Working at Wells Cathedral School Cleaning Assistant Working at Wells Cathedral School Graduate Sports Assistant CONTENTS Introduction from the Principal General information about the school The leadership at Wells Cathedral School Working At Wells Cathedral School Music at Wells Job description Pay and remuneration The school site Safer recruitment Application and recruitment process INTRODUCTION FROM THE PRINCIPAL It is a school where people are able to discover themselves and then to be themselves to the ‘An inspiring very best of their abilities. Our visitors comment education in a on the amount which our pupils expect to musically alive and achieve in very busy lives whilst succeeding also beautiful in acquiring serenity and calm. All this happens environment as a because of the remarkable Wells Cathedral brilliant foundation School family of pupils, parents, staff and for life.’ governors. And it happens because everyone who works or volunteers at the school knows that we must always look for ‘bespoke’ solutions “Esto quod es” - be what you are - is as good a for challenges, that one size never fits all, and school motto as any I know. The success of that spending time sorting out a negotiated and Wells Cathedral School lies in the fact that it positive outcome will always save time in the does so many different things to such a high long run! standard, and thus supports its pupils in being themselves, not in a passive but an active sense. Above all, music is at the heart of everything that Many good schools do some of the things that we do at Wells. Not all our students are at Wells Wells does, and many do them very successfully. because of music. You don’t have to play an Wells is the only school I know which does all of instrument to flourish at Wells. But music them. provides a model of work, practice, rehearsal and performance that can enhance any We are an academic school with high and enterprise or programme of study. It provides realistic expectations of our pupils; a school with beauty, challenge, aesthetic, intellectual and a specialist Music Faculty which makes us one of spiritual stimulation and fulfilment whether one the government’s five assisted Specialist Music is playing it or listening to it. It wakes us up and it Schools in England and Scotland; a Cathedral calms us down; it gives us ideas and expands our Choir School; a school with a history of high imagination. standards in drama and in art as well as a specialist mathematics programme; a school In fact, of course, the chief reason why all this which plays both individual and team sport to a happens is because all who work in the school, high standard; a school with a long history of and most especially those who teach and care established and successful co-education; a for its pupils, are able themselves to be what they school which welcomes day and boarding pupils are to the best of their abilities. I want the school alike, and regards them as being dependent on to provide you with the environment and each other; a school where families can find support that you need to do this; we all must continuity of education from the nursery work together to make it so. We need it to be a through to the sixth form if that is what they ‘brilliant foundation for life’ for everyone within want and need; a school which puts a high the community. priority on developing the qualities of leadership and confidence which lie within everybody; a school which does some very modern things in some very old and often very beautiful buildings - and all this in a lovely and tranquil place with the roots of our aims and ethos in a stunning and vibrant Cathedral. Elizabeth Cairncross, Principal GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL In the senior and junior schools, including the Our co-curricular programme enables all pupils nursery, there are approximately 570 and 200 to try everything once and pursue what they pupils respectively, of whom nearly 275 are enjoy. We want them to continue to play boarders. The full age range is 3 to 18, and competitive sport, or enjoy robust fitness transfer from the junior to the senior school is at activities, or challenging outdoor adventurous Year 7. The school is one of the most successful activity, or take part in amateur dramatics or and long standing fully co-educational dance once they have left school. We do this independent schools in the country with an through encouragement, support and coaching overall gender mix close to 50:50. to enable them to make the most of what they have chosen to pursue. The school is internationally famous as a specialist music school - one of five in UK within Almost all upper sixth pupils leave for higher the Department of Education (DfE) Music and education courses; typically many each year go Dance Scheme, which supports intensive on to Oxford or Cambridge and other Russell musical training in an all round educational Group universities, and many to music college or environment for pupils whose parents would be conservatoire in the UK or elsewhere, with unable to afford it otherwise, and who have both significant scholarships (often the musical talent, flair and potential. This music specialism equivalent of a place at Oxford or Cambridge). involves some 170 students in intensive instrumental and related training – and many The building programme of recent years has others in playing at every level. Each year about both introduced new buildings and developed twelve means-tested DfE-aided places (there are old ones. The Cook building in the Laundry 80 in the whole school) are awarded to pupils of Garden was opened in March 2010 to provide outstanding musical ability; most of our mathematics classrooms and social and play ‘specialist’ musicians have an individually space for children in the lower school. In adjusted academic timetable. The approximately October 2016 we completed a three building 40 choristers of Wells Cathedral are pupils in the project which included Cedars Hall, an arts school, and they follow a specialist music performance building and concert hall, a sports programme as long as they are singing in the pavilion, and our new maintenance building. Our choir. All this contributes to the ‘musically alive beautiful Georgian buildings are subject to a environment’ about which we speak in the rolling programme of redecoration and school’s ‘dream’. refurbishment. The curriculum at the Early Years Foundation About 16% of students across the whole school Stage and across the junior school places great are from overseas and are recruited by word of emphasis on the arts; Art, Dance, Drama and mouth, by agencies specialising in this work or Music have a prominent place in school life. because of their musical talent. About 50% of Throughout the whole school the co-curricular our boarders are from overseas. programme is rich and varied, and focused on the best all-round education for individual The school has a Christian foundation which has pupils. Drama, dance, theatre studies and art all existed since AD 909 to educate the choristers of flourish and are key elements of both the core Wells Cathedral as it still does today for both the and co-curriculum. Maths participation and boys’ and the girls’ choirs. The cathedral is the achievement is very high at every level and focal point for our communal worship. All those especially at GCSE and A2 level in both maths working at the school in any capacity need to be and further maths. More than half of the 200+ in sympathy with its christian tradition and sixth form take maths and around a quarter take ethos, and to view worship in this beautiful, further maths. The school is also pioneering a historic building as a spiritual opportunity within Specialist Maths Scheme to parallel our the community, whether they are people of any Specialist Music expertise. faith or none. Nikolaus Pevsner, the eminent architectural historian, wrote that Wells can award-winning architect Eric Parry within the boast the most beautiful square mile in the curtilage of a Heritage Landscape, and which is whole of the British Isles. The school sits in the packed with the latest acoustic and audio-visual heart of this city, as it has done for over 1100 technology. Despite its location in the centre of years, occupying buildings ranging from grade I the city, the school has over 40 acres of gardens, listed buildings of over 800 years in age and grounds and sports facilities, which boast some steeped in ecclesiastical history, to the very spectacular backdrops and what is widely modern. The modern includes the latest acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful addition to the site, Cedars Hall, by cricket grounds in the south west. THE LEADERSHIP AT WELLS CATHEDRAL SCHOOL The leadership of Wells Cathedral School is made up of a number of overlapping groups: The Executive Team is made up of: Principal: Elizabeth Cairncross Head of Senior School & Vice Principal: Dr Andy Kemp Bursar: Peter Knell Head of Junior School: Julie Barrow Director of Music: Mark Stringer Director of External Relations: Mark Coote The Executive Team is responsible for long term strategy for the whole school. The Leadership Team is made up of all the members of the Executive Team as well as: Assistant Head (Pastoral & Co-curricular): Arthur Mayhew Assistant Head (Teaching & Learning): Alex Battison Assistant Head (Digital Strategy): Simon Balderson Head of Pre-Prep: Janet Bennett Director of Admissions & International Recruitment: Ashley Deacon The Leadership Team is responsible for specific strategic and operational direction.