Medway UTC Head of Engineering Pack
Application Pack
Head of Engineering
January 2016
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Medway UTC Head of Engineering Pack
Dear Applicant
Medway UTC – Appointment of Head of Engineering
Thank you for expression interest in the role of Head of Engineering at Medway UTC (University
Technical College).
For many young people, for generations to come, Medway UTC will be the provider an exciting type
of technical education. Medway UTC is exciting blend of education specialising in the construction
and engineering industries, which is supported by an extensive network of employer organisations
operating in these areas.
It is my aim to develop a Centre of Excellence, specialising in the application of engineering and
construction that provide real employment opportunities for the UTC students in these sectors,
thereby enhancing the career prospects of our students, the effectiveness of the companies they go
on to work for, and, thereby, the general prosperity of the sub-regions radiating out from Medway.
I am looking for an exceptional Head of Engineering who has the enthusiasm, energy, drive and
experience to ensure that Medway UTC becomes an outstanding hub of technical and academic
learning for all stakeholders.
Medway UTC opened in September 2015 for year 10 and year 12 students. The UTC occupies a new
building, located within the Chatham Waters development; we combine cutting edge facilities with
practical industry experience and personal development opportunities, whilst delivering the core
curriculum including English, maths & science.
If you believe you have the required skills and experience to join my team and help create and drive
this educational revolution, I want to hear from you. Should you wish to make further enquiries into
this role, please contact me directly.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Karon Buck
Principal
k.buck@medwayutc.co.uk
01634 505800
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Medway UTC Head of Engineering Pack
Job Description
Post Title
Grade
Responsible for
Responsible to
Head of Engineering
MPS/UPS + TLR2
The development of the Engineering Department to ensure that the
specialism provides all students with the highest level of personal
achievement.
Vice Principal
Summary of the overall purpose of the job
The specific tasks related to the core purpose of this role are:
A. To provide the professional leadership needed to ensure that the engineering department
provides all students with the highest level of personal achievement through the delivery
of highly effective teaching and learning in a motivating, stimulating environment.
B. To liaise with our partners to develop, deliver and review effective partner projects
C. To contribute to the wider success of the department and the school
D. To promote and be involved in extra-curricular activities and the wider life of the school
community
Key responsibilities and objectives of the job
Impact on educational progress including and beyond assigned students
• Analyse and evaluate student outcomes and take action as required to ensure all individuals and
groups of students make excellent progress.
• Set and monitor team targets, within whole school targets. Intervene and act as appropriate to
ensure that subject and whole school targets are met
• Identify subject development priorities and co-ordinate the writing and monitoring of the
department Annual Development Plan
• Lead and manage the annual department review in liaison with the SLT Link
• Reflect on and evaluate the effectiveness of the team
• Monitor students’ behaviour, taking action as appropriate and ensure that teachers adhere to
procedures of the school’s behaviour policy
• Maintain an overview of parental contact, ensuring regular contact as needed
• Interrogate and use data to track individual student performance and progress, and that of
specific groups of students, ensuring that students achieve at or beyond their targets
• Be responsible for leading improvement within the Department
Lead, develop and enhance the teaching practice of others
• Create and maintain a team and school ethos
• Develop a curriculum which is appropriate and facilitates excellent outcomes for all
students.
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Medway UTC Head of Engineering Pack
• Ensure that effective schemes of learning, including partner projects, are in place to
ensure outstanding learning and teaching
• Use meetings to share good practice, moderate, disseminate training and information.
• Offer CPD to the team and across the school in an area of expertise identified with the
line manager.
• Provide regular opportunities for less experienced teachers to observe outstanding
teaching.
• Develop teaching strategies to engage all students and maximise their potential.
• Ensure that routine assessment practice is rigorous and produces responsive teaching,
matched to pupils needs.
• Embrace ICT as a resource for teaching, as a motivational tool for students’ learning and
to facilitate accelerated rates of progress by students.
• Lead, coach and support colleagues (including NQTs, etc)
Have accountability for leading, managing and developing the Department
• Lead, co-ordinate and monitor the department’s development, linking departmental
priorities to whole school priorities.
• Communicate the school vision to members of the team.
• Lead, motivate, support and develop all colleagues.
• Undertake rigorous and effective performance appraisal, in line with school policy.
• Undertake rigorous and effective department self-evaluation within a planned cycle of
regular observation/feedback to colleagues, book looks and interviews with students, in
line with the school self-evaluation policy.
• Update the department/subject self-evaluation information on a termly basis,
contributing to the whole school self-evaluation process as required.
• Lead, co-ordinate and monitor the Department Annual Development Plan, linking
subject priorities to whole school priorities.
• Be an agent for change, implementing whole school initiatives which support the raising
of student attainment and achievement (including for AG&T and disadvantaged students).
• Lead innovation in learning by keeping abreast of subject developments, engaging with
school-wide learning initiatives and leading these within the team.
• Monitor department, subject and individual student targets and progress through
assessment of planning, record keeping, marking, teaching progress and assessment
across the department, maintaining a central record of baseline and subject assessment
data and targets to monitor the progress of students and the effectiveness of the team.
• Ensure the smooth-running of examinations, through liaison with the Examinations
Officer.
• Conduct an annual review of the curriculum offered at all levels.
• Lead rigorous and effective department team meetings, focused on school
improvement.
• Following each reporting cycle, check the standard of teachers’ reports, review
assessment data and co-ordinate follow-up across the subject in line with the report
checking guidelines.
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Medway UTC Head of Engineering Pack
• Following each student tracking session, review the outcomes and implement strategies
as appropriate in line with the tracking checking guidelines.
• Attend school on both A/AS Level and GCSE results’ days to support students in
determining future plans.
• Manage the delegated budget for the Department in order to resource the curriculum
effectively.
• Participate in recruitment and retention of teaching staff as required.
• Contribute regularly to the school newsletter, including the submission of photos, and
ensure that the relevant department and subject area is well represented in the
newsletter.
• Undertake specific department responsibilities, as discussed with the line manager.
Accountability
• The Vice Principal will carry out the post holder’s performance appraisal. Line
management may change as a result of staff changes/post changes.
• Formal line management meetings will take place on a regular basis.
General responsibilities and objectives
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To ensure Equality of Opportunity in all areas of the UTC;
To promote the UTC’s ethos;
To promote the UTC’s commitment to continued professional development of all staff;
To undertake any duties as may reasonably be required by the Principal.
Safeguarding Children
• The school is committed to the safeguarding of the children in its care. To this end all
employees will need to undergo pre-employment checks including references, a check of
any relevant qualifications, photo and address identification.
• All posts in a school are deemed to have a high degree of contact with children and
therefore you must inform us if you have any convictions, cautions, reprimands or final
warnings that are not "protected" as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
(Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013).
• An enhanced disclosure will be sought through the DBS (CRBE) as part of the preemployment checking process.
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Medway UTC Head of Engineering Pack
Additional Information
• All employees will need to confirm their right to work in this country, or seek
sponsorship to work via the school, where appropriate.
• Medway UTC is committed to ensuring consistency of treatment and fairness, and we
abide by all relevant equality legislation.
• This job description is based on the national teacher standards.
• This is a job description only and is not necessarily a comprehensive definition of the
post. It may be subject to modification or amendment, after consultation with the postholder.
Personal Specification
Qualifications
 Qualified to degree level or above
 Possesses QTS status or equivalent
Experience
 Experience of leading an element of a subject (e.g. a particular key stage) or an entire
subject
 Experience of line management of at least one member of staff
 Evidence of successful practice as a teacher
 Experience of continually improving teaching practice to increase student achievement
and progress
 Effective use of self-evaluation and data analysis in order to facilitate improvement
 Evidence of continually improving the teaching and learning of an aspect of a subject.
 Evidence of the ability to plan a curriculum and develop appropriate schemes of learning
which match student’s needs.
 Evidence of involvement in extracurricular activity.
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Medway UTC Head of Engineering Pack
Personal Specification (continued)
Leadership
 An ability to lead by example
 Effective team worker and leader
 Ability to establish a ‘learning culture’
 Understands the need for collegiality in a school environment
 Ability to hold people to account, ensuring consistently good practice.
 A commitment to the vision and values of Medway UTC
 Ensures a positive, evolving culture.
 Motivation to continually improve standards and inspire excellence
 Possesses empathy and the ability to communicate well with a range of audiences.
 Can motivate, inspire and influence students and staff.
 Develops plans with appropriate SMART objectives
 Anticipates and pro-actively plans for change
 Commitment to the safeguarding and welfare of all students
 Able to champion the specialism whilst balancing the need to promote other subjects
Teaching and Learning
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Consistently demonstrates outstanding classroom practice.
Understands the difference between good and outstanding teaching.
Demonstrates excellent practice in a wide range of pedagogical skills and practice.
Has an excellent understanding of effective formative assessment strategies which
address the needs of a modern, analytical learning environment.
Understands and interprets complex student data to drive lesson planning,
achievement and progress.
Ability to reflect on own and others lessons and continually improve practice.
Possesses energy, enthusiasm, resilience and perseverance
Delivers effective and systematic behaviour management, with clear boundaries,
sanctions, praise and rewards.
Able to communicate ideas about teaching and learning to ensure consistent,
highly effective practice by all staff.
Able to produce resources and documentation which are audience appropriate
and in well-written English.
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Medway UTC Head of Engineering Pack
Recruitment and Selection Statement
1. The safe recruitment of staff in schools is the first step to safeguarding and promoting
the welfare of children in education. The school is committed to safeguarding and
promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, volunteers and
other workers in the school to share this commitment. It is recognised that this can only
be achieved through sound procedures, good inter-agency co-operation and the
recruitment and retention of competent, motivated employees who are suited to, and
fulfilled in the roles they undertake.
2. This school recognises the value of, and seeks to achieve a diverse workforce which
includes people from different backgrounds, with different skills and abilities. The school
is committed to ensuring that the recruitment and selection of all who work within the
school is conducted in a manner that is systematic, efficient, effective and promotes
equality of opportunity. Selection will be on the basis of merit and ability, assessed
against the qualifications, skills and competencies required to do the job.
The school will uphold its obligations under law and national collective agreements to not
discriminate against applicants for employment on the grounds of age, sex, sexual
orientation, marital status, disability, race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or
creed.
3. The school will implement robust recruitment procedures and checks for appointing
staff and volunteers to ensure that reasonable steps are taken not to appoint a person
who is unsuitable to work with children, or who is disqualified from working with children,
or does not have the suitable skills and experience for the intended role.
4. The school will ensure that the terms of any contract with a contractor or agency
requires them to adopt and implement measures described in this procedure. The school
will monitor the compliance with these measures and require evidence that relevant
checks have been undertaken for all workers deployed to the school.
5. The following pre-employment checks will be required:
• receipt of at least two satisfactory references*
• verification of the candidate’s identity
• a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) disclosure
• verification of the candidate’s medical fitness
• verification of qualifications
• verification of professional status where required e.g. QTS status (unless properly
exempted)
• the production of evidence of the right to work in the UK.
NB It is illegal for anyone who is barred from working with children to apply for, or work in
a school in any voluntary or paid capacity.
January 2016
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