Teacher Across the Curriculum

Salary: MPS/UPS + SEN1 + TLR3 (£727 for one year)
Additional responsibility: TLR2a may be available for identified subject leadership responsibilities
Contract: Full Time, Permanent
Location: Vyner Campus, The Observatory School
Age range: 12-16

TLR3 payable for one year to support completion of The Observatory School's Trauma-Informed Induction Programme

TLR2a may also be available for suitably experienced and talented candidates who wish to undertake subject leadership responsibility in identified curriculum areas.

Changing children's lives.

The Observatory School is seeking an exceptional teacher to join our Vyner Campus on a full-time, permanent basis.

Vyner provides specialist education for young people aged 12 to 16 with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs.

We are looking for a teacher who can work across the curriculum, bringing strong classroom practice, adaptability, creativity and an unwavering belief that young people can succeed regardless of their previous experience of education.

You may have a particular subject specialism, and we would be very interested to hear about it, but what matters most is your ability to teach effectively across a range of subjects, build strong relationships and maintain high expectations.

Our pupils need teachers who can understand the barriers that sit between them and learning and then help remove them.

The role

Working at our Vyner Campus, you will:
Teach pupils aged 12-16 across Key Stages 3 and 4.
Teach flexibly across a range of curriculum areas according to the needs of pupils and the campus.
Plan and deliver engaging, ambitious and appropriately adapted learning.
Support pupils towards meaningful qualifications and successful progression beyond school.
Develop strong and consistent relationships with young people who may have experienced significant disruption or difficulty in education.
Work closely with teaching assistants, pastoral staff, curriculum colleagues, leaders, families and external professionals.
Contribute to pupils' academic progress alongside their regulation, personal development and preparation for adulthood.
Apply trauma-informed, relational and regulation-based approaches consistently within your classroom practice.
Play an active role in the continuing development of the Vyner Campus and wider school.

For candidates with the appropriate experience, expertise and ambition, there may also be the opportunity to take on subject leadership responsibilities attracting a TLR2a in curriculum areas identified by the school.

Teaching at Vyner

Vyner is not a conventional secondary school environment.

Our pupils arrive with a wide range of strengths, needs and previous educational experiences. Some have experienced prolonged disruption to their learning or found it difficult to succeed within previous settings.

Our responsibility is not to lower expectations.

It is to create the conditions in which those young people can succeed.

That requires teachers who understand curriculum and pedagogy, but who can also understand regulation, relationships, behaviour, safeguarding and the individual context of the young person sitting in front of them.

You will need to be able to adapt.

A lesson may not always develop exactly as planned. The skill lies in maintaining its purpose, ambition and direction while responding intelligently to the needs of the pupils.
Our Trauma-Informed Induction Programme.

All teachers joining The Observatory School undertake a structured programme of professional development designed to develop the specialist knowledge and practice required to work successfully within our provision.

For the first year of appointment, the successful candidate will receive a TLR3 payment of £727 in recognition of the additional professional responsibilities associated with completing our Trauma-Informed Induction Programme.

The programme develops understanding and practice around:
Trauma and adverse childhood experiences
Regulation and dysregulation
Relationships and attachment
Behaviour as communication
Enhanced safeguarding
Effective specialist teaching
Supporting pupils with SEMH and SEND
Creating environments in which young people are able to learn

We do not expect every successful applicant to arrive as an SEMH specialist.
We do expect them to be willing to become one.
Who are we looking for?

We are interested in hearing from teachers who:
Are qualified teachers with strong classroom practice.
Can teach effectively across a range of curriculum areas.
Have high expectations of young people regardless of their starting points or previous experiences.
Can build strong relationships while maintaining clear and appropriate professional boundaries.
Are calm, consistent and reflective when faced with challenging situations.
Can adapt teaching to meet a wide range of individual needs and starting points.
Understand, or are keen to develop their understanding of, SEMH, SEND and trauma-informed education.
Work well as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Are prepared to think differently when conventional approaches are not working.
Want to make a genuine difference to young people approaching some of the most important transition points in their lives.

Experience within a special school, SEMH provision or alternative provision would be valuable, but it is not essential.

We are equally interested in excellent mainstream teachers who have the right values, aptitude and willingness to develop specialist practice.

Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4
Working with pupils aged 12-16 brings a particular responsibility.

Our pupils are moving rapidly towards adulthood, further education, employment and greater independence.

The successful candidate will therefore need to understand that curriculum delivery at Vyner is about much more than completing schemes of work.

You will help young people to:
Re-engage with learning.
Develop confidence as learners.
Strengthen literacy, numeracy and wider curriculum knowledge.
Work towards appropriate qualifications and accreditation.
Develop independence and resilience.
Understand expectations beyond school.
Prepare successfully for further education, training and employment.

Our curriculum must remain ambitious while being responsive to the needs and pathways of individual pupils.

Why The Observatory School?

The Observatory School is a specialist SEMH provision serving children and young people across Wirral.

Our work is driven by three core priorities:
Regulation | Enhanced Safeguarding | Preparation for Adulthood

These are not separate from academic achievement.

They are the foundations that allow achievement to happen.

We are an ambitious and developing school. We expect staff to reflect on their practice, challenge assumptions and adapt as the needs of our pupils evolve.

You will receive specialist training, professional development and support to develop your practice within a complex and highly rewarding area of education.

For talented teachers who want to develop further, there are also opportunities to take on additional curriculum and leadership responsibilities as the school continues to grow and evolve.

Most importantly, this is an opportunity to work with young people at a point when an excellent teacher can make a profound difference to what happens next in their lives.
If you are looking for an ordinary secondary teaching job, this may not be it.

If you want to work somewhere that will challenge your thinking, develop your practice and give you the opportunity to genuinely change children's lives, we would very much like to hear from you.

The Observatory School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. The successful applicant will be subject to the school's safer recruitment procedures, including appropriate pre-employment checks and an enhanced DBS check.