Head of English Job specification
The main duties and responsibilities of the post are as follows:-
· To inspire by example an enthusiasm for the English language and literature throughout the school. To ensure that the English curriculum is balanced, and of the highest quality, and that it meets the needs of pupils of all ages and abilities.
· To lead the team of teachers delivering the English curriculum throughout the school.
· To monitor and evaluate the work of all teachers in the English department.
· To ensure, through the creation, revision and effective delivery of departmental schemes of work, that there is continuity of progress in pupils’ learning across the full range of skills:- reading, written comprehension, oral work and creative writing as well as the core skills of spelling, grammar, punctuation and handwriting.
· To ensure the effective recording and tracking of pupils’ progress in English.
· To manage the departmental budget.
· To maintain, update and ensure the effective utilisation of departmental resources.
· To assist the strategic and operational management of the school through liaison with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), participation in school-wide monitoring and evaluation exercises, and contribution to academic policy-making through membership of the Academic Policy Committee.
Additional information on Head of English Post
The School prepares boys for a wide variety of schools at both 11+ and 13+.The majority of boys from St John’s enter the School at 3+ and 4+ and remain with us until Year 8, when they transfer to senior independent schools. The School is owned by the Merchant Taylors’ Company and in an average Year 8 between 20 and 25 boys go on to Merchant Taylors’ School. A number also go to Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School. These highly academic schools set very exacting academic entrance papers and the successful candidate will need to be able to enable boys to meet the challenges of these examinations, which are accompanied by interviews involving an oral comprehension exercise, with confidence. The rest of the Year 8 generally depart to a wide variety of local day schools including Aldenham, Berkhamsted, Mill Hill, St Alban’s and John Lyon, with a small number going on to boarding schools. In all cases, boys will need to be effectively prepared for English entrance examinations which are quite rigorous and diverse in their demands.
A significant minority of boys leave at Year 6 to go both to academic independent schools such as Colet Court, Westminster Under School and Haberdashers and to selective state schools such as Queen Elizabeth Barnet and the Buckinghamshire Grammar schools. They too will need to be prepared for challenging examinations.
The successful candidate will be expected to do most of their teaching to Years 5 to 8. In Years 5 and 6 boys are divided into three ‘mixed ability’ sets for English and in Year 7 there are three forms; one ‘top’ group and two parallel ‘middle’ classes, whilst in Year 8 the two ‘middle’ classes are divided according to ability. The Head of English will have a role in deciding how to organise sets in Years 5 and 6 and in advising on allocations of boys to appropriate forms in Years 7 and 8. We also anticipate that the successful candidate will hold weekly planning meetings for all staff delivering the English curriculum in Years 5 to 8, as well as more infrequent meetings to liaise with the Junior and Pre Prep teachers who teach literacy to the Nursery through to Year 4. We also anticipate that he/she will take a lead in school drama productions and in developing our two Library areas.
To succeed in this post the successful candidate will be required to have a real passion for the subject and a keen desire to ensure that all pupils make demonstrable progress across a range of relevant skills. The School does assess boys’ CAT scores but we are looking to develop more sophisticated measures to track boys’ progress in the core subjects. Another key element in the School’s philosophy of learning, is a commitment to assessment for learning, and the successful candidate will need to show that he/she has experience and expertise in constructive marking of pupils’ work. First and foremost, however, you will need to be the kind of teacher whose pupils are enthused by your lessons and feel constantly challenged to become creative and independent readers, writers and speakers.