Succeeding Together

Plymstock School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The post is subject to receipt of a satisfactory enhanced DBS clearance, which will include, if appropriate, a letter of good conduct from any country in which an applicant has worked or lived in within the last 5 years; plus prudent checks of references and employment history. The interview will include questions about safeguarding children.

No two schools are ever the same, but we believe that Plymstock School is a truly unique and special place to work. Our objective is simple – we want to be a world-class learning community that enables all young people to succeed.

We are very successful and are the top performing non-selective school in the city, and one of the highest in the South West for Progress 8, Attainment 8 and EBacc. However, our aspirations spread beyond the region and we are aiming to be in the top 1% of all schools nationally.

We are a very popular choice with parents and are significantly oversubscribed. Consequently, we are expanding our Year 7 school intake from 260 to 290 students each year.

In September 2017, we joined forces with a group of four other secondary schools (Coombe Dean School, Hele’s School, Ivybridge Community College and Callington Community College) and eight primary schools, to form the Westcountry Schools Trust (WeST). Our mission statement is ‘Stronger together…every child in a great school’. We are the largest and highest performing multi-academy trust in the area. You will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with colleagues across a network of likeminded schools – sharing new ideas, expertise and pooling resources. WeST also offers significant potential career development opportunities.

Teaching and learning is at the heart of what we do at Plymstock. Our curriculum is broad, balanced and provides students with the opportunity to discover their hidden talents. You are not told how to teach here and are given the freedom to do what works for you in your area of expertise. We do however, insist all staff have the highest expectations of every child, regardless of background, and use evidence-based practice in the classroom. Our school improvement plan is short, simple and focused on the classroom. Our key foci, rooted in EEF research, are Kagan cooperative learning (EEF+5), developing metacognitive approaches (EEF+8), IaCT (Improvement and Correction Time – our streamlined approach to feedback (EEF+8)) and homework (EEF+5).

Our standards of discipline are very high and consequently teachers really can teach at our school. Our behaviour management system is simple, quick and highly effective. We are a school that still subscribes to traditional expectations for behaviour, and you will find many things that you won’t see elsewhere, such as all students standing when an adult enters a classroom.

We take workload seriously and have reduced the volume of meetings, addressed marking/feedback load, eliminated low-level disruption and importantly we listen to staff feedback and make positive changes wherever possible.

Relationships between staff and students are great and a real strength of this school. Our staff are happy, morale is good and staff turnover is low – people want to work here.

We have received much recognition of our work. We are the only school in Plymouth chosen to be featured in the national Good Schools Guide, in addition to being selected as one of the ‘500 Best State Secondary Schools’ by the Sunday Times. Our innovative work with disadvantaged students has resulted in Challenge Partners designating us as a Lead school for Challenge the Gap, in which we lead a hub of other Plymouth schools.

If you are still interested there are a number of questions we need you to consider next. Are you someone who…

• believes in, and is committed to, our ambition to be world-class
• sees working with young people as a vocation or calling rather than just a job
• believes that improvement is continuous and that we can always learn more
• will go the extra mile for our great students
• stays positive, committed and won’t give up, even when times are tough
• doesn’t have a big ego and is committed to the team
• is polite and respectful to others, and understands the importance of strong and supportive working relationships
• has a good sense of humour
• has an excellent attendance record
• brings solutions and ideas, rather than problems (moaners need not apply)
• is open to new ideas and will always give something a try

If you can say yes to all of these and want to work in an exciting and dynamic environment, with an amazing group of students and a top-quality team of staff – then Plymstock School is for you and we would warmly welcome your application.