Teacher of English

Canon Lee Specialist Arts College is a rapidly expanding 11-16 community school on the periphery of the City of York.  The school is part of the highly regarded City of York Education Service and serves a mixed area on the northern side of the City.

The school is fortunate to be within a mile of the centre of the beautiful City of York, yet has easy access to the Yorkshire Dales, Moors, Wolds and the East Yorkshire Coast.

The school was opened in April 1941 and is now an 11-16 comprehensive with catchment from the City centre to the village of Skelton. In recent years large private housing estates have been established nearby and further building in the area is planned.  From September 2000 the school has expanded following the closure of another local school and major building in the area.  Some £5 million has been spent building a new teaching block and sports hall together with considerable refurbishment of existing buildings.  Students at Canon Lee now benefit from some of the best buildings and resources available.  A further £1m has been spent building a new Drama Centre and classrooms.

At the age of 16 approximately 80% of students transfer into post 16 education, mainly at the brand new York College.  York College has an excellent reputation and students from York’s eight 11 - 16 schools have an automatic right of entry to this college which is itself regularly over-subscribed.

Within the past few years the school has become increasingly popular; the current number on roll is 841.

The City of York Education Service

The City of York Education Service was established in 1996. Within the new authority there are 10 secondary schools and 70 primary schools. The Council sees education as a major priority and has, therefore, ensured that all schools are as well funded as possible.   A very active programme of consultation with schools is in place and there is a strong sense of partnership between all schools and the Local Authority.

Students

The ability of students upon entry normally reflects year groups around the national average, however a significant number are identified as Gifted and Talented; the proportion of students with free school meals is around 13%. 

Staff

The school has some 55 full and part time teaching staff, supported by an excellent team of support staff.

The School Leadership Team consists of Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher, four Assistant Headteachers and a Senior Tutor.  In addition, other staff are invited to join the team for a period of time as a personal development opportunity.  The school is organised into teams with Faculty, Subject, Key Stage and Year Team Leaders.

The school is strongly committed to raising achievement and has developed a comprehensive target setting system involving all students and teachers.  There is a strong commitment to the professional development of all staff including NQTs for whom there is an induction programme during the first year.  There is a long standing association with the University of York and York St John in the development of Initial Teacher Training. 

A recent successful Ofsted inspection described the school as “A Good School”

Behaviour

Within this framework there are very clear expectations in terms of student behaviour and discipline.  A system of rewards and sanctions exist and staff strive very hard to implement this as fairly and consistently as possible.  A Learning Support Centre provides additional support.

Special Needs Provision

The Special Needs Co-ordinator is supported by a team of teaching and other support staff.  Most provision for SEN is through withdrawal or additional ‘in-class support’.  The school has a very high reputation for many aspects of the support offered to students with special educational needs.

Specialist Arts Status

The school has an outstanding reputation for the arts and became a Specialist Arts College in September 2005 at the first attempt.  Many students achieve great success in arts based subjects; we work hard to ensure all areas of the school benefit from Specialist Status.

We have a close and productive relationship with York Theatre Royal which benefits many areas of the school.

Community

Canon Lee is the focus for a large amount of community activity with a full range of adult learning opportunities based in the school.  Further community development is a major priority for the future as we support our students to become good citizens.

There are many links with local business and industry with Business advisers participating in Applied GCSE lessons.  It is expected that such links will develop into the future with the introduction of diploma courses.

We work closely with our feeder Primary schools and with York College to ensure all young people in the area benefit from the positive relationship in order to ensure smooth and positive transition.

School Day

In September 2001 we launched a new ‘Continental’ style day with an early start (8.30 am) and finish (2.40 pm) and a highly focused day.  This has opened up enormous potential for developing enhancement and extension activities within the school.  Our CLASS (Canon Lee After-School Study Support) programme provides a wide range of popular activities every evening.

Summary

Canon Lee is:

• A very highly regarded school
• Involved in many innovative and exciting developments
• An exciting place to work
• Recognised for significant progress
• Committed to continuous improvement