Vacancies

Recruitment Process

Application and Recruitment Process and Policies

Recruitment Process

You will need to complete the TES or Greater Jobs online application form. Please do not send CVs or open references as part of your application as these will not be considered.

It is important that you provide a complete employment history from when you left full time education. If the application form is not fully completed or has unexplained gaps in your employment history, your application will not be considered.

Copies of your qualifications will be required at the interview stage; please do not send these with your application.

For TEACHER APPLICATIONS you will also have to include within the body of your TES application form a statement of no more than two sides of A4 to explain why you want to work at our school, why you are the best candidate for this post and what you would contribute to our Trust and school, with examples from your recent work if possible.

Please submit your application form by the specified closing date as we will not be able to consider late applications.

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations, the details provided in the application form will be used for selection and interview procedures, and for employment records if your application is successful. Our recruitment privacy notice with further details is available both on our TES and school website.

If you do not hear from the school within two weeks of the closing date, then please assume that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

The school has an Equal Opportunities Policy. If you have a disability, please give details of how we can ensure that you are offered a fair selection and interview process or if you would prefer, please contact our HR Manager, Mrs McGonagle to discuss any requirements.

Prior to taking up the appointment, successful candidates will be asked to provide documentary evidence (including National Insurance number) showing their entitlement to work in the UK. We will also carry out reference checks, an enhanced DBS and declaration of health check.

Recruitment Policies

Working for us

Bolton St Catherine's Academy is an inclusive, purposeful and high achieving educational community for children and young people aged 3 to 16.

It is located in a £36 million building with innovative spaces and state of the art facilities to support children's learning. These facilities are amongst the very best in the country and support us in delivering a rich, varied and relevant curriculum and fantastic extra curricular activities outside the classroom. We are co-located with Firwood High School with whom we share some central facilities and to whom we also provide some ancillary services.

Our Christian Values..................

The Christian values of hope, valuing self and others, responsibility, truth, forgiveness and justice pervade all aspects of Academy life. The care, guidance and support for our children and young people are exceptional. Our specialisms are business and enterprise, leadership and mathematics and we promote life-long learning.

We have joined with two outstanding schools in the newly formed The Bishop Fraser Trust - St James's C of E High School and Canon Slade School, where there will be opportunities to work collaboratively within the wider MAT community, sharing good practice and building on the much needed improvement work and progress that has been taking place in our secondary phase this year. As a family of Church of England schools we believe we can offer more opportunities to pupils and staff and continue to create an educational environment which celebrates the uniqueness of every child.

Great people......

We aim to recruit outstanding people who have the right attitude. If you have a love for teaching and are passionate about seeing children succeed, we would love to hear from you! For our part, we will provide excellent development opportunities, leadership training and the time to develop all of this so that you can be the best you can be.

Recruiting the right teachers and staff helps us to achieve the goals we set for our children. We are always keen to hear from educators who are passionate about working for the schools and communities we serve. We would rather make no appointment than appoint someone who does not share the same positive ethos that runs through our Academies. For this reason, we try to articulate clearly our vision, values and expectations when putting together information for applicants.

We aim to recruit staff who:

Are excited by their role and by the prospect of working with young people, even those who are less well motivated;

love the processes of learning and teaching and are keen to continually develop their own skills;
recognise that teaching can be a demanding job but react positively to those demands with resilience;
wish to make a real difference in the lives of others;
will subscribe to the ethos of the Trust and 'go the extra mile' in terms of time and commitment to get the very best from our young people;
are quick to praise and slow to criticise;
are not afraid to admit to seeing themselves as potential leaders of the future.

Employee Benefits

In return we can offer:

fantastic facilities.
a supportive and encouraging staff team.
a laptop to use whilst in employment (teaching staff only).
a rigorous and motivational programme of continuous professional development opportunities.
a paid premium to a Healthcare Cash Plan to claim back contributions towards dental, optical and other medical costs.
24/7 access to an Employee Assistance Programme.
access to a Cycle to Work Scheme.
a lunch allowance for those colleagues volunteering to assist in lunchtime duties or activities.
being part of The Bishop Fraser Trust and working in collaboration with Canon Slade School, St James High School, Bury Church of England High School and Horwich St Catherine's Church of England Primary School.

CPD

Staff Development and CPD

“If we create a culture where every teacher believes they need to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better, there is no limit to what we can achieve”

Dylan Wiliam

Principles of Staff Development

All staff are entitled to high quality, well curated and designed continued professional development. It should meet their needs as professionals as well as the wider needs of the academy, ultimately focused on improving the outcomes for young people.

Professional autonomy and mastery are important factors in intrinsic motivation, are critical to staff recruitment and retention, and excellent CPD is an important part of the mechanisms that support staff wellbeing.

Finally, we have a duty to ensure that all staff continue to grow and develop, both for our students, and for the wider educational community. We know that good CPD can be instrumental in keeping good teachers in the profession.

All our CPD in formed by research, both content and approach, to ensure that time is well invested and approaches are effective.

Our CPD offer is extensive, designed and tailored to teachers at all career stages. We offer, as standard, over 60 hours of ring-fenced CPD time across the year.

Underpinning Literature

Our approach to staff development is underpinned by the following:

The Teacher Development Trust 2014 Report – Developing Great Teaching

The EEF 2021 Guidance – Effective Professional Development

Leverage Leadership – Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (2018)

The Coach’s Guide to Teaching – Doug Lemov (2020)

A wide range of other literature has been drawn on to develop and continually fresh the CPD approach, and the content itself is always research and evidence informed.

Instructional Coaching Programme

The primary vehicle for individual staff to continually develop their classroom practice is our instructional coaching programme.

All teachers get an observation once a fortnight, followed by a feedback meeting. Those meetings are scripted, following the principles of instructional coaching.

The programme draws heavily on the work of Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (Leverage Leadership and Get Better Faster) and Doug Lemov (Teach Like a Champion), among other texts and resources.

The 30 coaches across school get over 20 hours of additional CPD to support them in effectively observing, scripting and delivering the feedback and deliberate practice.

The Instructional Coaching Programme focuses on effective implementation of the BSCA 20 Core Routines (The BSCA Way), more can be read about these on the T&L page (INSERT LINK).

Personal Professional Development (PPD) Time

Every other week, during teachers PPD time (3.25-3.55 every Wednesday) teachers will be receiving their coaching feedback. The other week, this time is given over to personal development. Teachers can choose to use this time to read and research around their specific areas for development, to work with colleagues on their pedagogy or engage in CPD activities they feel would benefit them. To support teachers with this, a programme of activities is provided each half term, with a specific focus. These activities include a Teaching and Learning newsletter, links, blogs etc.; pre-recorded CPD sessions from teachers; in person sessions that staff can attend, links to blogs etc. and other activities specific to the theme.

“You know you’re in a good school when: teachers talk about Teaching & Learning regularly” – Tim Brighouse.

Other CPD Sessions:

Core Concepts CPD

Alongside the coaching and PPD time, there is a need for more formal input. This CPD covers key ideas underpinned by current educational research on effective pedagogy, cognitive science, assessment theory and so on. It is this CPD that addresses the teacher knowledges as defined by the Excellent Teaching Model.

Some concepts are revisited periodically, to ensure that the teacher’s body is knowledge is kept up to date and consistent, considering staff movement.

Other topics will be covered based on identified need, through QA activities or school improvement priorities.

Subject Specific CPD

A clear message throughout the literature on effective CPD is including time for subject specific CPD, on both subject specific pedagogy, and subject knowledge.

In 2022/23, we have introduced Specific time in the CPD and meeting schedule for subject specific CPD, set apart from department briefing time that can be used up on administrative processes. This time is designed by curriculum leaders based on the needs of their department and their department development priorities. It is overseen and quality assured by the deputy head for quality of education

It is this time that largely addresses the subject knowledge and subject pedagogy elements of the Excellent Teaching Model.

Other whole school CPD

Finally, we also have sessions given to SEND and to Safeguarding, to CPD on the delivery of PHSE, and to moderation of major assessments.

Deliberate Practice

Staff Deliberate Practice, a model taken from instructional coaching, involved micro-scripting then rehearsing key routines or scenarios.

Delivered in 10-minute slots during the week, while students are in RISE, in department groups, deliberate practice enables routines such as the dismissal to door or meet and greet to be practiced and embedded.

Staff CPD Library

To support staff in engaging in literature, accessing the books that underpin our philosophy and approach, and to provide resource that helps staff make best use of their PPD time, there is a staff CPD library provided within the school library on level 1. Staff are able to borrow books for short or long term, request books that would be of value and share recommendations with colleagues. The CPD library also covers subject specific books that support with specific subject knowledge or subject specific pedagogy.

External CPD and the CPD Board

Where appropriate, staff are able to apply to the CPD board to complete external CPD. This may be statutory requirements for H&S or Safeguarding, or may be for continual development. Each year we support staff to complete a range of NPQs, access high quality external providers for CPD that we cannot provide house, and support staff with wider development, such as the completion of Chartered Teacher Status or Masters qualifications.

ITT and ECT

We believe that supporting new teachers on training and entering the profession is part of our moral duty. We support teachers on all pathways into teaching, including University, Teaching School and direct routes. We also work with TeachFirst, taking candidates in both phases.

We take ITT students from a range of providers on placement blocks throughout the year. The main providers we work with are:

TTLP at St James’ High School
Edge Hill
Bolton University
The Manchester universities

Mentor meetings are timetabled to ensure that trainees are well supported over the course of their placement. We also recognise that the role of the subject mentor presents an excellent developmental opportunity for staff, one which is supported by the professional mentor. It is not always possible to reduce timetable allocations for ITT mentors but do wherever possible. Meetings with all the ITT are coordinated by the Assistant Head for Teaching, but are not regularly calendared due to the varied needs of the different providers.

For our Early Career Teachers, we deliver the Early Career Framework through our local Teaching Hub, based at Star, who are also the appropriate body.

Our first and second year ECTs get a reduced teaching load, and a dedicated mentor, with mentoring period timetabled for them. Alongside their curriculum input from STAR and coaching from their mentor, they also get additional meetings to work collaboratively with other ECTs across the academy.

All ITT and ECTs are able to access all the other CPD that is on offer.

Bolton St Catherine's Academy BELIEVE . STRIVE . CARE . ACHIEVE

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Recruitment Process

Working for us

Employee Benefits

CPD

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Bolton St Catherine's Academy
BELIEVE . STRIVE . CARE . ACHIEVE