Dear Colleague,

Many thanks for your interest in joining the teaching team at Robert Arkenstall Primary School. We are a local authority community school in the lovely village of Haddenham, near Ely. Our new teacher will be joining a lively, friendly and welcoming staff team. Staff here work within a culture of excellence where we champion an evidence informed approach to teaching and learning so that every student has the best possible chances of success. As a school we put staff first because ‘teachers are the foundation of a great education.’ This means we take your well-being and workload seriously as a consistent means to do the best for our pupils.

Pupils, parents and visitors to the school consistently comment on what a warm, welcoming and bustling place it is. You can feel it as you first walk through the door. When you spend more time at Robert Arkenstall that feeling is consolidated by watching and listening to the staff, children and volunteers as they engage in the range of teaching and learning activities which happen every day.

Every member of staff at Robert Arkenstall believes that a child that is cared for, valued and offered a broad range of possibilities will develop skills, confidence and character which will enable them to develop, through childhood, into effective, balanced and confident adults. We know that many schools express such beliefs but we enact them to a very high standard.

Our particular strengths lie in our very positive forward-minded heutagogic staff, who routinely demonstrate their commitment, take the initiative, challenge their own practice and laugh a great deal.  Similarly, our parent body is supportive and committed, with many willing volunteers who regularly enable the school to offer more opportunities to the children. The Governors are highly skilled and committed to their role and are well known around school, participating at events and conducting focussed visits where they speak with pupils and staff to offer support and challenge to the team.

Our greatest privilege is to teach the artists, buddies, computer programmers, environment conscious, fundraisers, gymnasts, mathematicians, musicians, readers, risks takers, school councillors, speakers, sports players, team members, thinkers and writers who spend their days learning at our school. Throughout the school the children are supported with therapeutic behaviour policies and a sound understanding of how children learn; based on metacognition, childhood development and cognitive science so that pupils understand how we collectively endeavour to learn and fully feel they belong within our community. The values of the school direct our thinking and are recognised and enacted by staff and pupils alike, creating a vibrant teaching and learning environment.

We are looking for a colleague who wants to develop their teaching career in our inclusive and equitable school. We are looking for a person who believes in a curriculum grounded in communication, wellbeing and aspiration to excellence in pursuing possibilities and loving learning. We look forward to hearing how you envisage delivering our curriculum with high standards in enabling attainment for all pupils.

As you develop in your role, CPD will offer opportunities to expand your skills and experiences within the team. The role is suitable for ECT and you will have an experienced mentor and PPA teacher supporting you.. Please contact me if you have any questions via my email head@robertarkenstall.co.uk

Please complete the application form and send it with an accompanying letter, no more than 2 sides of A4 which particularly reflect the highlighted areas on the person specification.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Kate Bonney