thekingstonacademy.org

Subject Leader - MathematicsArchitects of outstanding educational leadership and provision

Dear Candidate

Thank you for your interest in The Kingston Academy. I am delighted that you are considering joining our team at this exciting stage in our journey. The opportunity to share in the architecture of a new school and be integral in its delivery at a strategic level is unique.

As the Head Teacher it is a privilege to have the responsibility of leading the creation of our new school. The work the Trust and I have already completed on the project’s delivery is well advanced and running to plan. Following our highly successful Open Evening I am totally focused on a rigorous campaign to handpick the very best staff to join our team.

From the information provided, you’ll see very clearly that we have both exceptionally high standards and great breadth in our thinking for The Kingston Academy. We want to establish a vibrant, inclusive, happy school that is excellent for everyone who works and learns there.

We are seeking an experienced Mathematician who is an outstanding practitioner and keen to assist us in establishing a happy, vibrant school where Maths is fun!

The successful candidates will be consistently high performing classroom practitioners with pupil outcomes that support this. You must possess the qualities to be a strong leader and positive role model, with a distinct ability to inspire pupils and staff. You will be ambitious for yourself and all of our staff and pupils and contribute in flexible ways that will ensure The Kingston Academy goes beyond what schools ordinarily do. You will have boundless energy, courage and self-belief in your ability to assist in the delivery of our vision. You will need to be an excellent communicator and a proficient user of, and advocate for the use of technology across the organisation. We require a team who are excited by this opportunity and who are ready to embrace this challenge, supporting me in delivering a great local school for our local community.

For all of us, staff, Trustees, children and parents joining the school in 2015, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We hope you will be able to see your place in this story and come forward to apply for this exciting and pivotal role.

If I can help advise you as you consider your application, please do not hesitate to contact me at tkahead@gmail.com.

Sophie M CavanaghHead Teacher - The Kingston Academy

Staff Recruitment

kingstoneducationaltrust.org

Position: Subject Leader - MathematicsSalary: competitive and commensurate with experienceCommitment: PermanentCommencement: September 2015 with induction and preparatory work required beforehand (attendance on 1st July 2015 all day required – further dates to be negotiated)

Application Process

You are asked to complete and include the following:

Application FormApplication statement - Two sides of A4 • Prior experience relevant to the context of the post.• What attracts you to this particular school and this particular post• Why you are uniquely qualified above all other candidates• How you will contribute to taking TKA ‘beyond what schools ordinarily do’

The deadline for submitting an application is midday, 12th February. Completed applications should be returned to: recruitment@thekingstonacademy.org

Interview Procedure

Short-listed candidates will be interviewed on 10th March and will be observed teaching. We will contact you to make these arrangements prior to this interview date.

The governing body is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. An Enhanced DBS check will be carried out for the successful candidate.

Our vision for the school

Going Beyond What Schools Ordinarily DoValuing all, expecting excellence, learning from the best and striving for improvement.

kingstoneducationaltrust.org

Background to the schoolKingston Education Trust (KET) is the body formed to start up the new secondary school in North Kingston, The Kingston Academy. It was established in 2010 as a partnership between Kingston University, Kingston College and the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames. KET was established to respond to community expectations that sufficient, local and fully-inclusive secondary school places should be available in North Kingston. KET bid for approval and funding to set up the new school through the Free School process and was successful in May 2013. KET has worked closely with the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames to agree on the availability of a specific site, which has now been vacated.

Peter Mayhew-SmithKingston College

Andy HudsonKingston University

Graham Willett Royal Borough of Kingston

Darren JacobCommunity Trustee

Sue ConderCommunity Trustee

Sophie Cavanagh Head Teacher

Kingston Educational Trust Trustees

• An inclusive ethos where all are welcome to the school and everyone is valued for who they are and what they offer.

• A focus on learning to learn, which will be at the heart of our pedagogy to ensure that all of our students will learn more effectively.

• The strongest possible emphasis on communication that will ensure that our students are able to interact freely and with confidence with as wide a range of audiences and across as many forms of expression as possible.

• A curriculum that celebrates all disciplines including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to ensure our students have a deep and rich understanding of the world around them.

• A belief in the power of new technologies and the online world to develop our students as digital citizens and to enhance, support and stimulate the learning experience.

• Purposeful and challenging learning across the curriculum that will help to ensure that all of our young people are able to succeed to their highest potential.

• A strong global dimension that will enrich our students’ learning and broaden their knowledge of other people and cultures.

• Successful partnerships and links to external institutions and industry experts to support our students.

The Kingston Academy, a school with …

• Provides effective pastoral care to ensure that all students are well-known and understood, and which will support all of our young people to be able to perform as well as they possibly can.

• Promotes healthy lifestyles to provide our students with sound advice and guidance and opportunities to engage in a range of physical activities that will offer something for all.

• Prepares young people for life beyond the boundaries of the school and after our students have moved on to the next phase of their lives.

• Provides an outstanding educational experience for local children.

• Nurtures and challenges children’s intellectual and imaginative capacities as intelligence is not fixed and aspirations matter.

• Empowers learners and their teachers by bringing tools (mobile technology/devices) into the centre ground of activity. The use of these technologies will be commonplace as ‘Digital Literacy’ will be an overarching aspect of school life.

• Strives to maximise students’ potential for later schooling, post-school education, training and employment and for the quality of life itself so that they can contribute to and enjoy living within a society.

• Encourages students to take a lead in shaping their own learning.

The Kingston Academy, a school that …

kingstoneducationaltrust.org

• Aspiration knows no bounds, from which outcomes are outstanding and whose reputation is unparalleled.

• Purposeful and challenging learning will be the cornerstone of the school’s success and excellence.

• Parents matter and make a difference.• All students will enjoy learning, make

excellent progress, attain high outcomes and be helped to become confident individuals and responsible citizens.

• Learning pathways are tailored to students’ individual talents and special needs, and progression of learning is closely monitored.

• All students will benefit from strong leadership, an inclusive ethos and practice, excellent teaching and a broad and balanced curriculum in a local school.

• The physical environment impacts positively on learning.

• Young people are challenged to risk failure, to collaborate, to reflect on their experiences and learning and to learn to overcome adversity and difficulty.

• Students will be encouraged to raise concerns for themselves and on behalf of others with confidence.

• Sport and physical development are celebrated and friendly rivalry is seen as natural and healthy.

The Kingston Academy, a school where …

The Kingston Academy, a school which offers …

• A safe place for young people to interact with others, learn, play, research, explore and discover for themselves including in online spaces.

• A strong sense of identity for all its students, with an emphasis on their understanding of their valued place as a young citizen contributing to the wider world.

• A diverse, enriched curriculum. A significant proportion of our curriculum time will be devoted to the STEM subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, but will be taught alongside more traditional subjects such as English, Humanities, Languages and the Expressive and Performing Arts.

• World class exam results. Students will study qualifications that are of genuine value and be encouraged and supported to maximise their potential.

• Regular assessment. Whilst the school will place a strong emphasis on stimulating, engaging and nurturing students, it will regularly review students’ progress and development and personalise learning where necessary.

• Highly qualified, professional teaching staff who have a passion for teaching and learning. Teachers who can enthusiastically convey their subject to all students and create enjoyment and excitement.

• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for all staff. In the interest of life-long learning, our valued staff will participate in their own personal and professional development to enhance their knowledge and skills and keep abreast of new technologies, methodologies and pedagogical practices, in order to enrich the daily lives of students.

• Rewards for those students who achieve highly, sustain good and respectful behaviour, complete all activities with admirable effort and maintain high standards throughout their school career.

Pastoral Support

Our new school will be fully inclusive and devoted to its students’ success. To make this a reality, its curriculum will be underpinned by a strong pastoral system, built round personal tutors who will stay with their tutor groups through the whole time they are at the school. This vertical tutoring approach will be supported by active training and development for the tutoring staff to ensure they are always well-equipped to deal with the challenges faced by young people as they grow up through school and find their feet in the world. We believe that this strategy will provide the right mix of challenge and support to ensure that every student’s potential is identified and realised through their time at the school.

It will be especially important for us to ensure that, as the first cohort of young people join the school’s inaugural Year 7, there is a high level of integration between them as well as an effective pastoral system to cultivate their ambitions. We see investment in our pastoral care system as a key priority for achieving the high levels of motivation and curiosity we aspire to for our students.

We will also introduce a house system to ensure that every student has an additional point of engagement with the breadth of the school’s life and can contribute to team successes in their different individual ways. We believe it is important for our school’s young people to have a strong sense of belonging and mutual support within an ethos that will ask more of them while giving them the skills, confidence and encouragement to achieve more.

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021Year 7Year 8Year 9Year 10Year 11Year 12

Year 13Totals 180 360 540 720 900 1044 1188

StructureStructure of the School

180 180 180 180 180 180 180180 180 180 180 180 180

180 180 180 180 180180 180 180 180 180 180 180 144 144

144

Curriculum Offer

English & Drama

Geography

Maths

Digital Literacy

Science

Philosophy& Ethics

Music

MFL

Art

PE

History

Technology

ASPIRE - SMART

kingstoneducationaltrust.org

Job Description Subject Leader - MathematicsThe Kingston Academy is a new school and therefore is in the enviable position to design and implement from scratch exactly the right curriculum for our pupils. Numeracy skills are absolutely vital to an education that will empower our pupils to do whatever they aspire, and have the capacity, to achieve. That is why we have chosen to specialize in STEM. Head of Maths will be central to our students’ success in these disciplines and is for me one of the most important appointments I will make in setting up the school.

This role requires an outstanding practitioner with an ambitious appetite for success and a clear idea of how this success can be secured within the Mathematics curriculum so that students enjoy and thrive in your subject. You will have unrivalled opportunities for professional growth over the coming years as the school itself grows to full capacity.

I will give you autonomy to design the Mathematics curriculum you feel is right and that will give our students the very best pathway through to our Sixth Form and beyond. You will assist me in recruiting additional outstanding Mathematics teachers and forge strong partnerships with the Mathematics faculties at Kingston University, Kingston College and our local Primary schools. Pupils in North Kingston have some of the highest levels of achievement nationally in Mathematics and so you will inherit many exceptional students who will need continuity in the quality of their learning. An exciting prospect I hope you agree.

I will also give you my total support, as whilst this is an extremely exciting opportunity, there will no doubt be challenges along the way. I want my staff to be happy, feel secure in their roles and be well looked after. As one of the founding members of our school you will be required to ‘go beyond’ what might normally be expected in a traditional school environment. This attitude and underlying philosophy of ‘going beyond’ will permeate all of our work and the ethos of the school.

We will work together as a team to build the school over the coming years and I want colleagues who are ready for this challenge. Staff at TKA will be flexible, resilient and creative with an appetite for success and good humour – all the qualities we want to nurture in our students.

The following outline of role responsibilities is brief and details the headline responsibilities only. I want to shape your role with you and only when we have the right candidate can we fully understand the remit and breadth that is right.

Key responsibilities

• To strategically lead for Mathematics and numeracy skills across the Academy• To be bold, creative and ambitious in your approach to curriculum design• To plan, resource and implement the TKA Mathematics curriculum that reflects the national

policy changes that we face over the coming years• To nurture and develop an happy, effective and creative team• To lead in the delivery of excellent learning experiences within lessons and beyond that

champion new technologies and a commitment to a growth mindset• To monitor, review and respond effectively to pupil performance and progress across the

subject informed by forensic data scrutiny• To monitor and review staff performance and appraisal in accordance with the Academy’s

policies• To ensure an ongoing commitment throughout your team to continuous and shared

professional development• To establish effective mechanisms for assessment, reporting and ongoing learning dialogues

with staff, students and parents• To establish mutually beneficial partnerships with our sponsors and local school community• To advise the Head Teacher and other relevant colleagues of any emerging issues related to

curriculum delivery, staff performance and individual pupil progress• To keep abreast of national, regional and local policy and best practice, engaging in initiatives

that support staffs development and pupil progress•

Additional Responsibilities

As intimated above, as a brand-new school, its not possible to be explicit about other roles and responsibilities I may need to call upon you and other colleagues to embrace. Below identifies those I know will be required of us all:

• Commit to safeguarding our students at all times and give due consideration to the wellbeing, health and safety of students and staff at all times in accordance with TKA Health, Safety and Safeguarding policies.

• Inform and emulate the ethos and vision of TKA.• Demonstrate consistently high expectations of attendance, behaviour and attitudes to learning.• Develop professional and effective working relationships with all colleagues across the Academy.• Adhere to TKA Teacher Standards.• Communicate effectively with all parties sensitively, respectfully and in a timely manner.• Cherish your pastoral work as a Form Tutor/House Member including the collaborative design of

our Aspire-SMART programme and Tutorial structure.• Contribute to our enrichment programme, partnerships with other local bodies and

organisations.• Participate in all school events as directed by the Head Teacher.• Challenge the status quo so that we are all constantly reflecting on, and striving to, ‘go beyond’.

kingstoneducationaltrust.org

Desirable Knowledge

• Knowledge of primary phases of education.• Knowledge of effective transition strategies and secondary foundation curriculum.

Essential Leadership & Management Skills

• Outstanding classroom practitioner who can lead by example.• Ability to manage change and work under pressure of changing circumstances.• The ability to implement effective appraisal and performance management and act on any

issues that arise from the reviews.• An exceptional, collaborative, inspirational leader with proven ability to build positive working

relationships, negotiate with and influence individuals and relevant groups.• The ability to communicate with a range of stakeholders.• Analysing and using the full range of evidence, including performance data and external

evaluations, to support, monitor, evaluate and improve aspects of the school, including challenging poor performance.

• A strong commitment to continuing professional development for all staff.

Essential Experience

• Experience as a middle leader in a secondary or primary setting.• Experience of whole school responsibility – academic and/or pastoral.• A track record of success in raising achievement and bringing about improvement.• Experience of working in high performing schools.• Experience of implementing strategies that encourage parents and carers to support their

children’s learning.

Desirable Experience

• Experience in transition and inclusion.• Experience of teaching in at least two schools.

Essential Safeguarding Practice

• Evidence of commitment to promoting the health, welfare and safeguarding of children.• Evidence of promoting, implementing and monitoring equal opportunities across the full range

of protected characteristics.• An understanding of Child Protection procedures and a commitment to promoting and

safeguarding the welfare of children.

Person Specification

The School will seek to identify these attributes through the recruitment and selection process of application, certification, interviews and professional references.

Essential Qualification and Attainment

• Educated to honours degree level or above.• Qualified teacher status.• Evidence of relevant Professional Development.

Desirable Qualification and Attainment

• Honours degree at 2.1 or above

Essential Qualities

• A deep and passionate commitment to the values and ethos of The Kingston Academy.• The ability to motivate, enthuse and engage with children and adults.• An appetite for change and development.• Flexibility and the capacity to handle the unexpected.• Energy, vigour, perseverance, stamina and resilience.• A commitment to personal and professional development.• The ability to maintain professional relationships at all times, acting with authenticity and

integrity.• A resolute and decisive approach to conflict.• A demonstrable commitment to a robust culture of high expectations and good quality care.• The ability to challenge and improve performance.• Creativity and a commitment to innovation, based on of evidence of best practice and

experimentation.• The ability to communicate with a wide range of audiences including pupils, parents, teachers,

associate staff and Governors, as well as external contacts required by the role.• A demonstrable knowledge of, and flair with the use of technology in education and awareness

of emerging technologies.• Excellent communication skills through a range of mediums.

Essential Knowledge

• Excellent professional knowledge and understanding developed in an established educational context.

• Models of learning and teaching, behaviour and attendance management.• Strategies for ensuring inclusion, diversity and access.• Current educational trends and issues, including national policies, priorities and legislation,

underpinning school effectiveness.• Assessment strategies and the use of assessment to inform progress in teaching and learning.• An understanding of the practical application of key strands of KET’s vision for the school, such

as communication, STEM, new technologies and learning to learn.

thekingstonacademy.org

The Kingston AcademyRichmond RoadKingston upon ThamesSurreyKT2 5PE