Lead Practitioner

Become a Lead Practitioner - Geography at Strood Academy and spearhead efforts to elevate standards and enrich teaching and learning across our academy. As a pivotal member of our leadership team, you'll be instrumental in translating our academy's vision into exceptional classroom practices, fostering a culture of excellence throughout.

Your core duties will encompass developing and executing strategies for teaching and learning, curriculum planning, professional development, and fostering teamwork. You'll champion positive student engagement by setting high expectations, delivering outstanding lessons, and cultivating an inspiring learning environment. Leading the charge in Geography, you'll establish tailored systems and procedures to enhance teaching and learning within the subject. Your role will also involve delivering top-notch lessons, mentoring colleagues, and strategically analysing data to drive continuous improvement. Join us in our mission to deliver outstanding educational outcomes, bridge achievement gaps, and keep our pedagogical approaches at the forefront of innovation and effectiveness.

Our successful candidate will have:

• Degree in the relevant subject
• Qualified Teacher Status, or equivalent
• Successful classroom practitioner with experience in co-educational comprehensive schools
• Evidence of commitment to extra-curricular and enrichment provision
• Detailed knowledge of the national curriculum in the relevant area
• Proven track record of successful strategies for raising achievement and sharing good practice
• Evidence of enabling students to work to the highest standards
• Good administrative skills
• Successful experience of team working
• Evidence of leadership skills and experience
• Good record of punctuality
• Commitment to Equal Opportunities
• Desire and capacity for further promotion

The basis of this role is full-time, permanent and offering a salary of leadership scale commensurate with experience.

Do you know a great teacher who would like to hear about opportunities with Leigh Academies Trust? If so, make a referral today for the chance to receive £100 as a 'thank you'. Simply complete the referral form by clicking here. T&Cs apply.

Working with Strood Academy: Since opening in 2009, our academy has transformed the educational opportunities and outcomes for girls and boys in Strood. The improvement in academic performance has been driven by a talented and committed workforce, the hard work of our students, and support from parents and our community. Our new buildings in Carnation Road were designed in partnership with Nicholas Hare and built by BAM as our main contractor at a cost of £26m. They opened in September 2012 and have outstanding learning environments and outside play areas as well as fantastic sports facilities. The buildings reflect our education vision of creating a mature and purposeful educational environment where children of all abilities can learn and thrive. for Strood Academy:

Our vision is to be an inclusive community where we are all kind, respectful and resilient in our journey towards excellence. Our students thrive through an enriching and diverse curriculum that offers a global perspective, empowering all to become inquisitive lifelong learners.

Our core values are to be:

• Inquisitive
• Respectful
• Resilient
• Kind

Our purpose at Strood Academy is to:

• nurture students’ aspirations and build resilience within an environment of tolerance, respect and empathy;
• shape leaders within a global community;
• develop and celebrate knowledgeable and inquiring minds to promote lifelong learning and;
• help young people develop into well educated, considerate and caring citizens.

We have a growing roll call of 1400 children, including 200 in Sixth Form. Working in our academy takes a lot of dedication and hard work, but for the right individuals, it can be an incredibly rewarding experience and contribute significantly to personal and professional development.

Why work at Strood Academy?

• Our recent OFSTED inspection has confirmed that the academy continues to be judged ‘Good’ and is very strong in many aspects and areas. The full report can be found on our website and I would like to share a quote which reflects the culture and ambition we all have for our students.

‘The principal advocates a culture of high expectations, aspirations and traditional values. Leaders’ high expectations are reflected in the ambitious International Baccalaureate curriculum. This provides a global perspective which encourages pupils to be inquisitive lifelong learners’. To read the full report please click here.

• Centralised behaviour system and detentions - simple for teachers to follow allowing disruptive free classrooms.
• Our commitment to the development of all staff - CPD on Wednesday afternoons and the opportunity to collaborate with staff from other schools in the LAT. Also all staff at Strood receive regular coaching feedback through our on-line platform on-track.
• Strood academy is easily accessible by A2 and the high speed train can allow for travel into London in less than 30 minutes.
• We have a common sense approach to workload. All teachers are expected to feedback or live mark. We also work closely as a Trust allowing for centralised resources to be shared across our secondary schools.

Being part of Leigh Academies Trust: As of 1st September 2024, our Trust comprises 33 geographically organised academies (17 secondaries, 14 primaries and 2 special) educating more than 24,000 students and employing 4,000 talented staff. Currently, 14 of our academies are considered to be “Outstanding” which is nearly 50% of those which have been inspected whilst part of the Trust. The Trust is establishing three ‘clusters’ of academies: LAT Central; LAT West; LAT North. In addition, the Trust is responsible for one of the region’s biggest initial teaching training organisations, a large teaching school hub and is an accredited apprenticeship provider. Our future plans are found in our Vision 2030 document available on our website.

As part of Leigh Academies Trust, you will have ample opportunity to collaborate with your peers both within the academy and across the whole Trust. This is an important part of our vision as we know through experience that we perform better when we work together. You are supported to undertake regular self-development to continue your professional development and hopefully progress further within the organisation.

Click here to view the benefits available to all LAT employees from day one.

Our commitment to safeguarding: Leigh Academies Trust and all of our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our pupils, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We adopt a fair, robust and consistent recruitment process across all academies and business units which is inline with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. This includes online checks for shortlisted candidates - you can read more about this in our Recruitment Guidance. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check.

Our commitment to equality and diversity: As a Trust, we are passionate about diversity and recognise that as individuals, we all bring something unique to the role regardless of any protected characteristics which is why we treat all of our people equally, without compromise. We are committed to providing equality and fairness throughout our recruitment and employment practices and not discriminating on any grounds.

Based on the quality and quantity of applications received, Leigh Academies Trust reserves the right to close this vacancy sooner than the specified closing date. Applicants will be notified of this where possible. Therefore, early applications are encouraged.

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