CRANBROOK SCHOOL: Learning Support Assistant Teaching/Child Support - Term Time

Start Date: Sep 2016

Pay: B14 £17,327 (9.00 per hour)

We are looking to recruit a Learning Support Assistant (LSA).

The candidate will ideally need to have a good understanding and relevant experience of working with pupils with special educational needs, preferably with some specific experience of working with pupils with ASD in a secondary school. This position will end when the relevant student leaves the school or if the student is no longer entitled to additional support. The hours may also be reduced, should the pupil require less support.

Hours Monday-Friday 9:00-16:00 (flexibility in the hours of work can be negotiated, job share/part-time considered)

This position is term time only, plus 1 week of Inset Days.

An entitlement to join the Kent County Council Local Government Pension Scheme is applicable.

Cranrook School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All staff appointed will be required to pass an enhanced DBS check before commencing employment.

Cranbrook School welcomes applications from people with disabilities.

Cranbrook School has a no smoking policy.

Closing Date: 10/06/2016 at 09:00

Interviews: 20/06/206

Information about the school

Cranbrook School is a mixed state grammar school academy with 756 pupils aged 13-18 years, including 261 boarders. For its first 400 years the school was known as Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School with strong roots in the small town of Cranbrook. Day pupils come from within 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) of the school, following a test to judge their suitability for an academic education. Boy and girl boarders are admitted from a wide area, having sat the same test. Although it is a selective school, Cranbrook admits a wider ability range than many other grammar schools. It provides a challenging curriculum for the academic high flyers whilst at the same time catering to the requirements of those of more relatively modest abilities. The value added scores that are achieved each year bear testimony to the success of the provision.

Pupils join at the age of thirteen and take ten or eleven subjects for GCSE. Most students then qualify for the Sixth Form, this being supplemented by a healthy intake into Year 12 from other schools. All Year 12 students follow a course of AS Levels, leading to A2 levels in Year 13. Last year the GCSE pass rate was 98%, with the A/A pass rate at 60%. At A Level the pass rate was 99%, with 48% A/A grades.

For a state school the facilities are very impressive. Within the seventy acres of school grounds are found the six boarding houses, the Queen’s Hall Theatre (used for assemblies, school productions, visiting theatre companies and concerts), a magnificent library, Lecture Theatre, Sports Hall, recently-extended Dance Studio, Gymnasium, heated outdoor swimming pool, squash courts and extensive playing fields and facilities for the boys’ and girls’ games – hockey, rugby, cricket, lacrosse, netball, tennis and athletics – with an astro-turf pitch. The school also possesses purpose-built Performing Arts Centre and Sixth Form Centre. The school boasts an Observatory and Science Centre, named after Dr Piers Sellers OBE, a former student and NASA astronaut.

As a school, Cranbrook is very keen to educate the whole person and to this end it runs a wide programme of extra-curricular activities, including community service and the voluntary CCF (combined cadet force), as well as a broad range of sports, music and drama, both during the week and at the weekend. We have a long tradition of overseas trips and in recent years groups have travelled to Poland, Morocco, Italy, Crete, Honduras, Tanzania, The Battlefields of Flanders, Southern India, Grenada (West Indies) and the USA. These have been for sports tours, choir tours, cultural exchanges, adventurous activities, scientific research and to work on projects. Cranbrook is an active school which will appeal to those prepared to give generously of their time and to take academic work very seriously. The school seeks to appoint staff who will involve themselves fully in the life of the school and applicants are invited to indicate areas where they would be able to make a contribution.

Some of our staff arrive with us through the GTP programme or after a PGCE here. Most of the links are through Canterbury Christ Church University although not exclusively so. The presence of so many trainees has done much to enhance the pedagogy of all staff and an increasing number of them are becoming accredited mentors to allow them to provide better guidance. For our training work we act alongside another five schools within the West Kent Learning Federation (WKLF). This is a loose federation of eighteen secondary and two special schools as well as two FE colleges.

An interesting blend of the maintained and independent traditions, Cranbrook is a place with deep roots in the past but with its eyes clearly focused on the future. Each year our Academy Improvement Plan focuses on ways to improve staff and student performance and the specific focus for the current year is addressing some underachievement in the Sixth Form. A series of groups, led by different members of staff, investigate and report back on specific areas of interest, such as how to move lessons from good to outstanding. Our most recent Ofsted inspection (July 2011), rated us as ‘Outstanding’ and set the ambitious target for us to raise the percentage of lessons judged as outstanding to 70%.

Much of Cranbrook’s success results from the involvement of its committed Governing Body. The Governors take a genuine interest in the School, attend many of its functions, are involved in the regular reviews of departments and houses and work closely with the core Leadership Group on new initiatives. Boarding is central to the experience of life at Cranbrook and a programme of activities is provided for the boarders remaining on site at weekends. Each of the six houses has its own ethos and identity and a marked sense of house pride. The Heads of Boarding meet every week under the chairmanship of the Director of Boarding to discuss both day to day administration, as well as longer term issues. The group reviews the national boarding standards on a regular basis to ensure that we are meeting them all. As a School we are members of the SBSA and the BSA. The facilities and general comfort of the houses are excellent and the School’s own catering service provides high quality food. We have a long tradition of providing enjoyable outings on Sundays for which a number of staff give up their time. The boarding life of the School enriches everyone’s experience and makes this a most interesting and congenial place to work. The town lies in the Weald of Kent, about fifteen miles from Maidstone, Ashford, Hastings and Tunbridge Wells, and London is just an hour away by train from nearby Staplehurst. General information about the school can also be found on its website.

Our School and all its personnel are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children. This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

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