Bourne Grammar School s1

BOURNE GRAMMAR SCHOOL

TEACHER OF MATHEMATICS for September 2011 Working at Bourne Grammar School Bourne Grammar School is an exceptionally pleasant place at which to work. It is a calm place, where staff and students work hard, achieve a great deal and enjoy excellent working relationships. Classroom discipline is good and major pastoral/discipline issues are very rare. The school estate is maintained in excellent order and is well-equipped throughout. The Area Bourne is a small market town with easy access to both rural Lincolnshire and the larger centres of Peterborough, Grantham and Stamford. House prices in the area are moderate. Local Schools Bourne is exceptionally blessed with good schools. The two large primary schools, Bourne Abbey and Bourne Westfield are both OFSTED Grade 1 schools and Bourne’s Secondary Modern school, the Robert Manning Technology College, enjoys an excellent local reputation. The School Bourne Grammar is a voluntary controlled mixed selective school founded in 1636 which now occupies a pleasant site with playing fields to the south of Bourne. There are currently 978 students on roll, with 229 in the Sixth Form. A new Sports Hall was built in 1996. The School has more recently improved the Sixth Form accommodation. A new £1.1 million teaching block housing Art, Music and Modern Languages was opened in October 2001. A £200,000 extension to improve the accommodation for administration and teaching staff was completed in February 2003. Another building programme, costing £1.1 million was completed in October 2004 and included a new Learning Resource Centre. A new Drama Studio was opened in January 2008 to mark our newly-acquired Specialist Status. There is no temporary accommodation

The School is particularly well-equipped with ICT equipment. Every teaching room has a data projector built-in. Every member of the teaching staff is provided with a laptop computer, and the school has a wireless network. We are a SIMS school.

Admission to the School is based on Lincolnshire Grammar School Consortium’s 11+ procedure. The School enjoys an enviable academic reputation in the area and places are much in demand. There is a five-form entry of 150 students. Results in public examinations are outstanding, with the majority of our students progressing to University, including Oxford and Cambridge (7 conditional offers in 2007, 5 in 2008 and 7 in 2009). The School has been well-placed in the national league tables for state schools in recent years. The School had a very successful OFSTED Inspection in February 2004 and another in March 2008 at which the School was graded 1 (outstanding). The English Department was found to be outstanding in every category at an OFSTED review in March 2009.

The School attaches great importance to the pursuit of academic excellence and has a tradition of hard work, respect for achievement, sensitive pastoral care and sound discipline. Students have the opportunity to develop their interests through an extensive extra- curricular programme. In addition, we have a strong careers education and guidance programme, including work experience. The curriculum is broad and balanced and exceeds the requirements of the National Curriculum. A wide range of A-level courses is offered in the Sixth Form and external recruitment to the Sixth Form is strong.

Bourne Grammar School has Specialist Status in the Performing Arts (Music, Drama and English). The school is a centre of high-quality learning in the performing arts both within the school and in the wider community.

The Leadership Team structure consists of the Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher, Assistant Headteacher (Data Manager and Curriculum), Assistant Headteacher (Pastoral), Assistant Headteacher (Director of the Specialist Performing Art College) and the Assistant Headteacher (Director of Learning – Sixth Form). Middle management consists of Heads of Department and Heads of Year. There is a House System and a Leading Teacher for Able Students. The Heads of Department and Heads of Year report directly to their LT line managers. The collegiate atmosphere is seen as being extremely supportive to colleagues new to the School. There is an excellent programme of induction for NQTs

The Mathematics Department

The Mathematics Department comprises seven specialist Mathematicians.

The Department has been highly successful over many years, with overall standards of attainment being well above those achieved nationally and better than those of virtually all other selective schools in Lincolnshire.

The Department was the subject of a 2-day Departmental Inspection by OFSTED in October 2006. In this inspection, which had a particular focus on students’ enjoyment and understanding of mathematics, the overall effectiveness of the subject was judged to be ‘good with some outstanding features’.

Staff in the Mathematics Department are highly committed to the School and to their work in the Department. In September 2004 the Department moved into new purpose-built premises with six teaching rooms equipped with ceiling-mounted data projectors and wireless network technology and a new Department office/work room. This has coincided with the implementation of various new initiatives such as the introduction of fully accelerated Further Maths, and the requirement for Departmental self-evaluation and quality assurance.

The success of the Department and the ease of implementation of change has been helped by the friendly atmosphere and close co-operation within the department, with all colleagues having the opportunity to contribute to departmental planning and development through weekly meetings and informal contacts. The Department also receives excellent support, guidance and line management from the School’s Leadership Team. Recently, there has been increased liaison with our feeder primary schools and it is hoped that this will be extended further.

In Year 7, Mathematics is taught initially in mixed ability form groups with setting introduced from the start of Term 2. In Year 8, there is more setting. As students progress into Year 9, further setting takes place. The scheme of work followed has been developed by the department in line with the National Numeracy Strategy and is supported by the new Essential Mathematics textbooks. The Department has an agreed house style. However, within these parameters, diversity of teaching methods is happily accommodated. At Key Stage 4, all students study for the Edexcel Higher Tier GCSE exam. In 2010 18% of our students obtained an A* grade, 49% a grade A, and 99% at least a grade C.

In the Sixth Form, the Edexcel specification is followed. In each year, three sets take Mathematics and an additional group takes the double option of Further Mathematics. This is taught in two blocks entirely separately from the single Mathematics lessons. Currently, the modules taught are Pure Mathematics up to FP3, Mechanics up to M3, Statistics up to S2 and Decision Mathematics 1. Single mathematicians are taught C1, C2, and S1 in Year 12 and C3, C4 and M1 in Year 13.

Last year, in Mathematics at A level, 21% of our candidates obtained a grade A*, 30% a grade A, and all but one candidate passed. Of last year’s cohort taking Further Mathematics, 9 out of 11 were awarded either an A* or A grade, in their second A level.

The School enters students for the UK Maths Challenge and obtains a good number of gold and silver awards. In both 2007 and 2008, the school had a candidate placed in the top 10 of Edexcel nationally at GCSE (out of a third of a million entries). Our top students progress to degree in Mathematics and related subject at Oxbridge and the Russell Group of universities. The department runs a couple of Maths Clubs and Clinics during lunchtimes, but there is scope for further extra-curricular activity, which would promote and extend the work of the Department.

The Post

The successful candidate will be well qualified and possess outstanding teaching skills. The appointee will be expected to play a full role in the Department and to teach Mathematics across the age range, including to A level and ideally Further Mathematics A level. Ability to coach students for scholarship/AEA/STEP would be warmly welcomed.

The salary will be on the teachers’ pay spine.

A generous incentive/relocation package may be available for an outstanding candidate. Expenses will be paid to all those interviewed.

Application Procedure:

All applicants MUST complete the Lincolnshire County Council application form. This is a Lincolnshire County Council requirement. The form may be obtained by post from the address below or electronically by emailing [email protected].

Please include a short covering letter, maximum ONE side of A4 please, outlining the reasons why you feel you are particularly suited to this post at this school.

Please do not send a CV as the information required should appear on the obligatory Application Form.

The closing date for applications is 9.00 am Tuesday 1 March 2011.

The Headteacher (a Mathematician) and Head of Mathematics are happy to be contacted by telephone by any prospective candidate.