Kingsley School Bideford Application Pack for Earth Centre Teacher (0.4) Salary To Be Discussed Welcome to Kingsley School Our headlines • Our students are fantastic—they are highly motivated and engaged young people with supportive and caring parents. • We are a school which serves children from birth to 18 years old. • We are a high performing school, with excellent A’ Level grades and a thriving programme preparing students for Oxbridge applications • We have just under 400 students in our nursery, prep school and senior school. • We pride ourselves on being a nurturing and caring school, where each child is known well • We have a long tradition based on Christian values, and we try to live out our faith through the work we do to care for our children and their families. • We are innovative - our big project at the moment is our Earth Centre. The vision is to put environmental sustainability at the heart of our curriculum. • We also look after more vulnerable children very well. We are a centre of excellence for special needs, and our Grenville Centre provides excellent support for children with autism spectrum difficulties • As well as day students, we welcome boarders from across the UK and around the world. • Our enrichment offer is very wide and diverse. All the teaching staff and many of the support staff are very involved in ensuring that our students have every opportunity to develop a wide range of skills. A letter from the Headteacher Dear Applicant Thank you for expressing interest in applying for the post of Earth Centre Teacher required from September 2020 at Kingsley School. This vacancy will give the successful applicant the opportunity to work with a wonderful and diverse group of young people and supportive colleagues. We do hope you find the information contained in this pack informative and that it will enable you to reach a decision on whether to apply for the post. We are seeking to appoint a colleague who shares our ambition to ensure that every young person at Kingsley School achieves their personal best. We are a small, independent school with a long tradition of serving children and their families. We aim to be caring and inclusive, while still providing an excellent academic grounding for all our children. We specialise in supporting children with moderate learning difficulties. We find that many children who have struggled in mainstream schools flourish here, as our class sizes are small and we can develop an enrichment programme that brings out the best in all. We are also very proud of our academic record. Our A’ level results are among the best in the country. A recent cohort of Kingsley students achieved 51% A/A* grades in their A’ level and BTECs. We have a thriving Oxbridge programme, which recruits and supports students looking at places at our top universities. The school was last inspected by ISI in 2018 and we were judged to be “excellent” for our pastoral care of our students and “good” for our curriculum. We are looking for ways to move the school forward academically. We are looking to recruit staff who are able to deliver excellent teaching and learning and an excellent experience for our many boarders. The school has supportive and engaged backers. Our current project is the development of a £2 million Earth Centre over the next three years. Based in the heart of Devon’s UNESCO biosphere we are aiming to become a centre of excellence in developing our students to be future leaders and experts in environmental protection and sustainability. We are a popular choice with parents locally, and abroad. We recruit children from many countries and the diversity this gives the school is one of our strengths. Working at Kingsley School represents an exciting opportunity to work in a school which has huge potential. Since I arrived at the school in February 2020, I have found the staff to be incredibly supportive. Similarly, I have found that our students are a very positive and enthusiastic group of young people. Because our young people are so responsive and receptive, we are able to make a very wide extracurricular offer which greatly enhances the work done in the classroom. There is always something exciting going on in this school! If you like what you have read so far and wish to be considered for this role, please complete the application form which is available from our website, and include a letter (of not more than two side of A4, in a 12 point font) explaining your suitability for the post. At Kingsley School, we take safeguarding very seriously and consequently the successful candidate will be required to complete a DBS enhanced check. Please do not include CVs with your application as these will be disregarded for safeguarding purposes. The closing date for applications 19 June (midday). Electronic applications are fully acceptable and these should be emailed to [email protected] In the current situation we will hold interviews via on online platform e.g. Zoom. Candidates called for interview will be contacted by phone in the first instance with detailed information following by email. I hope you will consider joining our team and I look forward to receiving your application. Please do not hesitate to get back to me should you wish to discuss the role further or arrange a visit. Yours sincerely Mrs Gill Jackson Headteacher Kingsley School description Kingsley School originally opened in 1884 and was renamed following the mergers of Stella Maris, Edgehill College and Grenville College. Ownership recently transferred from The Methodist Independent Schools Trust (MIST) to KSI. Despite the change of ownership the school remains an independent school for students from birth to 18 years of age, founded on Christian values, and intends to retain its Methodist links as an associate member of MIST. We have a very extensive site and excellent facilities in the seaside town of Bideford in the wonderful North Devon countryside. There are currently just under 400 students on roll across the nursery, prep and senior school, this includes 65 boarders. Leadership Since February 2020, Kingsley School has had a new Headteacher. She joined a stable SLT who know the school well. As the senior team, we recognise the importance of CPD in helping staff to develop professionally in order to realise their own potential and improve the life chances of all the children they work with. Curriculum Kingsley School aims to provide a curriculum that meets the needs of all students by offering a breadth of educational opportunity. Subjects are mainly taught according to National Curriculum guidelines and a wide range of teaching and learning styles are used to ensure that students are actively engaged in their lessons. In Years 10 and 11, all students follow a core curriculum of English, mathematics, science, PSHE and PE. In addition, students select courses from a wide-ranging choice of GCSE options. We give our students the opportunity to take the EBacc suite of qualifications, with the most able following single science courses. The curriculum is based on five 60 minute periods per day, with an enrichment offer at the end of the teaching day. Pastoral care and academic guidance The Heads of Key Stage and form tutors have responsibility for the welfare, academic progress and discipline of the students in their care. The tutors in each team have a particularly important role since they are responsible for ensuring our children are well cared for and happy. Time is set aside each day for a programme of activities designed to promote the students’ social and learning skills, support literacy, and to enable tutors to get to know each pupil as an individual. We have vertical tutor groups in KS3 to further strengthen care, guidance and support for students, and to create a family atmosphere in the tutor room. Pupil Voice is important at Kingsley School and we have an active School Council. Links between home and school We aim to develop strong links between home and school. We hold consultative evening meetings between staff and parents to discuss any concerns, acknowledge successes and agree targets for further improvement. Parents also receive regular monitoring reports and are provided with frequent communications about developments in school. In addition, we publish various brochures and organise information evenings for parents at key points in their children’s education, together with awards’ evenings to celebrate the success of students at different Key Stages. We have an active and supportive PTA who provide excellent links between school and the families we serve. Boarding Houses We have three boarding houses within our extensive grounds. Belvoir House accommodates all our girls, and has capacity for 32 children. Carisbrooke accommodates our junior boys and has 38 spaces. Longfield is our senior boys’ boarding house and has space for 48 children. Each house has a three bedroom flat for the house parents and their families and a one bedroom flat for the assistant house parents. There is also a separate house on site for our Head of Boarding and their family. Special educational needs and disabilities At Kingsley School, we place equal value on the education of all students. Those with special educational needs or disabilities are encouraged to achieve their potential within each curriculum area where they are provided with differentiated materials by their class teachers, whilst teaching assistants also offer additional individual support. We are very proud of our special needs provision, and believe this is an area of excellence for the school. Children thrive in our small groups, and we are able to make specialist, bespoke provision for the most vulnerable learners.