Plymstock School is a large non-selective secondary school which is part of the Westcountry Schools Trust, a tight-knit family of schools, who share the same vision of every child in a great school. The school is located in a suburb of Plymouth and lies approximately three miles to the east of the city. It is within easy access to the A38 and we have staff that commute from Cornwall, Dartmoor and South Hams.

Our ambition is to empower our young people, through education, to have the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in life and make a positive difference to their communities. Our school culture is underpinned by our core values of be kind, work hard and aim high.

We believe that the key to achieving our ambition is giving every single student a broad, balanced and ambitious academic curriculum. In doing so, we know that our students will be provided with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve well, which provides them with the opportunity and choice to pursue their personal and career ambitions.

At the heart of our school community is our wonderful library which supports us with one of our key priorities, reading, which is a real strength of our school. Students have the opportunity to read daily, through our DEAR and Tutor Reading programme, developing a love of reading and accessing high quality and challenging texts. Where students may find reading a bit more challenging, we prioritise providing those individuals with the support needed to help them become competent and engaged readers.

Alongside our academic curriculum, we are proud of the wide range of extra-curricular opportunities we provide our students, from sports to drama and music to science. In addition, we aim to offer cultural experiences beyond the school gates, including work experience, student leadership, trips, visits, excursions and our annual enrichment week programme. Our students value these experiences as it enables them to further develop their skills, knowledge and experiences to support their personal development as young people. Alongside this, we aim to prepare our young people for the demands and challenges of our ever-changing multicultural society and to be equipped for life in modern Britain.

We believe that students will fulfil their talents and abilities within a framework of high expectations, and we work hard in ensuring that we create a culture where we establish clear routines to enable all students to consistently meet our school CORE expectations. We focus on developing strong, respectful and positive relationships within our school community, where everyone conducts themselves safely and appropriately and are organised to ensure learning is maximised, where mutual respect is shown and where students are willing to apply themselves with the effort needed to aim high and achieve well.

Our pastoral care provision is strong and where students find it difficult to meet our CORE expectations, we endeavour to work with the student and the parent/carer to support. Our year teams, along with our wider pastoral, welfare and inclusion teams work hard to create a safe and supportive environment in which all pupils can thrive.

Why work at Plymstock School?

Our school provides the opportunity for the right staff to be part of a vibrant, inclusive and ambitious community. We place an emphasis on establishing and maintaining the highest standards and expectations in achieving excellence through our curriculum and culture.

We encourage a collaborative approach, with a focus on professional development with the aim of ensuring that every child in every classroom, on every corridor has a consistent experience and is able to access high quality teaching and learning.

We have a centralised behaviour support system, which focuses on disruption free classrooms to enable teachers to teach and children to learn. We hold the ambition for every child to achieve well in all of their subjects. Our staff develop positive and trusting relationships which is a strength within our school community.

We welcome applications from individuals who are able to demonstrate the following characteristics:

• Commitment – to working with children and young people in the belief that they can improve their life chances.

• Passionate – about children and young people
• Resilience – is willing to go above and beyond for children and young people.
• Team Player – positively contributes to co-construction solutions and helps others to be better.
• Adaptable – embraces change and pursues opportunities to continuously improve the quality of education for all.

If you are able to demonstrate these characteristics and want to join a team that is focused, committed and passionate in making a difference, we look forward to receiving your application.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.  An enhanced DBS is required for this post.