Working at TyneMet College
College information
Tyne Metropolitan College, known as TyneMet, was formed in 2005 by the amalgamation of North
Tyneside General FE College and Tynemouth Sixth Form College.
TyneMet delivers education and training provision in all 15 Sector Subject Areas through a wide range of
qualifications from Entry Level to Foundation Degree. There are three campuses, all within the Borough of
North Tyneside. Queen Alexandra Campus in North Shields caters for A Level provision and also hosts the
Creative Studios and TMC, Benton, provides the base for Construction provision. The majority of
vocational teaching takes place at the Coast Road campus in Wallsend. Apprenticeship provision is also
delivered off-site for a variety of employers in the region.
The College is judged to have “Outstanding” partnership working by Ofsted. A wide network of partnership
arrangements exist which both enhance learning opportunities and the students’ learning experience. The
College is committed to working in close partnership with North Tyneside Council to develop the skills base
of the Borough and contribute to its economic regeneration and prosperity.
TyneMet’s Mission is “Raising Aspirations; changing lives.”
Our Vision is:
“To excel in everything we do so that more individuals, businesses and communities actively plan their
futures in partnership with us.”
Alongside this, the College has a set of values to encourage the behaviour we need to achieve our vision
and strategic objectives. These are:
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Aspiration
Excellence
Inclusion
Innovation
Partnership
Professionalism
The College has maintained eligibility to use the ‘two ticks’ symbol since December 2006 signifying our
commitment to employ, keep and develop the abilities of disabled people. In line with the award, the
College has made commitments regarding recruitment, training, retention, consultation and disability
awareness. These commitments are in relation to: guaranteeing interviews to all disabled applicants who
meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and to consider them on their abilities; discussing, at least
annually, how disabled employees can develop and use their abilities; supporting employees who become
disabled stay in employment; supporting employees to have an appropriate level of disability awareness;
and to review our commitment and plans each year.
The College is also committed to developing the staff within the organisation and providing opportunities
for both personal and professional development and has held the Investors In People (IIP) award for 10
years, achieving Investors in People Silver status in January 2014.
At the latest Ofsted Inspection in May 2014, the College achieved a judgement of Good for Overall
Effectiveness. Each element of the inspection - outcomes for learners, the quality of teaching, learning and
assessment and the effectiveness of leadership and management were also all judged as Good. Matching
HR Contact Details:
HR Department, Tyne Metropolitan College, Battle Hill Drive, Wallsend NE28 9NL
recruitment@tynemet.ac.uk | Tel 0191 229 5151 (24hr answerphone)| www.jobs.tynemet.ac.uk
Working at TyneMet College
the best in the region for academic standards, the College impressed inspectors with its focus on
continuous improvement of the student experience, raising students’ aspirations and delivering
consistently high quality programmes.
Lifestyle and Work Life Balance
The College recognises that balancing work life and home life is very important and tries to help manage
the balance between the needs of the College and its staff having reasonable control over when, where
and how they work. The College also provides a number of employee benefits to help staff get the most
out of their leisure time, some of which are outlined later in this information.
Holidays
The College holiday year runs from 1st September to 31st August, with staff being entitled to the following
holidays:
 Business Support staff contracts(including training staff)- 25 days’ holiday (pa pro rata)
 Academic staff contracts- 47 days’ holiday (pa pro rata)
 Management contracts- 32 days’ holiday (pa pro rata)
Additionally staff will be entitled to 8 recognised Bank Holidays pa pro rata. The College may also decide to
close for a number of working days in the interests of efficiency. This is most likely to occur over the
Christmas period. In these instances, staff are entitled to up to 5 ‘efficiency days’ (one week) in addition to
their holiday entitlement.
Salary Sacrifice Schemes
The College runs several salary sacrifice schemes including Childcare Vouchers, Cycle to Work and the IT
Device Scheme. Some schemes are open all year, such as the Childcare Vouchers and others, such as Cycle
to Work and the IT Device Scheme, have specific time windows within which applications will be
considered. The schemes allow deductions to be made direct from salary, allowing staff to gain reductions
in National Insurance contributions, and which help to make significant savings towards costs of childcare
and purchases like computers and tablets, gaming consoles, bicycles and cycling accessories.
Parking and Public Transport
There is extensive free parking across all campuses with approximately 600 parking spaces to
accommodate staff members as well as students. For those who don’t drive, the College is accessible via
good public transport routes.
Catering Facilities
Catering students at the College are given the opportunity to develop important, practical catering skills
and a strong appreciation for well-prepared, quality food. To facilitate this, the College has its own Coffee
Shop and Restaurant run by the students at the Coast Road campus. Whether you choose to eat in or take
away, the Coffee shop is open Monday through to Friday offering a range of daily specials at affordable
prices. Open from 8.30am until 1.00pm for coffee, cake, paninis, toasties etc. Bistro/restaurant is open
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for lunch, offering a 3 course lunch. Every Tuesday and Thursday the coffee
HR Contact Details:
HR Department, Tyne Metropolitan College, Battle Hill Drive, Wallsend NE28 9NL
recruitment@tynemet.ac.uk | Tel 0191 229 5151 (24hr answerphone)| www.jobs.tynemet.ac.uk
Working at TyneMet College
shop is open from 2.30pm until 4.00pm for cake and coffee. Themed evenings also run once a month on
Thursdays for dinner 6.00pm – 8.30pm.
In addition, across our campuses, there are additional catering facilities provided by Chartwells, an external
contractor offering a range of food and beverages.
Flex Fitness (Coast Road and Queen Alexandra Campuses)
Flex Fitness is a fully equipped gym boasting a full range of cardio vascular and resistance machines. The
gym has just been refurbished and includes state of the art Precor Resistance machines. There is a brand
new Functional Strength Training room with dumbbells from 2.5kg to 50kg and kettlebells.
Flex Fitness is able to offer health and fitness expertise to staff as well as students and the wider
community. Fully qualified fitness professionals have an established track record of getting fantastic results
for their members. Using their knowledge of anatomy, physiology and implementation of training
programmes the Team will help members to reach their fitness goals, whether they want to lose weight,
tone up, train for a specific event or want to be the next super star sportsman or woman. Gym
membership and many of the services available to staff are completely free of charge. Charges may apply
in some circumstances.
Flex Fitness also offers*:
 Personal training
 Fitness plans
 Nutritional support and plans
 Sports Massage
 Two sports halls (4 badminton courts, netball, basketball and five-aside line markings)
 Brand new 3G astro pitch (7 aside pitch, 2 x 5 aside pitches)
 Dance studio with a sprung wooden floor
*Some activities may be location specific
Flourish Retail Outlet
‘Flourish’ is the College floristry retail outlet open daily during term time, selling a wide variety of flowers,
bouquets and plants, and providing our floristry students the opportunity to display and sell their work.
Flourish also offers a range of speciality services including flowers for special occasions including wedding
flowers.
Hair and Beauty Facilities
‘ReTreat’ is the College hair and beauty salon, providing students with excellent training in realistic salon
environments.
Retreat Hair, Beauty and Nail salons are open daily during term time offering a full range of treatments,
price lists and special offers are available from the Retreat Reception. Beauty treatments include waxing,
nail treatments, facials, massage and hot stone therapy, while the hairdressing salons offer cutting, styling,
colouring and perming.
ReTreat also offers Pamper Day Sessions throughout the year, to allow staff to indulge in the Hair, Beauty
and Catering facilities
HR Contact Details:
HR Department, Tyne Metropolitan College, Battle Hill Drive, Wallsend NE28 9NL
recruitment@tynemet.ac.uk | Tel 0191 229 5151 (24hr answerphone)| www.jobs.tynemet.ac.uk
Working at TyneMet College
Microsoft Campus Agreement
As a member of TyneMet staff, you will be entitled to the latest version of the Microsoft Office suite
entirely free of charge for your own use at home.
Other Key Employment Terms and Conditions
The College offers contracts of employment with varying hours (full time, part time or casual / ad hoc),
working patterns (working all year or term time only), and terms (permanent or temporary / fixed term).
Some roles within the College are paid on a spot salary, however most have a pay band or scale. Staff
therefore have the opportunity to progress up a salary scale by annual increments which are applied in
either April or September depending on the type of role.
Full time employees work 37 hours per week, usually Monday to Friday, with full time teaching staff
teaching up to 24 hours of contact time per week.
All employees are paid on a calendar month basis (22nd of each month) and are automatically enrolled into
the relevant pension scheme (Local Government Pension Scheme or Teachers’ Pension Scheme).
The probation period for all employees is 6 months.
Contact with existing staff
As part of our recruitment monitoring, applicants may be asked to disclose how they were made aware of
the post, including by an existing member of College staff.
During the recruitment period, under no circumstances should applicants approach or canvas the support
of any member of staff for their application. Such actions may be considered detrimental to other
candidates and may prevent an applicant from being offered employment.
Last updated: March 2015
HR Contact Details:
HR Department, Tyne Metropolitan College, Battle Hill Drive, Wallsend NE28 9NL
recruitment@tynemet.ac.uk | Tel 0191 229 5151 (24hr answerphone)| www.jobs.tynemet.ac.uk