Candidate information pack
Teacher of Economics
A Flavour of School 21
On a good day School 21 is an extraordinary place.
Walking around this 4 to 18 school that opened in East London in 2012, you will feel a spirit of creativity and the buzz of exciting learning. With oracy woven into our DNA, there is talk going on – talk in interactive assemblies, exploratory talk in the classrooms to deepen understanding, coaching conversations in which young people share dilemmas or wrestle with ethical issues, Harkness discussions or Socratic seminars teasing out scientific concepts or the causes of great historical events. You might see young children honing their story-telling skills, learning musical instruments, developing maths mastery or building a go-kart using a blend of physics, technology, maths and design skills inspired by our new Makerspace. In the Sixth form great A level teaching sits alongside students setting up a social enterprise to deal with homelessness in the local community.
Behind all these activities is a thoughtfulness from staff – no fixed way of doing things, a set of values shaped by the school community and a menu of teaching and learning strategies that provide a powerful guide. It is a place where teachers are empowered to get back in touch with what brought them into the profession – a spirit of enquiry, a sense of collaboration, a joy of working with young people, a belief in developing the whole child – knowledge, skills, qualities and values. It is a place where teachers enjoy sharing what they are reading, exploring big ideas, wrestling with the craft of the classroom.
In the last few weeks of each term something magical happens. The energy increases and students prepare themselves, often with painstaking focus, occasionally with a jolt, for: the Festival of Light (our 4 to 18 musical extravaganza); our Ignite speeches (similar to TED talks from children of all ages); our exhibition of beautiful work (showcasing the projects and products created by every class in the school that term); or our digital portfolio presentations (in which students narrate their story of learning in front of their coaches and external partners)
We call our approach, an education of head, heart and hand. It’s aim: for young people to find their voice and change the world. And when this trio is in balance there is a kind of chemical reaction:
deep thinking + emotional intelligence + creativity = powerful learning
�Not everyday is like this, of course. The staff body, to a person, is reflective and humble. There is a restless desire to improve, to get better at everything we do. In some areas we are just at the foothills of our understanding and the depth of practice we desire, in others we have growing expertise and the need to deepen the impact.
We know, for example, that we need to be more joined up – and in September 2022 we introduced a new whole school leadership structure that is still embedding. This is helping us to ensure there are stronger and common foundations and strong common ‘golden threads’ across the 4-18 journey. As part of this reshaping our Leadership Team has evolved to include three whole school Deputy Headteachers and a Head of Well-being and Inclusion who lead strategic areas across the 4 to 18 age range.
We know too that the expectations on teachers to teach ‘head, heart and hand’ – are often daunting and hard to do well. The leadership challenge has always been to bring together experienced and new teachers, a range of creative ideas and programmes, and the strong opinions of passionate staff into a powerful sense of direction.
We know there are new avenues to explore – for example, students taking more control of their learning, having more choices, and opportunities to lead.
We resist compliance cultures with a passion because we know how they can suppress the imagination and curiosity of children. The task for us is how we continue to get the right balance between a precious freedom to express oneself and knowing when a consistent approach is best for everyone even if it means not getting your own way.
School 21 is, and always will be, a dance between innovation and rigour. Between fresh waves of new thinking and embedding and strengthening existing practice. That dance means not choosing between either strong academic results as a passport to future opportunities or developing the whole child. Nor choosing between old cliches of progressive and traditional: we are unashamedly traditional in our belief in the foundations of literacy and numeracy and our expectations for professionalism, kindness and generous conduct. Yet, progressive in helping every child to find their voice, to be confident in their identity, and to start to find a sense of purpose in their life.
This is an exciting time to join School 21 to be key part of shaping the next decade for School 21.
Moray Dickson
Headteacher, School 21
Welcome to School 21
To join School 21 is to join a community of innovators - staff and students who want to do things differently.
Here we think deeply about how we can help students, who often battle the odds, live lives of choice, opportunity and power. We strive to give pupils the most challenging and exciting curriculum possible and we treat each other with respect, kindness and support.
We challenge ourselves to ‘ innovate with rigour’ and we are looking inspiring and skilled teachers who can bring something special to the school and believe, like us, that we need to develop the whole child - heart, heart and hand - if we want them to take on the world.
This is your chance to grow as a professional and as a person and there are many opportunities to do so: honing your craft as a teacher, developing your subject discipline, designing interdisciplinary projects or becoming a coach and mentor.
To help you decide if this is the school for you, here are a few things that we do at School 21:
School 21 is a different kind of school and we are looking for people who have a belief that more of the same is just not ambitious enough.
Moray Dickson
Headteacher, School 21
Welcome to School 21
The Big Education Family
Big Education is a multi academy trust as well as a social enterprise. Our mission is for as many children as possible to be offered a Big Education - one in which children can flourish through the development of head, heart and hand. Our aim is to do this in three ways. To inspire through our thought leadership. To design schools, programmes and tools to support a big education. To grow and support communities of schools and practitioners who are striving towards a big education.
At Big Education we believe…
Our values are:
Excellence (above and beyond)
Openness (reflect and grow)
Responsibility (step up)
Humanity (choose kind)
Community (we build strong circles)
Community has become a value of increasing importance particularly during this extraordinary year of Covid. From the start of the school we have had dedicated staff who work on developing partnership in the community. Each of our Phases have developed positive and layered relationships with the parents and families.
Our community
School 21 is driven by values. We have spent a lot of time refining our values, delving into their meaning and making them the anchors for the actions of staff and students on their 4 to 18 journey.
At the heart of School 21 is a vision for a more expansive education. Key to this is a 4 to 18 curriculum that balances head (academics) heart (emotional intelligence) and hand (creativity and problem solving).
For the head we are trying to foster deep and critical thinking. 4 to 18 well sequenced knowledge pathways that build out from big ideas and concepts, rich interdisciplinary learning and knowledge that is applied creatively to the world around us.
For the heart, we want every child to find their voice and develop confidence in who they are. We also want everyone to be able to work with others, make friends, and enjoy the different backgrounds and perspectives of our community. We also want young people to wrestle with big moral and ethical questions so they can navigate the complex world they are going into.
For the hand, we want the creative and performing arts to be centre stage. We have a Makerspace in the centre of our school so that students can solve problem, design products, create beautiful work, learn at the feet of experts.
There are two golden threads that weave head, heart and hand together. The first is oracy. The dialogic classroom and the dialogic staffroom is at the heart of the school. The second, is metacognition. We are a school where we are both intentional and deeply reflective about the processes of our learning so that we can become powerful learners and are constantly improving everything that we do.
A curriculum of head, heart and hand
English Language is at the heart of everything we do, beginning in primary, where we teach phonics, reading, storytelling and writing with real passion. It’s our mission to ensure every student is an avid reader, fluent writer and confident public speaker.
Oracy has been important to the school since we opened in 2012. We have developed a lot of rich thinking and strategies and oracy now is part of every aspect of the school from the way we do assemblies in the round, to the Ignite talks (like mini TED talks) that every child performs, to the classroom techniques that include storytelling, Harkness tables, socratic seminars, Philosophy for children and a range of other pedagogies.
Problem solving and critical thinking is crucial to the way we think about learning and in maths where we begin with a maths mastery programme, in science and humanities as well as across the curriculum we create opportunities for children to think deeply and solve problems using a range of critical thinking strategies.
Wellbeing and growth through coaching. Throughout our Phases we have a well-being curriculum that gives all our children the chance to get underneath complex social and emotional issues in a way that develops their personal qualities and dispositions. This involves dedicated coaching time, often in coaching groups of no more than 15, so that every child gets the chance to speak and be heard.
Music and the performing arts. From the Band Project where every child plays a musical instrument and performs together in a band, to high-quality musicals each year, to PE performances at all ages, to a community choir that has brought joy to staff pupils and parents, music and performance is woven into the fabric of the school.
To bring alive a head, heart and hand curriculum requires a repertoire of teaching and learning strategies to suit the type of learning. School 21 carves out significant time for teachers to work on the craft of their teaching - understanding the child, the pedagogy and the content. Each of our Phases has brought this alive for their context ensuring students achieve high academic standards as well as becoming powerful learners.
Teaching and Learning at School 21
Beautiful Work and the Makerspace We believe our purpose as an organisation is to create beautiful work that makes a difference to the world. Our school is a place where children craft stunning work with quality end products, for real audiences as a result of deep teacher collaboration. In addition to teaching through discrete subject disciplines, our teachers collaborate to design and teach projects which tackle authentic issues and seek to create rich, beautiful outcomes of lasting value. Our Makerspace at the heart of the school supports this work.
Real World Learning. We go to great lengths to connect the learning of our students to the world outside the school gates.This culminates in years 10 and 12 where our students spend an afternoon every week at their Real World Learning placement, working in small teams to solve a challenging and authentic problem faced by their host organisation.
Exhibitions. At the end of every term we host an exhibition for parents, the community and our partners, where students can showcase the beautiful work they have produced and talk visitors through the story of their learning.
Teaching and Learning at School 21
Facilities & Environment
The School 21 site was completed in 2012, and represents an extensive rebuild and redesign of an existing school complex. The founders had considerable influence in the design and layout of the school, including the creation of large courtyard spaces which are used for assemblies, exhibition and break-out teaching spaces. There are also well-equipped specialist teaching facilities including four purpose-built science labs, a makerspace of craft and design, two PE studios, several Harkness rooms, a sports hall and MUGA sports pitch.
Location
School 21 is extremely well located at just 5 minutes’ walk from Stratford Tube station, Stratford bus terminal and Westfield Shopping Centre.
With well-established and reliable public transport links throughout the area, Stratford is within easy reach from a wide range of areas and heading into Central London from the school takes about 20 minutes.
Our close proximity to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park means there are fantastic facilities on our doorstep and a constant flow of exciting organisations and start-ups into the area.