Head of Religious Studies

Head of Religious Studies

Wolverhampton Grammar School was founded in 1512 by Sir Stephen Jenyns to provide a “good, moral education” for the children of Wolverhampton. Although that same impulse motivates us today, children now join our School community from across Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, Shropshire and the wider West Midlands region.

We are currently looking to recruit Head of Religious Studies.

The role of a Head of Department encompasses many areas including providing team management, administration and academic leadership and the following are minimum expectations.

Academic Leadership:

• Promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young persons for who you are responsible and with whom you come into contact.
• to establish the department’s aims and objectives and to set and maintain the quality and standard of work
• write a departmental development plan and formulate and execute an annual self-evaluation
• to teach to the highest standard, aiming to be the foremost advocate of the teaching of the subject within the department
• to keep up-to-date of new developments and concepts in the subject
• to ensure that correct procedures are adopted and maintained by all who work in the department
• to keep in touch with developments in Higher Education and with entrance procedures/requirements for particular courses
• to promote improvement of academic standards throughout the School

Administration:

• for each year group, provide appropriate programmes of study, ensuring they are current and that they are appropriately followed
• provide appropriate resources for the department
• to take responsibility for the annual departmental budget, ensuring that expenditure stays within the limits of the budget, and to liaise with the Deputy Head and the Finance director over any additional funding needed
• to arrange the staffing and rooming of the department’s timetable in consultation with the Deputy Head
• to oversee the setting of internal examinations and tests as appropriate, fulfilling any requests made by and meeting any deadlines set by the Deputy Head
• to oversee the writing of reports and assessments
• to oversee the entering of candidates for external examinations, liaising with the Examinations Officer as required and providing predicted grades for candidates
• to keep records throughout the duration of the Headship of department, showing set sizes, common test results, grades achieved in mock exams, grades achieved in public exams and any other details felt to be important to the department
• prior to the annual departmental review, provide an annual review of public exam results
• produce and maintain a thorough Departmental Handbook
• To control text books and equipment in the possession of the department and, within the limits of the budget, to ensure that they are replaced when necessary.

Team Management:

• to review and appraise the work of each member of the department and to encourage and take an interest in the work of each member of the department (including any technical and support staff), especially any new appointees
• to arrange regular meetings of the department in order to discuss pupils’ progress, any common problems and other departmental issues and to share good practice
• to balance the strength which each member of the department might have in teaching a particular ability group with the necessity of avoiding staleness, complacency and inflexibility (which can arise after over-long concentration on one specific set or teaching programme)
• to ensure, in consultation with the Deputy Head, that members of the department receive appropriate opportunities for INSET/professional development
• the Head of Department is required to carry out such additional duties as may be required from time to time for the proper performance of the duties of this role

You may also be required to undertake such other comparable duties as the Head requires from time to time

Person Specification:

• Qualified teacher status
• Good honours degree
• Good A level qualifications
• Experience of teaching in at least two schools
• Teaching and supporting students across all abilities and giving confidence to weaker students
• Experience of teaching A Level Religious Studies
• Experience of whole school and / or department initiatives

Benefits of working at Wolverhampton Grammar School:

• Conduct of students is excellent and they are keen to learn and succeed.
• A supportive and caring working environment for staff and students and a school wide focus on wellbeing.
• Dedicated and bespoke CPD time for all staff and personal development opportunities
• Competitive salary
• Professional development opportunities.
• Access to school facilities and resources.
• Collaborative and innovative work environment.

Our Offer:

We create an environment where our staff can thrive and enjoy the work that they do which enables our young people to flourish, gain confidence, achieve and be happy. We have a reputation for fostering a very caring environment and a great record for investing in staff training and development.

Should you be shortlisted for interview, additional information may be requested at that time.