Dear Applicant

Thank you for considering whether to apply for a vacancy at our school.

The Trinity Roman Catholic School is an 11 - 18 academy of roughly 1100 pupils, situated in the North West of Nottingham, quite close to the University.The school is on two sites, roughly 100 metres apart and the separate buildings allow the school to be organised into the three Key Stages for pastoral purposes: we have a Lower School, an Upper School and Sixth Form. We also own two bungalows which have been converted as suites of smaller rooms for SEND, ‘One to One’ work, EAL work and behaviour support. These two centres are called the Emmaus and Elim centres.

Trinity is part of the St Barnabas Multi Academy Trust along with three associated Catholic primary schools and we have one other Catholic primary working in partnership with the MAT. Links with our primaries are very good and we work to improve all aspects of transition.The school is heavily over-subscribed every year with between 550 and 600 applications for the 165 places in Year 7.

We have a strong academic tradition at Trinity and high expectations. We enjoy lots of support from our parents, including high turnout at parents’ evenings (over 95% usually) and a thriving PTA. The school has high standards of behaviour. There is a strictly enforced uniform policy, and an enforced ban on mobiles for Years 7 to 11. Our discipline is firm and fair and visitors comment on the calm, purposeful atmosphere which they experience in the school.

Our 2014 GCSE results brought us a letter from the Minister of Education (D Laws) saying we were in the top 90 non-selective schools in England for performance at GCSE for achieving 5 A* to C including English and Maths (72%, 73% and 76% in theyears 2012, 2013, 2014 - significantly above the national average). In 2015 we achieved 67% A*to C including English and Maths and won two SSAT awards for progress and attainment putting us in the top 20% of schools nationally. In fact, we have had two awards from the SSAT (the schools, students and teachers network) in each of the last three years (2015, 2014, 2013).Our NEET figurefrom Year 11, for those not in education, employment or training, has been zero for three of the last four years (the other was 1%).

Post 16, Trinity has achieved excellent results for a number of years and the Sixth Form has been rated ‘outstanding’ in both of our most recent inspections. Sixth Form students study from a range of 24 A-Level subjects, and we will be running two Level 3 Btecs from Sept 2016. Over 85% of Year 13 students take their first choice career from their A-Levels, with about 90% proceeding into Higher Education.

We seek the best from our pupils at all times. The school’s motto Ad Dei Gloriam- To the Glory of God - sums up the purpose for which the school was founded and ensures that we are all focused on what is really important in life. There is a distinctive ethos in the school which has contributed to our success over many years. In the school’s last OFSTED report, Inspectors commented on the way that pupils are cared for by a very committed staff and those comments were reinforced in our recent Diocesan Inspection. The Inspectors ranked attainment as ‘outstanding’ and our ‘Raiseonline data’ and performance tables confirm this continues. We are very pleased with the way our pupils and teachers work together and this is a major contributor to the school’s success.

The teaching staff are also supported by a wide range of enthusiastic and dedicated support staff, including technicians, secretaries, cover staff, caretakers and cleaners. Our catering staff have transformed lunchtimes and are now typically serving over 750 meals per day. The governors are very supportive of the school, yet willing to challenge and guide.

Trinity has a traditional department and pastoral structure and the teachers are a dynamic and professional group. They are keen to keep teaching and learning as their main focus and there is a rich CPD thread run by the teachers, using educational research and proven classroom practice.There is also a very supportive and nationally recognised NQT and New Teacher Programme. We have a mix from relatively young staff to many experienced practitioners, and a stable and supportive Senior Leadership Team (125 years at the school collectively).Generally, our teachers teach right across the age and ability range. We are also engaged in school to school support in certain subject areas and also in aspects such as Pupil Premium, timetabling and attendance.Some of this work is as a Leading Edge school.

We genuinely value our teachers, they are the ‘life-blood’ of the school, and we work hard to ensure their work-life balance and therefore have a very small turnover of staff. Trinity is described by most teachers as a lovely place to teach. The staff enjoycoming to work at the school and living in and around Nottingham; the extra commitment evident in their work bears this out. They organise and run a rich extra-curricular provision particularly in sport, outward bound, retreats, drama and music - one of our pupils reached the category finals of the BBC Young Musician in 2014 and another recently won the whole competition in 2016! Staff and pupils value the time spent together and the clubs and activities ensure the harmonious ethos we seek to foster and that is visible in our everyday work at Trinity.

Having read this letter, I do hope you will read other areas of our extensive and up to date website. If you care to look at the news archive you will see the breadth of opportunity here. Think seriously about applying if you think Trinity is the place for you and we look forward to meeting you and considering you for appointment.

Yours sincerely

J Dexter

Acting Headteacher