13
Dear Applicant
This is an exciting time for our school. The Governing Body look back over the last few years with a sense of real pride in what continues to be achieved by the leadership, staff and students of Plymstock School.
Plymstock School has undergone several changes over the past 10 years. We have developed from a community school into a foundation school, become a trust school and are now a successful academy. Our current headteacher will be retiring at the end of this academic year after over 9 years of strong leadership. We are therefore beginning the search for a new headteacher who will lead Plymstock School into the next stage of its development.
To become the successful candidate, you will undergo a rigorous and challenging selection process. As our new headteacher you will work with a first class leadership team and staff and enjoy the backing of a dedicated and supportive team of governors who will value your creativity and innovation.
We are seeking someone who can act as a leader, figurehead and ambassador for Plymstock School, who can inspire the confidence of peers, staff, students and parents, and who can help us take the next step in our improvement journey. You will have already made a tangible difference in improving outcomes and performance within a comprehensive school and you will be looking forward to the chance to make a real difference, both personally and through the empowerment of your leadership team. You will be able to influence and inspire others, you will be innovative and challenging, and you will be excited by the opportunities working at Plymstock School will bring. Most importantly you will be able to retain an unerring focus on helping every single student within our school to maximise their potential and be the very best that they can during their time with us.
Full application details are attached along with further information which I hope you will find to be useful. Thank you in advance for the time that I know you will commit to this process.
Yours faithfully
Kevin Bunt Vice Chair of Governors
Background
At our last Ofsted in 2013 we were designated as a good school with outstanding judgements in Leadership and Management and Behaviour and Safety. Our curriculum has always been designed with value for students in mind and although this has not always helped us in the league tables, students have achieved well and left with a balanced and valuable set of qualifications.
Ability on entry is broadly average and approximately 20% of each year group is eligible for Pupil Premium Funding. Our student progress data last year was a cause for celebration and we successfully halved our gap between progress of Pupil Premium and other students. Plymstock School achieved a Best 8 Value Added score of 1013.3, putting us in the top 14 per cent of all schools nationally and the progress made by students from disadvantaged backgrounds placed us in the top 7 per cent. Our success was mirrored at ‘A’ level, with the attainment and progress of our post 16 students also in the top 14 per cent. 52% of students achieved 5 A*- C including English and Maths in 2015 with 30% of students achieving the English Baccalaureate.
Our ambition is to provide the best possible education for our students to enable them to have the best opportunities in life when they leave Plymstock School. Our five year record of zero NEETs is a testament to this ambition. As an Ofsted outstanding school we converted to academy status in March 2011 and have benefited greatly from the additional freedoms this has given to us. Plymstock School was a very successful Sports College and still retains some of the Sports College ethos. We are one of the two hub sites for the Plymouth School Sports Partnership.
Plymstock is a suburb of Plymouth and lies approximately three miles to the east of the city. It is within easy access of the A38 and staff commute from Cornwall, Dartmoor and the South Hams. Extensive building programmes have resulted in enviable facilities. We have built over £10 million of buildings in the last 12 years in more than seven different projects. This has resulted in all departments teaching in modern, specialist facilities. It also tells you about our drive and ability to get results; all these developments were as the result of successful bids, and all the building processes were managed by ourselves – on budget and on time. Plymstock School has 1560 students on roll, including over 300 in the Sixth Form. There are approximately 103 full time and part time teachers, with over 120 support staff. Intake projections for the future are very positive and we expect to be oversubscribed in September 2017.
Relationships between staff and students here are excellent. We see evidence of this in the time which staff devote to giving students individual help out of classes and the time and energy they commit to trips. Our students are generally well motivated and responsible, and we receive many plaudits when they are out and about on visits. Plymstock School takes pride in the outstanding behaviour of our students and we work hard to generate a positive learning environment where teachers can teach and students can learn. We are a fully comprehensive school. We are as proud of our students who overcome disadvantage to achieve success as we are of our successful Oxbridge applicants.
We are very clear in our belief that our staff are our best resource, and invest a lot of time and resources in continuous professional development. We work closely with the South West Teaching Schools Alliance and Challenge Partners. We place a great deal of importance on supporting NQTs. All of our NQTs have an individual department based mentor as well as mentoring from a senior member of staff and a regular seminar programme. We do our very best to offer all our staff a continuous training programme as their career enters different stages from NQT through to preparation for middle and senior leadership, and then on eventually to headship. Our policy is to train our own staff who can then lead others.
We have an admission number of 260 students in each year group which we organise into ten tutor groups. Each year group is led by a Head of Year with an Assistant Headteacher taking strategic responsibility for the progress and achievement of the year group. Students have both a strong year group and house identity. We have five houses, with two tutor groups from each year group making up each house. Our pastoral support is further strengthened by our five non-teaching house leaders who are based in ‘The Hub’, our student support base. We have a very clear vision of what makes teaching and learning at Plymstock distinctive. Learning here is exciting, inspiring, engaging and effective.
Our Sixth Form offers a wide programme of A2, AS, Applied and Technical Awards. We are very proud of the breadth of our curriculum with many opportunities for enrichment as part of the Sixth Form which prides itself on being a thriving community of its own.
We have a rich extra-curricular programme which is always changing and always developing. We run many sports teams who achieve County and national success, and stage concerts and drama productions throughout the year. Other clubs and activities range from cheer dance to surfing! We hold an Activities Week during the Summer Term where all students opt for residentials or daily activities. All Year 10 students participate in work experience at this time.
Person Specification for the post of Headteacher
Essential Desirable
Qualifications Qualified teacher status Good honours degree or equivalent
NPQH
Experience Successful recent experience of whole school leadership in a comprehensive school
Proven track record of leading sustained school improvement
Experience of leading and managing innovation and change
Experience of performance management and appraisal processes to maximise the contribution of colleagues throughout the school
Proven track record as an excellent teacher
Proven track record of developing community links
Experience of collaborative working with other schools/organisations
Skills Proven ability to drive sustained improvements in teaching and learning
Proven ability to analyse and interpret student performance data, set challenging targets, devise and oversee effective intervention strategies and monitor outcomes
Ability to empower, challenge and motivate staff to become high performers as individuals and as teams
Ability to develop, embed and maintain systems and processes to ensure excellent outcomes are delivered
Ability to build and develop strategic partnerships
Ability to communicate vision confidently, clearly and passionately
Proven ability to build capacity in colleagues through coaching or mentoring and brokering/delivering INSET
Knowledge Thorough knowledge of the statutory requirements and relevant legislation relating to school leadership and management, including health and safety, child protection and safeguarding
Understanding of current issues in education locally and nationally
Personal qualities and attitude
Strong personal presence Determination and commitment with
an exceptional capacity for productive work
Sense of personal drive and ambition Enjoys being highly visible and
meeting with a range of audiences Approachability, openness and
integrity
Potential to lead the investigation into the formation of a MAT
Job Description for the post of Headteacher
Post reports to: Chair of GovernorsStaff reporting to this post: All teaching and support staff
Job Description
The Core purpose of this role is:
To provide professional Leadership and Management of the school that will promote a secure foundation from which to achieve high standards
To achieve success, the Headteacher will work with the Governing Body and other key stakeholders to:
1. Provide vision, leadership and direction. 2. Effectively lead teaching and learning. 3. Promote excellence, equality and high expectations of all students. 4. Deploy resources to achieve the school’s aims. 5. Evaluate school performance and identify priorities for continuous improvement. 6. Carry out day-to-day management, organisation and administration.7. Secure the commitment of the wider community. 8. Create a safe and productive learning environment that is engaging and fulfilling for
all students.
Key Responsibilities(taken from National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers – January 2015)
Qualities and Knowledge
1. Hold and articulate clear values and moral purpose, focused on providing a world class education for all students.
2. Demonstrate optimistic personal behaviour, positive relationships and attitudes towards students and staff, and towards parents, governors and members of the local community.
3. Lead by example - with integrity, creativity, resilience, and clarity - drawing on their own scholarship, expertise and skills, and that of those around them.
4. Sustain wide, current knowledge and understanding of education and school systems locally, nationally and globally, and pursue continuous professional development.
5. Work with political and financial astuteness, within a clear set of principles centred on the school’s vision by translating local and national policy into the schools context.
6. Communicate compellingly the school’s vision and drive the strategic leadership, empowering all students and staff to excel.
Students and Staff
1. Demand ambitious standards for all students, overcoming disadvantage and advancing equality, instilling a strong sense of accountability in staff for the impact of their work on students’ outcomes.
2. Secure excellent teaching through an analytical understanding of how students learn and of the core features of successful classroom practice and curriculum design, leading to rich curriculum opportunities and students’ wellbeing.
3. Create an ethos within which all staff are motivated and supported to develop their own skills and subject knowledge, and to support each other.
4. Identify emerging talents, coaching current and aspiring leaders in a climate where excellence is the standard, leading to clear succession planning.
5. Hold all staff to account for their professional conduct and practice.
Systems and Processes
1. Ensure that the school’s systems, organisation and processes are fit for purpose, upholding the principles of transparency, integrity and probity.
2. Provide a safe, calm and well-ordered environment for all students and staff, focused on safeguarding students and developing their exemplary behaviour in the school and in the wider society.
3. Establish rigorous, fair and transparent systems and measures for managing the performance of all staff, addressing any under-performance, supporting staff to improve and valuing excellent practice.
4. Welcome strong governance and actively support the governing body to understand its role and deliver its functions effectively – in particular its functions to set school strategy and hold the headteacher to account for student, staff and financial performance.
5. Exercise strategic, curriculum-led financial planning to ensure the equitable deployment of budgets and resources, in the best interests of students’ achievements and the school’s sustainability.
6. Distribute leadership throughout the organisation, forging teams of colleagues who have distinct roles and responsibilities and hold each other to account for their decision making.
The Self-Improving School System
1. Create an outward-facing school which works with other schools locally and nationally.
2. Develop effective relationships with fellow professionals and colleagues in other public services to improve academic and social outcomes for all students.
3. Challenge educational orthodoxies in the best interests of achieving excellence, harnessing the findings of well evidenced research to frame self-regulating and self-improving schools.
4. Shape the current and future quality of the teaching profession through high quality training and sustained professional development for all staff.
5. Model entrepreneurial and innovative approaches to school improvement, leadership and governance, confident of the vital contribution of internal and external accountability.
6. Inspire and influence others - within and beyond the school - to believe in the fundamental importance of young people’s education.
The headteacher will carry out his/her professional duties in accordance with and subject to, the National Conditions of Employment for Headteachers and Education and Employment legislation.
This job description is subject to annual review
The Application and Recruitment Process
Salary
Salary: LS 33 to 39Location: Plymouth DevonContract: Full-Time, PermanentNo. on roll: 1560
The Application Process
We need you to submit the following documents:
1. A letter of application of no more than two sides of A4, addressed to Kevin Bunt, Vice Chair of Governors, Plymstock School, which explains your motivation for applying and outlines your suitability for the role, including how you satisfy the requirements of the Person Specification. Please confirm in your letter that you are available for the interview dates, around which there is no flexibility.
2. The Headteacher application form. The application form can be accessed on the Plymstock School website:
3. A safer recruitment self-disclosure form which is available on the website.
The deadline for receipt of applications is 9am on Monday, 14 March 2016 applications can be emailed to [email protected]. or posted to Mr Bunt, c/o Ms Buckler, Personnel Assistant at the school address.
If you would like to visit the school or the opportunity to discuss the post with the current Headteacher, Mr David Farmer, please contact Claire Peters on 01752 402679 or email [email protected].
The Selection Process
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend a two-day selection process at the school on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 March. This will include the opportunity to tour the school and to meet some key people. Further details will be provided at the point of invitation to attend.
Plymstock School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect this commitment. All successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service checks along with other relevant employment checks.
