Teacher of Mathematics

Thank you for expressing an interest in the post of Teacher of Mathematics at Bullers Wood School. This post is available from September 2018 and offers an exciting opportunity to join an enthusiastic staff and very supportive department whose members are committed to making a real difference.  

The school was last fully inspected by Ofsted in May 2011 and we were awarded Outstanding. The report is available on our website. We are very proud of our achievements and for the last 4 years we have been congratulated by the Minister of State for Schools on our achievements at GCSE level placing us in the top 100 non-selective state-funded schools in England. In addition, we were in the top 100 for pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate. We have also regularly been in the top 10% nationally (out of over 2,500 schools and colleges) for our A level performance assessed by ALPS.  We are looking for an enthusiastic individual to help us to ensure that in every way Bullers Wood remains an outstanding school at our next Ofsted inspection, and that every one of our students achieves and exceeds both their targets and expectations. 

The successful candidate will join Bullers Wood at an exciting time as we work towards the opening of a secondary free school, Bullers Wood School for Boys in September 2018. This means that in the future there will be opportunities for enhanced professional and career development within the Bullers Wood Multi Academy Trust across both the Girls and the Boys schools.

The Mathematics department consists of 12 members of staff. The leadership structure includes a Head of Mathematics, a Deputy Head of Mathematics, and 4 additional responsibility posts: KS3 Mathematics; KS4 Mathematics; Gifted and Talented and KS5 Core maths and resits.  Mathematics is a popular subject with a high number of students opting to take the subject at KS5.

The Mathematics department has collectively worked very hard alongside students and parents to obtain outstanding results.  All mathematics staff teach across the age and ability range in Key Stage 3 and 4 and are given the opportunity to teach at KS5 where possible.

The department meets regularly and all members are encouraged to contribute to the decision making process and to take responsibility for certain developments and tasks. There is an on-going record of success in working with and training student teachers. The department runs lunch clubs for year 7 and year 8, and assists in the running of STEM club. Ad hoc additional support sessions are provided for the pupils as required.

Most teachers have their own room with a suite of eight mathematics teaching rooms. The department makes active use of our VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). The department has had considerable success in developing intervention strategies to raise achievement. The school has excellent ICT facilities and all mathematics teaching rooms have interactive whiteboards. 

The Department operates a setting policy throughout years 7 to 11 made possible by a blocked timetable.  Individual students’ progress is monitored at regular intervals and movement between sets takes place as the need arises. 

At Key Stage 3, considerable emphasis is placed on developing numerical and problem solving skills.  New schemes of work have been developed to ensure pupils are challenged right from year 7 and to help them develop a love of the subject in preparation for the new GCSE.

At Key Stage 4 students follow the EDEXCEL GCSE syllabus and are supported by specially written examination texts plus a variety of other resources.  In addition the top two sets are entered for the Further Maths GCSE.

Key Stage 5 Bullers Wood has chosen the Edexcel syllabus for the new A level qualification and all year 12 pupils are studying for the full two year A level course of study. 

Over the last few years more students have chosen to study A level and our current year 13 cohort is approximately 80 students. There are also 15 students studying Further Maths at A level. 

There is a strong tradition of students going on to study mathematics at university.  Additional Information Able students are entered for the U.K. Mathematical Challenges throughout the school with a considerable number of certificates being achieved.