About Us

Harris Academy Battersea is a mixed state secondary school serving a truly comprehensive community in the heart of London. We are an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ school with a track record of delivering fantastic outcomes year on year for our students. In 2023, Ofsted visited the academy and judged us as remaining ‘outstanding’, commenting on our “highly ambitious curriculum”, the “exceptionally high quality of education” provided and noted that “behaviour in the school is very strong”. Nevertheless, we are extremely ambitious for our school and as we seek to continue to grow and develop, we are looking for more brilliant people to join us.

Our Academy is centred on the values of Knowledge, Integrity and Resilience and these underpin the way we work for both students and staff. Our staff are inclusive, diverse and committed to our mission: we develop aspirational young people to thrive in a changing world. 

HABS offers a broad, academic and challenging curriculum founded on six key curriculum aims:

• To develop deep, long-lasting knowledge
• To develop students into accomplished readers, writers and orators
• To provide experiences within and beyond the classroom that enrich learning and ensure students can make informed choices about their futures
• To equip students to challenge injustice in all its forms
• To enable students to understand how they learn
• To support students to reflect on their choices and values to improve themselves and their community

These aims underpin all elements of our curriculum, and we see our core academic curriculum and wider personal development curriculum as intrinsically linked. All staff at the Academy contribute to the personal development of our students through their roles as tutors and through their contributions to the wider life of the academy.

A thriving school can only function with fantastic staff, and our vision is to make teaching at HABS both enjoyable and sustainable. The wellbeing of staff underpins every decision we make, and we seek to ensure that every member of staff can enjoy a work-life-balance enabling them to bring their best to work each day.

At HABS, professional growth and development is central to our mission. Our professional development motto is ‘improve, not prove’ and leaders are relentlessly focussed on supporting staff in getting even better through a wide range of internal and external training opportunities. 

As a part of the Harris Federation, all staff in the Academy benefit from being part of our network of more than fifty primary and secondary academies across London. Vibrant networks of subject experts meet regularly and teachers can access bespoke support from our central teams of consultants.

For more information about what we do and who we are, we encourage you to visit our website here as well as our careers page here and explore!

Main Areas of Responsibility

The purpose of your role will be:

• To be accountable for leading, managing and developing the subject area.
• To raise standards of student attainment and achievement within the whole subject/curriculum area and to monitor and support student progress.
• To ensure the provision of an appropriately broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum for students studying in the department, in accordance with the aims of the academy and the curricular policies determined by the Governing Body and Principal.
• To teach the relevant subject across the age and ability range.
• To facilitate and encourage a learning experience which provides students with the opportunity to achieve their individual potential.
• To effectively manage and deploy staff, financial and physical resources within the department.
• To share and support the school’s responsibility to provide and monitor opportunities for personal and academic growth.

Your main areas of responsibility will fall under the areas of:

• Operational and strategic planning (including formulating the subject and faculty improvement plans, and leading the development of appropriate syllabuses, resources, schemes of work, marking policies, assessment and teaching strategies)
• Ensuring the delivery of an appropriate, comprehensive, high quality and cost effective curriculum and leading development of the subject and its delivery
• Staff development (including recruiting, building and managing an effective team of motivated staff)
• Student outcomes (including ensuring the effective operation of target setting, monitoring and evaluation systems and the input and maintenance of accurate student data)
• Pastoral system (including being a form tutor to a selected group of students)
• Teaching, including acting as an outstanding role model

Qualifications & Experience

The successful candidate will:

• Hold QTS (or equivalent) and a relevant undergraduate degree, and, ideally, management training
• Demonstrate successful teaching of GCSE at good or better level

• Have experience of initiation and effective management of change

• Show evidence of raising achievement in present post and showing good value added for groups

• Have knowledge of current curriculum developments in subject and their implications
• Have good knowledge and understanding of current educational thinking
• Show good understanding of how children learn and how to raise standards of achievement
• Have good communication skills in speech and writing
• Display excellent organisational skills
• Be able to build and sustain professional standards and relationships with students
• Be able to contribute towards creating a safe and protective environment

Professional Development & Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.

In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and b...