Thamesview Overview
Why new staff appointments……
We areexcited to be offering this post within our school as part of our drive to bring on boardnew talent into ourcohesive Learning Community teams. We recently had anOfsted Inspection at the end of September, where we were awarded “Good with some outstanding features”. This accolade is no mean feat, as our whole school community has worked hard to raise the standards of the school which was graded as ‘satisfactory’ overall at an inspection in 2005, ‘good’ in a 2009 inspection, but with some satisfactory elements; we now offer innovative approaches to learning in order to inspire and engage all our learners in the process of life-long learning and are delighted to have continued our successful improvement with teaching and learning, together with student behaviour now graded as ‘good’.
Our school moved to a vertical tutoring system nearly 4 years ago, which means it is now divided into four smaller Learning Communities; Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour, and Enterprise. These Communities have approximately 190 students in them, and the academic and pastoral support is largely kept within the Community system. There are three leadership and management posts within each Community, and each is led by an Assistant Headteacher. All teaching staff are line-managed through the Community team structure. Subject areas are now being led by a Learning Facilitator to ensure that the National Curriculum is being delivered effectively and that Learning Support and Teaching Assistant deployment is appropriate, but these curriculum managers are not responsible for teaching staff. This is a progressive move to ensure more teachers are focussing on their core purpose of high levels of teaching and learning.
Our staffing structure is currently organised in a format with Headteacher, one Deputy Headteacher, a Director of Learning, a team of four Assistant Headteachers, and our Business Manager on the school leadership team; and an extended leadership team. Enclosed is a diagram illustrating the current staffing organisation. We have travelled a long way in our structural changes to spread the leadership across more levels so that we adopt a more distributive approach to leading the school and encourage every teacher, every student to be a leader.
Now in my 6th year as Headteacher here, I have already demonstrated a commitment to ‘growing our own talent’, with many positions appointed from within, however, I believe that for some positions, we need the skills of new outside talent from staff who bring on board new ideas to take us further along the route of achievement. We do however, recognise talent at Thamesview and harvest it!We have some outstanding practitioners (teaching and non-teaching) in school, and I hope you will be one of those joining us!
Some background to our school…
Thamesview is an 11-16 non-selective FoundationHigh School. It is located in a pleasant area of Gravesend surrounded by open space and farmland with views of the River Thames to the north east, close to London and with easy access to airports, Ebbsfleet International Station and the Channel Tunnel.
Our school is at an exciting time in its development. We were extremely pleased with our 2007 exam results at 49% which exceed those of 2006 at 4l%. In 2008 results were excellent at 66% A*-C, and in 2009 we increased again to achieve 67%. In the Summer of 2010 results improved again, with 80% of our students gaining at least 5 x A*-C GCSE passes, and 32% including English and Maths. More recently in 2011, we gained our highest ever results with 36% students achieving at least 5 A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths, together with 80% achieving 5 A*-C GCSEs or equivalents. The 2012 results are targeted to exceed 40% including English and Maths, and nearer 50% in 2013. The school currently has 757students on roll and is over-subscribed with students on a waiting list for the 3rd successive year.
We were fortunate to have been in the last wave of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which was the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings for over 50 years. With millions of pounds being invested in some of the Gravesham Cluster schools and 10 % of this funding dedicated to ICT, our new-build school, which opened fully in September 2010 is state-of-the art, and designed to motivate and engage our learners. It was not just about renewing the fabric of the building though, but is also about transforming the educational experience for students and teachers and to extend the chance for life-long learning to the wider community. BSF was part of the drive to raise standards in schools, and we place great emphasis on students and staff having been involved in the process to our finished product.The outstanding resources are excellent, with the learning environment a vibrant, colourful and yet calm place to come and work each day. We are very excited with seeing the improvements in our teaching and learning and student behavior as a result of a more inspirational environment as well as improved standards of teaching.
Our building design is such that each Learning Community has their own zone, which comes out of a central heartspace which is at the heart of our community. There are a variety of different styles of furniture to help students learning in an environment that they find stimulating, yet comfortable for their preferred style of learning; this includes, pod and tiered seating, bean bags, and smallermore moveable desks to configure into a range of designs to suit whatever class activities are taking place. Each Community is depicted with a splash of their representational colour, which complements the related uniform colour of the Community as well, so you will see four different coloured uniforms on display throughout the school. There is a strong sense of allegiance to a community for every staff member as well as every student, parent and of course governor.
Outdoor learning is an important aspect of ensuring a varied curriculum, so we boast a range of outdoor activities to entice anyone in need of a park type environment to learn. We have a Solar Dome, which is a mini version of the Eden type project based in Cornwall, which is currently being developed for use, we have trim trail fitness stations, an ecological zone, together with a pond and organic garden, planters and pet fish, picnic benches, a multi-use games area, informal play area, a tiered amphitheatre for outdoor school productions and a large game called I-play, which is based on the hand held version called ‘Bop-it’. Students enjoy their environment at lunch and break times are a pleasure to see socialising as students play, talk and quietly sit together across the inspiring landscape. Teachers are also encouraged to utilise these spaces during lessons to offer different styles of learning opportunities.
In January 2008, we were notified that we hadacquiredour Business & Enterprise status. We believe this gives us the greatest flexibility to deliver our vision for the school; enterprising and vocational skills being important parts of students’ life-skill development. Over the past four years we have been increasing our vocational programmes to the extent that all students in Year 10 spend the equivalent of at least one day a week working on a variety of vocational programmes, in conjunction with traditional GCSE courses. These courses range from BTeC Performing Arts to Construction, ICT, Carpentry and Health & Social Care. We extended our Centre over the summer 2010, so we can now also boast to having a modern Hair and Beauty Therapy Salon.
There is a great team spirit in the school and everyone here works together to raise achievement and attainment, and wanting the best for our students. There is a wonderful sense of camaraderie among the staff(teaching and non-teaching) and there are many career related activitiesand social gatherings for all. LSAs are often affiliated to specific departments and there are Continued Professional Development (CPD) opportunities for support and teaching staff alike, with many LSAshaving acquired NVQ Level 2 qualifications and additional GCSE English and Maths examination passes, and our Finance Manager and Business Manager followed NCSL qualifications in their respected fields, which we fully supported. Another five support staffwere given the opportunity to commence a degree related to behaviour management. CPD is generously and creatively catered for, as we want to develop every member of our Thamesview community as a key priority year on year.
Thamesview is an inclusive school. We have students who have a range of special needs – physical, emotional, behavioural, social and learning, and yes, a small minority of these can be very challenging on occasions. We endeavour to ensure that they are all included in all aspects of school life. Our Physically Disabled Unit is an excellent well-equipped facility and is recognised for its good practice, as we have been selected to be the lead school for the surrounding Kent areas for physically disabled students. Special needs support and pastoral work are also strengths of the school, as recognised by OFSTED, who have graded us as ‘1 – outstanding’ for our care, guidance and support. Our PD students often have welfare support assistants who work alongside these students within lessons, although students are encouraged to integrate on all levels, including physical education with all the other students and wheelchair basketball is a popular addition to our curriculum and after-school fixtures. I think having these students at school adds an increased bonus for everyone in understanding people’s differing needs.
We are all very proud of what has been achieved over the past few years. We now want to move even further forward. ICT facilities and support are of an extremely high standard and all staff are provided with laptops. The majority of our learning spaces (‘classrooms’ in pre-BSF speak) have an interactive whiteboard or data projector and screen. We have many laptop trolleys for ready access during lessons, including wireless technologies in our modern, sometimes open plan office-like spaces. Our school site is wireless, so many staff choose to work in our open-plan heartspace, which is versatile in its use for meetings, breakout space or even lessons.
What next…
I hope this summary has inspired you to want to know more about our school. I am proud to be Headteacher of Thamesview and really look forward to receiving your applications if you are inspired by what you read, but more importantly by what you know and can see of our school in its day to day activities if you visit.
If you wish to discuss anything about the school or your application, please do not hesitate to telephone me at the school or explore our website at You are also welcome to visit the school prior to sort-listing; telephone KayMcGowan, our HR Manager, (01474 566552 ext 8081120) and we will arrange a convenient time. I look forward to hearing from you.