April 15

Dear Applicant

Thank you for requesting the information pack and application form for the post of Teacher in Charge of Spanish. I hope that this letter will help you to understand better what Dane Court is like, where we might be heading in the future.

Dane Court is an 11-18 mixed, selective school of approximately 1,200 students. Our PAN is 165 in Years 7 – 11 and we are usually oversubscribed. Students have to pass the Test to gain entry into Year 7, but only approximately 13% of the local cohort passes. The Kent IMD score places the school as 25th of 100 and the IDACI score as 31 out of 100.

In January 2009, the school federated with , a local 11-16 high school that was a high priority National Challenge school. The schools share a Governing Body and an Executive Headteacher. Both schools became academies in April 2011 and both schools are currently ‘outstanding’. Both schools were also in Wave 3 of ‘Building Schools for the Future’ and have been significantly rebuilt and refurbished. Each benefitted from approximately £20 million investment. Dane Court finished its rebuilding and refurbishment in October 2011 although the school was heavily engaged in the planning, designing and building phases for four years.

Thanet is a lovely place in which to live and work. The beaches are some of the cleanest in , there is stunning local architecture and houses are still relatively cheap. The people are down to earth and want the best for themselves and for the area.

Dane Court introduced the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in September 2008, initially with a cohort of 25 students. In September 2012, the school moved entirely over to the IBDP, together with the International Baccalaureate Careers Related Certificate (IBCC). Every student in Year 12 studies one of these programmes and the IB has been a focus of significant staff development over the last few years. We are currently planning to introduce the IB Middle Years Programme. Dane Court is the hub school for an international IBCC pilot, responsible, as an IB World School, for overseeing the delivery of IBCC in eight Kent high schools.

Dane Court is a sponsor school and is currently in the process of sponsoring The Ellington Hereson School, a mixed, 600 student high school in Ramsgate and Cliftonville , also with 600 students. We are also negotiating the formation of an umbrella trust, to include Hartsdown Technology College, that will commission consultants to assist in the delivery of school improvement.

The Dane Court Grammar and King Ethelbert Trust has submitted a bid to become a Teaching School (commencing in March 2013, if successful). We are a part of a strategic partnership with Hartsdown Technology College, Sandwich Technology School, Canterbury , High School and Joy Lane Primary School. Prior to formally becoming a Teaching School, we have already set up a company, East

Kent Learning Alliance (EKLA) to deliver CPD, ITT and Succession planning / talent management across this part of Kent.

Dane Court is a Facilitation School, with two trained facilitators to deliver the OTP Programme. We have already run a 10 week course with teachers from three other local schools. Together with teachers at King Ethelbert School, we have designed a new course, including aspects of OTP and Lead Learners and will deliver this to our teachers, as well as to those from other schools.

This is a fantastic opportunity to work in a dynamic, unique and very exciting environment. You will be working with colleagues who are expert, committed and very supportive indeed.

If you want to know more about the school, if you want to visit us before applying, or if you want to ask me any questions – please feel free to contact me, either by phone or by e-mail to [email protected] To apply for the post, please fill in the application form and post or email it, together with a letter setting out why you want the post and what you might offer. Applications will be dealt with as they arrive.

I hope that you will decide to apply and I look forward to meeting you in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Fowler Head of School