At The Oaks Academy, we aim to inspire and engage all learners to be creative and innovative, manage and control risks, work safely with a variety of tools and materials, become resourceful, enterprising, and resilient citizens. Design and Technology is about providing opportunities for children to develop their practical capability. By combining their design and making skills with knowledge and understanding of the subject, they learn to create quality products. However, at its core, is creativity and innovation. Students learn to design and make products that solve genuine, relevant problems within different contexts whilst considering their own and others’ needs, wants, and values. To do this effectively, they will acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on additional disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing, and art.

As part of the Design and Technology curriculum, we strive to create an engaging and challenging learning environment that strives to allow all learners to develop their creative thinking and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality products for a wide range of users. Learners are given opportunities to prototype and refine ideas and are encouraged to self-reflect and refine ideas based upon testing and other evaluative factors. Through this, learners can become iterative thinkers and become resilient to the rapidly developing world of design technology.

We work hard to give learners opportunities to become:

• Creative thinkers who use a wide range of research to inform designs and opinions
• To be technical thinkers and engage in practical tasks to develop and improve manufacturing expertise to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
• Strive to build manufacturing knowledge and apply a range of materials knowledge, understanding and skills to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users (across all materials areas)
• Are self-reflective, critical thinkers who will evaluate and test their ideas and manufactured products and the work of others to inform design decisions
• Understand and can apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook, as well as lead a healthy lifestyle.

An OAKS learner will look like:

D= are designers and innovators for the future

T = can choose from a range of materials and technologies to generate and manufacture their ideas

What can we offer you:

• Supportive and inspiring teaching and learning community with regular coaching and mentoring opportunities
• Coherent and well-planned continual profession development with the opportunity to achieve the TEEP (Teacher Effective Enhancement Programme) internationally recognised qualification. This compliments your individual subject pedagogy and supports our whole school approach to teaching and learning
• Enrolment on the national Effective Formative Assessment Dylan William project as a whole school initiative
• Individual subscription to a range of research-based teaching and learning platforms, including:
  - The National College
  - TES Develop
  - Bluesky Learning Modules
• TLP Perks – access to a wide range of discounts and benefits for employees of The Learning Partnership Trust.

The Learning Partnership is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All staff appointments are subject to satisfactory references and enhanced checks with the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS).

All posts involving direct contact with children are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. However, amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013 & 2020) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are 'protected'. These are not subject to disclosure to employers and cannot be taken into account. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found on the Ministry of Justice website.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide details of all unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered, prior to the date of the interview. You may be asked for further information about your criminal history during the recruitment process. If your application is successful, this self-disclosure information will be checked against information from the Disclosure & Barring Service before your appointment is confirmed.

The Learning Partnership is committed to the promotion of equality of opportunity and the elimination of discrimination; all applicants should note that they will be considered on the basis of suitability regardless of disability, gender, race, religion, age, sexual orientation and marital status or any other discrimination which is unfair or unreasonable.

We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities because we would like to increase the representation of these groups at The Learning Partnership. We want to do this because we know greater diversity will lead to even greater outcomes for children. We are proud to be an employer that holds Disability Committed and Menopause Friendly status.

The Trust is ‘happy to talk flexible working’. Flexible working increases workplace diversity by making roles accessible to those with caring responsibilities (primarily women), disabled staff, and both older and younger workers.