Lead Practitioner of English

This is a fantastic opportunity for an aspiring leader to develop their career with the support of an excellent leadership team and strong school culture at Ark Blake Academy. The role is ideally suited for an exceptional practitioner who is committed to inspiring students to achieve the best possible academic outcomes as well as developing the quality of classroom practice across the department and wider school.

The role of Lead Practitioner is critical to the continuing progress of the academy.  It is essential to how we will achieve the highest standard of teaching and learning in every classroom.  Lead Practitioners are excellent classroom practitioners who secure student outcomes for all students in their own classrooms as well as through the development of others’ teaching.

As part of the English Department, the Lead Practitioner will take a leading role in developing the classroom practice of teachers within the department. The Lead Practitioner will likely work with a particular cohort of teachers, for example, trainees and may also have a remit beyond the department.  Lead Practitioners carry out individual coaching, delivering inset or training, as required and will work alongside the Vice Principal, Teaching & Learning to support the whole school priorities.

You will: 

• Be vision aligned with our approach to curriculum and teaching
• Have genuine passion and a belief in the potential of every student
• Have up-to-date knowledge in the curriculum area
• Be motivated to continually improve standards and achieve excellence

• Collaborative planning, centralised or shared resources
• Clear and consistent behaviour systems
• Knowledge rich curriculum & traditional T&L approach
• Highly visible supportive leaders who have your back
• Centralised daily detentions
• Realistic and manageable feedback policy
• Excellent CPD opportunities – internal & within network
• Thoughtful and impactful meeting schedule with time for co-planning
• Friday afternoon co-planning following earlier student dismissal
• Free breakfast daily

Ark Blake Academy is a growing and successful academy based in East Croydon that opened in September 2020.  We are consistently oversubscribed in every year group and currently have students in Years 7–11.  We continue to grow and look forward to our first cohort of students completing their GCSE studies in the summer of 2025.  We now wish to recruit for further key roles to drive forward our ambitious plans.

At Ark Blake Academy, our mission for the school is to embed a powerful knowledge-rich curriculum and provide fantastic opportunities for character development, all underpinned by an environment where exemplary behaviour is the norm.  In terms of our school culture, it is based around the simple but powerful belief of ‘working hard, being kind and taking responsibility’.  We aim to become a leading school in London as quickly as possible by living out this day to day belief.