Retention – The Hopeful Headteacher

I am a people person and I thrive through connecting with others. Networking is a key part of being an educator in my opinion. I therefore love recruitment and get a real buzz from meeting the candidates.

In last year’s teacher recruitment for Aureus School I met some amazing people, learnt lots from them in the process and created a brilliant team with appointments made for Year 2 too as the teaching/ leading talent pool was so strong. I reflected on our values-led process here.

Our process was focused on finding the right people to get on the bus, to go on this journey with us. Our tasks were designed around candidates demonstrating their values. We were not trying to catch anyone out, we were trying to allow them all to shine.

Yes, experience and skill set are key, but for me it was the values and qualities that framed competence that made individuals stand out. We did all of our interviews in one week and didn’t appoint anyone until we had met all shortlisted candidates. We then did that X-Factor table shuffling task of working out who would work well and complement who. Each time we moved a person in to the team we had to remove someone else as we had a limited start up budget.

Who we appointed for Year 1 (started Sept ’17):

DHTs: Bennie Kara (Curriculum & Assessment) and Julie Hunter (Culture and Wellbeing). AHTs: Amjad Ali (Inclusion & T&L) and Chris Hunt (STEAM specialism, CIAG and Personal Development). LPs Charlotte James (PE and wellbeing), Laura Bainbrigge (Art and creativity) and Paul Wright (Computing and innovation). Teachers: Anna Daubney (Maths Mastery), Lannah Thatcher (Spanish) and Chris Atkins (PE).

Who we appointed for Year 2 (starting Sept ’18):

AHT: Drew Morris (Performing Arts and transition) and LP: Marianne Brunier (History and Literacy).

I found our founding team in weird and wonderful places – on twitter, on linkedin, in a library at an Ark event, at Oxford uni at a NQT event, through #womened and #bameed, even in Tanzania volunteering! We saved a fortune by recruiting in an unconventional way, and these savings all went in to the professional learning budget to increase CPD entitlement for our staff.

My team know that being outward-facing and networking is part of who we are at Aureus. Our students love meeting new people and we encourage the community to come in, for speakers to run assemblies and for #STEAM careers to be shared with them. I am hopeful that through their connections our team will grow organically over the coming years.

This year we are expanding the Aureus team and building the Aureus Primary team. I say family in my title because that is what we have become. Working at Aureus is more than just a job, we have bonded as a team, we care about each other and are really looking out for each other. Our Year 2 appointments are already part of our team. Our children talk passionately at Aureus about our family values and what they mean to them.

So who are we looking for?

One of my favourite #womened quotes is below – “be defined by your soul, not your role”. Who do we want/ need to join us and then what can they bring is my focus in this recruitment window.

The ‘souls’:

We are a values-led school. Our shared vision and values bond us. If our values wheel resonates…. if you want to work in a school that is committed to developing the whole child… if you are looking for a team who are passionate about mental health and wellbeing, who strive to look after each other…. then you are likely to fit right in.

The ‘roles’:

For Aureus School we need for September 2018:

LPs for DT, English, Maths and Science and teachers for English, Maths and Science as the core subjects will double in size when we move from 120 Year 7s to 360 Year 7s and 8s.

The DT role is really exciting as this is the jigsaw piece missing from our #STEAM provision, they will join a dynamic team with a strategic plan of opportunities to showcase our specialism to open doors for future employment. There are 5 fully-kitted our classrooms and workshops awaiting someone to come and open up this area of our curriculum.

For Aureus Primary School we need for September 2018:

A DHT and an AHT will be our first appointments for the primary. One of these roles needs to be an EYFS expert as we are opening with Nursery, Reception and Year 1 and 2. Ideally one will be an experienced Inclusion Leader and another will have safeguarding experience – but we will invest in the training of whoever is the right fit for our vision and values.

We have additional funding from the LEA for a SEND Base which we are hoping will have a SEMH specialism. This team including a SENDco will be appointed by Aureus as we will be the host school – more to follow on these opportunities once the funding meeting has taken place in January.

The Aureus primary leadership roles are live now and we will be shortlisting and interviewing in the new year:

DHT

AHT

We also need a Nursery Teacher, Reception Teachers and Year 1 and 2 teachers. We are keen to embed our mindfulness in our primary sibling – you do not need to have experience of this as we will invest in training.

All of our roles have the potential to be flexible so please do apply and let us know the type of contract you are looking for. Part time/ job shares/ talent partnerships are an option. Return to teaching candidates will be supported. With Diversity and Equality as our core values we would welcome applications from diverse backgrounds and experiences too!

You can find out more about Trust: GLF Schools and our Teaching School: GLFTSA via the live links and by searching #growlearnflourish as this hashtag captures who we are.

If you are a flamingo, in a flock of pigeons, who wants to join a forward-thinking team who are making bold decisions to change school culture, then we would love to hear from you!