Head of Subject - Secondary Maths

Head of Subject - Secondary Maths

Reports to: Programmes Director (or Head of Product if the programme is still in pilot)

Location: Currently operating hybrid working in our West London Office. Mondays and Tuesdays are office based

Contract: Permanent

Pattern: Full Time (standard hours 9am - 5.30pm)

Closing date: 27/09/2024 at 10am.

Interviews: w/c 30/09/2024.

Salary: £60,000 to £70,000 (depending on experience).

About the role:

The Head of Secondary Maths provides authoritative educational leadership for their programme, under the pan-programme leadership of the AC+ Education Director. They are responsible for the educational impact of their programme, both in Ark schools and across the wider partnership, with joint responsibility for outcomes within Ark Schools.

The Head of Secondary Maths will work as an integrated part of an Ark subject leadership team to establish a shared vision for subject excellence that underpins how their programme is understood; and they work across AC+ to ensure this feeds into all elements of implementation support and into how their programme evolves over time.

The Head of Secondary Maths will be part of the hands-on Ark Schools work to improve subject outcomes within the Ark network, with responsibility for school support for Ark schools and a further share of their time directed by the Ark School's Director of Curriculum and Assessment. The Head of Secondary Maths will bring insights from this work back into their programme, building towards our vision of a live and responsive partnership.

The Head of Secondary Maths will lead their subject within the programmes team, keeping the team up to date with educational thinking and coordinating all ongoing programme maintenance including high quality assessment writing. The Head of Secondary Maths are also hands-on working alongside the design team on curriculum writing, pedagogical quality assurance and coaching of design team members.

And finally, they build the programme's external profile, sharing the pedagogical and curriculum thinking and building strong advocates for AC+ approaches.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work closely with the Product Strategy Director, Education Director and Heads of Product to inform and support the implementation of a programme strategy that contributes to the overall organisational mission, strategy and sustainability
• Lead identified cross functional projects and activities as appropriate
• Keep abreast of sector and subject developments, legislative changes, research findings and innovative practice relevant to their subject, on a national and international level, working with the Expert Advisory Council to stay connected with the wider subject community
• With the support of the Education Director, arrive at a shared understanding with the wider Ark subject team of how these educational principles translate in their subject and phase; establishing and holding a vision for subject excellence that underpins how their programme is understood and used and evolves over time
• Ensure there is a strong ongoing subject-specific learning and development programme for AC+ teams to build and maintain their subject expertise and pedagogical best practice, and to ensure they are fully trained in educational strategies used across Ark Schools and the Ark Learning Institute
• Maintain a rigorous understanding of the implementation, impact and perceptions of their programme to inform educational priorities, through subject panels, detailed review of assessment outcomes, and school visits, feedback from Ark and non-Ark colleagues, review of metrics and data points, and other user feedback mechanisms
• Review and quality assure existing programme resources, developing a contextual understanding of strengths and weaknesses; building alignment with the Education Director and the Ark subject leadership team around clear educational priorities to continue to improve their programme's impact on teaching and learning
• Provide school support for schools in the Ark Network (initially comprising 16 school visits per year), grounded in AC+'s codified school support model, tailored as needed in collaboration with Ark stakeholders to support Ark schools to implement to a high quality and achieve strong subject outcomes, and to support wider efforts to improve programme impact
• Build and maintain positive relationships with key Ark School stakeholders to drive high levels of school engagement, ensuring proactive, effective and timely communication
• Ensure assessment writing is timely, has rigorous quality assurance and is to a consistent high educational standard that meets school and MAT needs
• Work alongside and coordinate subject team members from across the Programmes team to manage routine year-on-year programme maintenance. This includes overseeing high quality assessment writing; "reprint" corrections to keep resources accurate and error-free; ongoing CPD creation and refinements; and management of new and existing community-based programme components including subject-specific content curation for the annual AC+ conference
• Create clear pedagogical rationale and briefs and train subject team members cross programmes and design as well as external curriculum designers and authors, to deliver a consistently high level of pedagogical content
• Lead pedagogical quality assurance reviews, following guidance as appropriate created by Product Strategy team
• Build the programme's external profile, sharing the thinking on curriculum design and building strong advocates for AC+ approaches, including through building a strong social media presence
• Attend and present at relevant events and conferences representing Ark and AC+ approaches

Key Requirements:

• Educated to degree level
• Shows a significant commitment to ongoing professional development and specialist qualifications
• Demonstrates knowledge of education developments and best practice in teaching
• Strong stakeholder management skills
• Expert communicator
• Has a strategic outlook when making decisions, recognizing the wider impact
• Track record of providing professional development to teachers, including coaching, mentoring, and training
• An experienced and confident leader with a proven ability to lead and implement change effectively and sustainably
• Ability to probe, challenge and question appropriately and strive for continual improvement
• Highly developed communication and interpersonal skills
• Vision aligned with AC+'s high aspirations and expectations of self and others

About Ark Curriculum Plus

Ark Curriculum Plus is a not-for-profit education venture. Our mission is to empower teachers to give every young person, regardless of their background, the subject knowledge and skills that will allow them to succeed.

Grown out of Ark Schools Multi Academy Trust, Ark Curriculum Plus (AC+) is dedicated to supporting teachers in providing consistent, high-quality education, that raises attainment across the school.

We are a team of highly skilled education professionals who have worked with our schools to design and trial curriculum, lesson design and training in the development of our AC+ subject improvement programmes.

We know that to achieve powerful teaching that changes lives, teachers need to have strong subject knowledge, the best evidence-based subject pedagogies, rigorous assessment and effective planning, all working together.

That's why we developed the AC+ Subject Excellence Programmes that follow a 5-Step Improvement Process, based on over a decade's experience of transforming subject results in one of the most respected MATs. We now have almost 1,000 programmes in use across the UK, including the 39 schools in the Ark network.

We are proud of the impact we have had and are having in the schools we partner with. The Education Endowment Foundation found students using Mathematics Mastery Primary made two months' additional progress.

Benefits:

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays, rising with each year of service up to 30 days after 3-years' service. This entitlement is pro rata for part time employees. This entitlement excludes bank holidays
• Full office closure between Christmas and New Year
• Hybrid working, with currently two days a week in our state-of-the-art office in West London working alongside colleagues
• Regular social events, monthly free breakfast, and daily fruit
• A flexible approach to working with understanding and consideration for work life balance and personal commitments
• As an Ark employee, you will have the opportunity to be part of the TPT (The Pension Trust) scheme, our workplace pension scheme where we make an 11% contribution; you are not required to contribute towards this scheme unless you choose to
• Access to high-quality professional learning throughout your career, offering both face-to-face sessions and a bespoke online learning platform
• Access to Ark Rewards scheme offering savings from over 3,000 major retailers, interest-free loans available for season tickets or a bike, gym discounts offering up to 40% off your local gym and free eye tests

How to Apply:

Apply with a CV and cover letter on our online recruitment portal. Applications to be submitted by Friday 27 th September 2024 at 10am but please note . click apply for full job details