Head of Creative Arts and Design and Technology, Secondary School

Job Overview

The Arbor School seeks a special individual for an exciting opportunity that has arisen within our school. The successful candidate will play a key role in fulfilling the school’s ecological and sustainability vision, as well as challenging students to fulfil their potential within the academic disciplines. The Arbor School is seeking a highly motivated Head of Creative Arts and Design and Technology to lead the Art, Textiles, Food Technology and Resistant Materials department in the Secondary School.

The department currently consists of two state‑of‑the‑art workshops and three flexible art spaces.

We are looking for an experienced teacher/leader with a passion for this subject area. The successful applicant will be able to teach students of all abilities and demonstrate a proven track record of securing outstanding student outcomes. He/she will be proficient and experienced in teaching Design and Technology, ideally with experience of teaching across GCSE/iGCSE and A Level/BTEC.

Enough For All, For Ever. The Arbor School opened in 2018 with a very different vision of what education could and should be – experiential, authentic and inspired by the natural beauty, human ingenuity, and profound ecological and social challenges of the Arabian Peninsula. We cultivate a learning community uniquely committed to understanding and restoring the health of ecological and human communities as interconnected parts of a whole.

A fundamental belief in the inherent goodness of people and their capacity to act with empathy and compassion underscores the sense of hope that is fundamental to learning for a sustainable future. The resilience and determination to tackle challenges that have grown to global proportion is essential to finding sustainable solutions and orchestrating the social changes needed to grow them to scale.

Arbor teachers are a part of a community which is inclusive, fun‑loving, and active. Arbor teachers enjoy authentic friendships with their colleagues, positive relationships with school leaders, who care for their wellbeing, and are a team in the true sense. Arbor teachers are resilient in the face of challenge, are stable and calm in the face of change, and are creative and flexible when solving problems.

Arbor teachers bring their passions and interests to enrich our school and are clear that there is an expectation to do so. We commit to meeting agreed deadlines, to communicating proactively with an assumption of positive intent and share a passion to provide an education of the highest quality to our students.

The successful candidate will be proficient and experienced in teaching Design and Technology with experience of teaching across GCSE/iGCSE and A Level/BTEC. You will lead the team, with responsibilities across KS3, KS4, and KS5, overseeing Art, Design Technology, Food Technology and Textiles.

• Ensure safeguarding and promotion of student welfare in line with Arbor’s Safeguarding framework, policy and Code of Conduct.
• Positively and actively promote the Arbor vision, mission and values.
• Ensure practice aligns with the Arbor Staff Handbook and the Arbor Support Teacher: A Framework for Outstanding Support.
• Implement school policies, procedures and expected practices, as identified by the Senior Leadership Team.
• Support the development and review of the Design Technology curriculum and schemes of work at KS3, KS4 and KS5.
• Prepare, deliver and evaluate schemes of work in accordance with the National Curriculum, with a particular focus on challenge, pace, high‑order questioning and thinking skills to facilitate students accessing the highest grades at KS3, KS4 and KS5.
• Maintain a well‑ordered, safe and stimulating learning environment, leading by example to encourage a high standard of display work in classrooms and communal areas with an emphasis on celebrating success, sharing achievements and highlighting specialist subject knowledge.

• Native‑level English language skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in Design Technology or a related field, with a PGCE in Education with QTS or equivalent.
• A minimum of…