Wellsway School
Teacher of Design & Technology
Dear Applicant
Thank you for your interest in this post.
The ideal candidate will be someone who is aspiring to be an outstanding teacher of Design and Technology. This post offers an exceptional opportunity to change lives, contribute to the building of outstanding local STEM provision and help shape the curriculum of a strong department.
As a Teacher at Wellsway School you will need to be a creative thinker who has a passion for improving the life chances of our students. You will be closely supported by the Curriculum Team Leader and Assistant Curriculum Team leader and will certainly be given the freedom and opportunity to try new ideas and fresh approaches.
This post offers an exciting opportunity for you to progress your career and will also give you the chance work with other teachers across our growing Trust.
In your letter of application and at interview, I am particularly looking forward to hearing your views on how you would ensure the best possible learning experience for all students: What are your core beliefs as a technology teacher? Can you demonstrate how you have had a positive impact on student development and progress? What are your ambitions in the short and medium term?
I very much look forward to receiving your application. In the meantime please read on for further information about the Trust and Technology at Wellsway which I trust you will find useful.
If you would like to know more please contact Dominic Knowles (Director of Technology) at [email protected] who will be delighted to hear from you.
Yours sincerely
Simon White Head of School
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ABOUT WELLSWAY MULTI ACADEMY TRUST Wellsway Multi Academy Trust is a recently formed partnership of schools which span the Bristol - Keynsham - Bath area that are now working together to provide a high quality educational experience for all students in their care. It comprises of:
Aspire Academy in Bath is a 4-16 school for children with emotional, behavioural and social needs IKB Studio School is brand new; a 14-19 school specialising in courses related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) with employer links providing real life contexts for learning Sir Bernard Lovell Academy has, over the past 10 years, been at the forefront of national 14-19 developments St John’s C of E Primary is an outstanding primary school in the heart of Keynsham The Bath Studio School is a 14-19 school specialising in courses related to the Creative and Media Industries with employer links providing real life contexts for learning Wellsway School, a high performing secondary school and sixth form with a long history of success
The Trust’s strategic vision Wellsway Multi Academy Trust will become a strong local partnership of schools that is cross-phase with a fully inclusive range of provision The Trust will build a strong and cohesive identity whilst recognising that each academy within the Trust will have its own unique characteristics Collaboration and joint working will ensure that all academies in the Trust can share in, and benefit from, each other’s strengths
The Trust’s values
Professionalism: The Trust expects each academy to expect and uphold the highest professional standards in all aspects of its work. Education: The Trust’s primary purpose is education and priority will be given to allocating resources into the classroom and learning activities. Inclusion: The Trust places inclusion at the heart of all its provision and seeks to develop a range of inclusive services to support learners with specific needs. Economic: Gaining value for money is central to the Trust’s operation and directors actively seek opportunities to develop joint educational provision and shared services across schools. Strategic: The directors seek to develop a multi academy trust of optimum size, with economies of scale that create the capacity for the Trust to provide excellent support to all its schools, whilst retaining its local nature Geographic: Schools within the Trust will be located within a reasonable driving distance of the hub school, Wellsway, so that school-to-school support is possible Moral: Wellsway Multi Academy Trust has been established to support education within the wider local area.
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FURTHER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, WELLSWAY SCHOOL
Technology at Wellsway School has been a consistently high-performing subject area in all key stages. The team is considered to be one of the strongest in the school. Student progress and attainment in our subjects puts technology amongst the best performing areas in the school.
Our performance for the last Year 11 (2015) group in technology was as follows:
Subject A*-A or equivalent (%) A*-C or equivalent (%) BTEC Construction 0 100 BTEC Hospitality 24 94 CNAT Health and Social 19 86 GCSE Food and Nutrition 7 73 GCSE Product Design 21 86
Our whole school results were also very impressive:
In the sixth form, performance was as follows:
Subject A*-B A*-C GCE Product Design 44 78 BTEC Engineering 68 100 CNAT Health and Social 67 100
Wellsway School is one of only five schools nationally fortunate enough to partner the James Dyson Foundation. The Design and Technology team at Wellsway School has a reputation within our wider region as an outstanding department that delivers a coherent, innovative and exciting range of courses which have excellent progression routes. Each year we enter students for the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship and, remarkably, four of our students have enjoyed recent success in their applications for one of these prestigious awards.
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The leadership structure in the technology team is as follows: Curriculum Team Leader for Technology Assistant Team Leader for Technology Key Stage 3 Phase Leader for Technology
The Curriculum
At Wellsway School students in KS3 follow a rotation system. In year 7 the focus for students is to develop skills, for example in working with materials, hand tools, food preparation, CAD/CAM and CNC machinery. In year 8 the focus for students is to develop their creativity through team work and problem solving. Students then opt for two subject strands in year 9 where we explore in detail the subject, stretch and challenge the students in preparation for their GCSE/BTEC choices at KS4.
Student numbers are strong at KS4 where within the department we offer the following curriculum choices: GCSE Product Design BTEC Level 2 Construction GCSE Food & Nutrition GCSE Textiles BTEC Level 2 Hospitality OCR Cambridge Nationals in Health and Social Care
A key driving element to the curriculum at both KS3 and KS4 is academic rigour and, in our subject, every opportunity to explore science and maths is embraced by all teachers.
In the sixth form, student numbers are again strong and the department offers the following curriculum choices: A Level Product Design BTEC Diploma in Engineering Level 3 (in association with the IKB studio school) A Level Food Technology OCR Cambridge Technical in Health and Social Care
What will success look like? In our technology team we want to ensure that:
Outstanding teaching, learning and student progress remains our priority We secure excellent progress at all key stages for all groups of students We have an inspirational technology curriculum which meets the needs of our 21st century society We have excellent communication and team work so that all staff share and understand the vision and how to implement it As a team we take full advantage of the school’s impressive CPD offer. Wellsway School students have access to a broad range of opportunities, both in lessons and outside We promote a values driven culture that inspires each student to be the best person they can be
We trust the information provided will encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity at Wellsway School.
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