Phase: Secondary with sixth form / Role: Teaching / Lecturing
TEACHER OF ART & DESIGN
Full time or Part time, MPS or UPS
The Governing body is seeking a versatile, enthusiastic and skilled teacher of Art and Design to join our expanding and forward-thinking department. The abilities to confidently teach Art and Design at KS3 and Fine Art and Three-dimensional Design at key stages 4 and 5 are required.
Art and Design Three-dimensional Design is being introduced in KS4 in September 2026. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to play a key role in the development of schemes of learning that fully engage and inspire students of different artistic abilities.
Adaptability and strong personal artistic and practical skills covering different art and design disciplines are essential for this role. This is an exciting opportunity for a truly creative practitioner.
The successful candidate will model at least good teaching practice and will be able to engage and inspire students of all abilities both in and out of lessons. They will also be keen to contribute to the school’s extra-curricular life to enhance the opportunities available to our students. A bespoke CPD programme will be tailored to meeting their needs, including NPQs as relevant.
St. John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School is a non-selective coeducational secondary school for students age 11-18. A single site school with free parking, we moved to world-class buildings in the spring of 2023. Our mission statement is that ‘St. John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School inspires students, spiritually and educationally forming them through Faith so that they can achieve their aspirations and contribute to their community’. As a Catholic school, we are passionate about the formation of the whole student, making sure that we develop students into good people as well as ensure they get good results. We are also passionate about work-life balance: teachers have the right to work offsite for their PPA and we offer flexible working arrangements where possible, including for this role.
The school is in Rochester, Medway, a 30-minute distance from London by road or high-speed rail link. Medway benefits from a multimillion-pound regeneration programme bringing new housing developments and facilities for its inhabitants; it also has the lowest council tax rates in Kent. No agencies please. We are happy to offer visits and informal discussions of the role: please contact o.akif@stjohnfisher.school for further information.
Closing date for applications: 9am Monday 19th October.
Interviews: Wednesday 21st October – 9 am
Early applications are encouraged. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a suitable candidate is found. Interviews will take place shortly after the closing date.
Shortlisted candidates only will be contacted for interview which will take place shortly after the deadline. St. John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School is an Equal Opportunities Employer, committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all students. Any offer of appointment will be subject to satisfactory references and an enhanced DBS check will be required for all successful applicants.
St. John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School has a proud history of educating our local Medway community. Established in 1964, we are the only Catholic secondary school in the local authority. One of seven secondary modern schools in the area, we are a diverse community, proud to educate Catholic students as well as those of other faiths and none. We are also proudly comprehensive: for example, SJF’s sixth form offers a wide range of academic and vocational qualifications. It has a comprehensive intake, ranging from students who are re-taking Level 2 qualifications all the way to those who are enrolled in our Oxbridge programme which helps students to reach the top universities.
Our students often refer to us as their second family, and it is a great place to work as a teacher. Our community of staff is incredibly supportive of each other, and our personalised CPD programme means that everyone’s career development is supported in a way that is specific to them. We are passionate about work-life balance, finishing lessons early on a Wednesday afternoon so that CPD and meetings can largely take place during normal school hours, and we provide counselling services free of charge to those who need them. In addition, our feedback policy asks that staff read student books and then get the class to respond collectively in the next lesson in purple pen, rather than requiring that every set of books be deep marked on a frequent basis.
The school has been on a trajectory of improvement since the appointment of the Headteacher, Dympna Lennon, in September 2016. This was recognised in our ‘Good’ Ofsted in May 2019, with inspectors commenting that ‘standards across the school have improved since the last inspection’ and ‘Teaching, learning and assessment are strong across subjects.’ We were proud to be recognised as an ‘Outstanding’ Catholic school in our 2021 Diocesan Inspection. While the pandemic had a devastating impact on many of the families, which did have an impact on our academic results, we have taken robust action to address this and improve our offer for our Medway community.
Having been the recipient of a multimillion-pound grant from the Department for Education, we moved into world-class, purpose-built facilities in Spring 2023. Situated at the top of City Way looking down across Rochester and the River Medway, the school is equipped with enviable sporting and academic facilities, including a large English department on the same floor as our beautiful library, which is positioned right at the heart of the school.
SJF undoubtedly has a proud history, but we are even more excited about the future. We hope that you’ll want to be part of it.