WhitstableJuniorSchool

GENERAL INFORMATION

Whitstable Junior School is a large, junior school located in Whitstable town centre occupying a large and imposing Victorian building. In addition there is a modern addition to the school housing amongst many things a 30 work station ICT suite. All classrooms have wi-fibroadband internet access, interactive whiteboards and teacher laptops along with desk top PC’s. External play areas are all hard surface although we do have a superb all weather pitch for sport activities, a timber trail, play equipment and play leaders and a grassed environmental area/outdoor classroom with a pond. A recent addition to the playground is a Game Zone with games, bean bags, chalk boards and a range of activities that are led by our Well Being Team. We are currently developing our playground further to encourage a wider range of social and sporting activity.

The school ‘catchment’ area is widespread across Whitstable and the surrounding locality, although the majority of children live within Whitstable. Children come from a very wide range of socio-economic back grounds and many are from families recently moved into the area. Children’s attitudes to education and range of academic, social and emotional abilities are very widespread and the school experiences wide ranging academic attainment – from above local and national averages to well below from one year to the next. In May 2013 we were judged Requires Improvement by Ofsted, however as a result of the actions taken across the year SATs results for 2013 were very strong and our HMI report September 2013 was very positive. We have continued working hard on our key development areas and our SATs results 2014 are very positive supporting our belief that we are a rapidly improving school with many examples of good and even outstanding practice. A further HMI visit in July 2014 has confirmed this and we now await our next full section 5 inspection.

We have also had recently highly successful sports teams wining many local leagues this year, including Kent Tag rugby champions and our team came fifth in the national Tag tournament. We are keen to keep Whitstable Junior School on the sporting map!

We have approximately 30% SEN reducing to around 15% under the new Code of Practice. Our school is seen to have good provision for children with learning needs including a highly regarded Well Being Team and large team of very able teaching assistants. Ofsted judged the schools care, guidance and support to be a strength. Behaviour for learning is outstanding and our children have a real thirst for learning with many making extra-ordinary progress.

As a result of regular school self review we are addressing the learning needs of our children through a range of strategies including developing ourcurriculum for 2014, development of literacy and numeracy policies, use of intervention programmes and continued reinforcement of our inclusive ethos, high expectations and broad curriculum - all alongside study support.

We are currently seeking an experienced class teacher for January 2014to cover a maternity leave. The post available is as follows:

  • 1 FTE temporary teaching post to cover a maternity leave –this post is currently for a Year 4 class, but the successful applicant should be prepared to teach in any year group within the school. We anticipate that the maternity leave will cease at the end of Term 5 2015, but may continue until the end of the academic year.
  • Salary will be on the Main Pay Scale 1 -6, however payment on the Upper pay scale may be considered for exceptional applicants.

Teaching post:

We are organised into eight classes – 2 classes in each year group. Each class has a full time TA to support learning through in class support and the provision of high quality interventions such as Read, Write Inc / Fresh Start. The school has two teams – upper and lower school – lead by phase leaders who also lead literacy and numeracy across the school. All staff are team players who work collaboratively to share workloads and support the school in its ambition to ensure that all of our children achieve their potential and beyond.

The current post holder is a Year 4 class teacher and also lower school phase leader and literacy lead, however these responsibilities will be covered internally. The advertised post is suitable for an experienced teacher. The successful applicant will be asked to contribute to the leadership of a foundation subjectand applicants should state their strengths and experience in this regard. Most importantly, we wish to appoint a consistently good or outstanding class teacher who will join with us in our aim to have all children exceeding beyond their potential in a happy, caring and stimulating learning environment.

We are keen to appoint team players who have commitment to supporting the school ethos & its aims to meet the needs of all children –academic and their general well-being. We pride ourselves on being a good humoured, friendly and hard working team with a great deal to offer experienced or newly qualified staff– the school has a reputation for ‘breeding leaders’ and we encourage all staff to undertake professional development, thus aptitude and attitude is often as important as qualifications or experience!

We encourage all applicants to make informal visits to the school and welcome any enquiries.

If you would like to arrange a visit please do not hesitate to contact the Headteacher or School Office.

Gill Moody

Headteacher

September 2014