Teacher of MFL - French & Spanish

WOLSTANTON HIGH SCHOOL - A HUMANITIES COLLEGE

Wolstanton High is a larger than average non-selective community secondary school which is facing up to the challenges of a changing political and social landscape with ever increasing versatility and strength of purpose.

Our overall goal is to ensure that students leave with the best opportunities for continuing their education, equipped with essential qualifications, a sense of direction and an understanding of the wider world awaiting them in a global economy.

As a Specialist Humanities College we aim to engage our school community and local, national and international partners. Through ‘Events Horizon’, our programme aimed at engaging groups from within our locality, we operate weekend functions which range from Heritage Fairs, including re-enactments and genealogists, to ‘Wheels Day’ featuring everything from vintage cars to motorbike clubs. We mount fashion shows, dance shows, rock and roll evenings and successfully draw members of the public through our doors who otherwise would have little to do with the school.

Our interest in widening our horizons includes a British Council Comenius Project, working with schools from Finland, Spain, France and Germany as well as International links with schools in China and Tanzania. Through technology it is easy to keep close contact with our International partners and share our work both within the classroom and in school leadership.

In order to provide as much of a personalised approach as possible the school is divided into four ‘mini-schools’ which are run by their own leadership team: a Director of School, School Leader for Achievement and Support, Leader in Learning, Student Tracker and Curriculum Co-ordinator as well as subject Directors of Learning.

The Schools are self contained units in which three subject departments and their staff are organised within an area of the school zoned for their use. Tutor groups are clustered in the same geographical space, students wear ties which denote their School and are responsible for the upkeep of their areas. Each School has a Head Boy, Head Girl and team of Prefects who help run the Council system and act as Buddies against Bullying.

As a Specialist School we benefit from the research and exemplar works carried out by the SSAT and have developed our Learning and Teaching to take account of the need to design our systems for the 21st Century. Accepting that workforce reform was necessary, we have built a range of teaching and non-teaching posts which support students and focus on their needs in a range of ways, combining pastoral and academic roles. Teachers and support staff are form tutors and we operate vertical groups to better emulate a sense of ‘family’ and give opportunities for students to take responsibility for others.

Our staff have job descriptions which clarify their responsibilities within the four areas of pedagogy exemplified by the work of David Hargreaves and others for the SSAT: Deep Leadership, Deep Learning, Deep Support and Deep Experience and reflect a focus on the gateways to achievement and development we value.

Our results continue to improve year on year, our staff are professional and highly involved in CPD, our students are beginning to develop greater self esteem and we are developing our Schools into learning villages where lifelong learning is seen as a goal.