Head Teacher Required at Maranatha Christian School

Maranatha Christian School is a well-established, loving environment for children between the ages of 3-19. Having recently celebrated 25 years of God’s faithfulness, we are now seeking a professional and highly experienced Head Teacher to lead the school into an exciting new phase of growth and development.

Salary Band £35,000 to £45,000 subject to experience

Should you be interested in applying for this role, please contact us at chairoftrustees@maranathaschool.org or Gen.Maxted-Tidy@maranathaschool.org for an application form.

 If you would like to discuss this role, please contact Tim Abbott, Chair of Trustees on 07789 313432.

The school promotes spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. The school’s distinctive Christian ethos is at the heart of the school’s work

(Ofsted Inspector)

 A teacher who became the face of a Government recruitment drive has warned that children are being subjected to “left wing brainwashing” in the classroom.

Calvin Robinson, who appears promotional videos and posters for the Department for Education’s “I Chose to Teach” campaign, has hit out at his fellow teachers for politicising their students.

The head of computer science at St Mary’s and St John’s School in Hendon, north London, said pupils are being  “indoctrinated to a left wing mentality” and encouraged to see the Conservative party as “evil”.

Mr Robinson, who is the youth officer for the Hampstead and Kilburn Conservative group, said that schools cannot “have their cake and eat it”.

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Parents have branded a school “the strictest in Britain” after complaining that pupils are forced to wear signs around their necks if they breached uniform policy.

The new rules have also seen children punished for having shoes which are too shiny, tapping tables and looking at the clock, according to parents.

A strict behaviour policy was rolled out at Merchants Academy in Withywood in Bristol a fortnight before the end of term.

Parents claim that pupils who flout rules have been forced to wear lanyards stating "I have 24 hours to sort out my uniform''.

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Teachers are voicing concerns over the long-term impact of  “torturous” new English GCSEs, amid fears that there will be a downturn in student uptake at A-Level.

Pupils have not enjoyed the “narrowed” curriculum, teaching unions claim, because the curriculum for English Language and Literature is now 100 per cent exam-based. 

Speaking to The Telegraph, Kevin Courtney, the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “It is a cause for great concern that English, one of our most creative and culturally important subjects, is becoming for many GCSE students a tortuous and unrewarding experience.

“Large numbers of students are finding it difficult to come to terms with a system biased too heavily towards terminal exams, and which values rapid reading and rote learning above deeper understanding.”

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The economic arguments for widening access to higher education are widely accepted. The UK is moving towards a skills crisis that will be exacerbated by Brexit. We are facing some of the worst productivity levels in the OECD, and we have acute shortages in many sectors, with a record number of advertised vacancies. The UK’s engineering industry alone will need another 1.8 million trained individuals by 2025. But we will only be able to plug these gaps if we focus on all learners, and not just those on academic courses.

The Social Mobility Commission’s most recent report notes that the funding and expertise ploughed into widening participation have resulted in more working class young people at university than ever before. But that comes with the large caveat that both student retention rates and graduate outcomes for the same group have scarcely improved in the last two decades.

What is less recognised is that many widening participation strategies are inadequate because they put too much emphasis on academic pathways and thus ignore the majority of learners. This year around 43% of young people will enter higher education having studied A-Levels or BTECs. While access issues remain for many disadvantaged students, those on an academic route benefit from a clear, simple pathway to level 4 (equivalent to an HNC) on to level 6 (Bachelors’ degree) and above. The same cannot be said for the rest of the school population.

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DfE and Crown Commercial Service (CCS) will launch the second in a series of bulk buying deals (sometimes referred to as ‘aggregated deals’) for schools considering buying new tablets, laptops or desktop devices at the beginning of the autumn term.

One hundred schools took up the previous deal, buying over 2,000 devices. Some schools saved thousands of pounds, with average savings of 8%.

CCS will publish full details of the deal on 4 September 2017. Schools will then have until 29 September 2017 to send CCS their equipment requirements.

CCS will work with suppliers to get the best prices and notify schools after they award the contract on 6 November 2017. Schools will then be able to place their orders for delivery and arrange payment at the agreed price.

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Schools need a coherent strategy for lockdown procedures in case of a dangerous event taking place on their premises, a teaching union said.

The NASUWT said schools currently had ad hoc drills to deal with various threats and called on the government to put together a comprehensive plan.

More than 200 head teachers in West Yorkshire have attended council-run seminars providing advice on lockdowns.

The government said it "constantly reviewed" security guidance it issues. 

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Half of pupils expelled from England's schools have a mental health issue, according to analysis of official data.

The Institute of Public Policy Research suggests if excluded students with undiagnosed problems were included, the rate would be much higher.

This figure compares with one in 50 pupils in the wider population who have a mental health condition.

The government said it would be publishing plans to improve mental health services later in the year.

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Maths education for 16- to 19-year-olds in England will gain a £16m boost over two years, ministers have announced.

It comes as a government commissioned maths review found too many teenagers dropped maths after GCSE, harming their job prospects and the wider economy.

The cash, from existing budgets, will help more students take a maths A-level or core maths qualification, say ministers.

Better maths skills were "vital", said Education Minister Nick Gibb. 

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