9s and 8s. All except a small handful of leavers progress to one of their top choices of university, with between five and eight each year to Oxbridge.
The College offers an outstanding range of co-curricular activities based on inclusive participation as well as excellence. In sports, students compete successfully at local, regional, and national levels in the main sports of football, hockey, swimming, netball, cricket, and athletics. Music, Art, Drama and Dance are equally thriving, with exciting programme of concerts, performances and exhibitions. In this, as in all ways, the school aims to live up to one of its mantras that nobody can excel in everything, but everyone can excel in something.
Local and global partnerships are integral to the College’s mission. Every week, hundreds of Ardingly pupils participate in an active voluntary service programme with the local community and primary schools, and the College sustains a STEM partnership with Ifield Community College, which was awarded the TES STEM project of the year in 2020. Internationally, the College opened its first overseas school in China in 2020 and is currently planning towards further schools in Kazakhstan and other geographies.
Campus facilities are excellent, with considerable recent investment in the College campus bringing it up to the highest school standards. Recent additions include a new STEM faculty and upgrades to classrooms, as well as major refurbishments of boarding and day houses. A new café and dance studio were opened in 2021 and new Lower School and a third day boys’ house in 2022.
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