Royal Grammar School

Royal Grammar School

Royal Grammar School

Engineering Design Technology Support Technician

The School

Newcastle upon Tyne Royal Grammar School (RGS) has long had a reputation as a premier independent school in the North East. Founded in 1545, the School has 1,295 students (including 264in its Junior School) and is located in Jesmond, within walking distance of the city centre, and adjacent to Jesmond Metro station. A boys’ school since its foundation, girls were admitted to the Sixth Form in 2001 and the school became fully co-educational in September 2006.

In addition to its reputation for academic excellence, the school also enjoys a wide range of excellent resources and facilities, and its accommodation has been extensively rebuilt and refurbished in recent years.

The Engineering, Design and Technology (EDT) Department

The EDT Department teaches all year groups in the Senior School: the subject is compulsory in years 7 and 8 and optional thereafter: this year, 40 students in Year 10 are taking the OCR GCSE in Design and Technology, 27 students in Year 11 are taking CIE IGCSE Design and Technology: Resistant Materials, 11 students in Lower Sixth form are taking OCR A Level Design Engineering and three students in Upper Sixth form are taking OCR Product Design.

The Department has embraced the national changes in Design and Technology and a new curriculum with design engineering at the heart of it is being delivered. Teaching activities include traditional woodworking and metalworking, mixed media product design, CADCAM, electro-mechanical and pneumatic systems, electronics and programmable digital technologies.

The Department has excellent facilities, including two multimedia workshops, two IT design suites, a technician’s area with machine tools and a welding bay: machine tools include centre lathes, a milling machine, cut-off saws and sanders. Digital technologies feature heavily in the EDT curriculum and the department has a CNC laser cutter, CNC router, CNC engravers, a suite of 3D printers and a 3D scanner.

The Technician plays a key role in supporting the four members of staff teaching the subject, in particular by setting up tools and equipment, laying out resources, providing 1:1demonstrations of equipment and techniques, supporting teachers in lessons and providing lunchtime workshop support to students.

Experience and qualifications

The successful candidate will have relevant experience in a design and technology or engineering environment; experience of working in a school is not essential, but candidates must display a clear commitment to working with young people in an educational environment. Candidates should also be IT literate, with a good level of competence in basic applications such as e-mail, internet, Word and Excel, and specialist design software such as 2D Design and Creo. Experience of working with 3D printing software, such as Makerware and Cura, as well as programmable interface controllers, Raspberry Pis and Arduino programmable electronic devices would be beneficial. A good understanding of the health and safety issues associated with these areas of work, especially in the context of young people, is essential.

Job description

Duties include:

  1. Ordering and maintaining adequate stocks of all materials, consumables and stationery required for the department– receipt of deliveries, stock checks, etc
  2. Maintaining computer records of all orders, invoices, stock, etc
  3. Maintaining organised storage of materials, consumables and stationery
  4. Use of various machine tools for particular applications
  5. Producing one-off metal, wood, plastic and rapid prototyped components for specific student projects at GCSE and A-level.
  6. Checking and maintaining in safe working - condition all machine, power and hand tools used within the Department
  7. Operating, cleaning and servicing all machines
  8. Cleaning and maintaining air filtration and dust extract units
  9. Checking and maintaining in safe working condition the welding bay and all associated equipment and consumables
  10. Monitoring the standard of personal protective equipment throughout the department and replacing as necessary
  11. Tool sharpening; chisels and knives
  12. Checking IT equipment is ready for use and reporting problems to the IT helpdesk
  13. Maintaining inventory of all departmental tools and equipment.
  14. Liaison with ICT technicians regarding the department’s ICT equipment
  15. Liaison with the Senior Science and Technology Centre Technician for PATs of departmental equipment
  16. Opening up and closing down routines at start and end of each working day
  17. Setting out workshops with appropriate materials and tools for lessons
  18. Providing in lesson support for teachers in all aspects of the subject.
  19. Delivering 1:1 instruction on specialist machinery such as centre lathes, CNC router and 3D Printers
  20. Delivering 1:1 instruction on hot metal working processes such as MIG welding, brazing, plasma arc cutting.
  21. Clearing away tools and unused materials at end of lessons
  22. Keeping clean all racking for tools and materials
  23. Providing workshop support during lunchtime for students
  24. Monitoring Health and Safety practice within the workshop environments and reporting concerns to the Head of Department
  25. Liaising with domestic staff for general cleaning of department

The technician will be required to work to daily, weekly and half-termly routines to cover most of the above tasks.

Person specification

  1. A personal interest in the subject area.
  2. Eager and willing to help a dedicated team of teachers to inspire young minds.
  3. Taking a pride in the quality of workmanship, and instilling it in others
  4. Self-motivated and able to work both with minimal supervision and as a member of a team.
  5. Competent in use of machine, power and hand tools
  6. Able to handle (with appropriate risk assessment and with assistance as necessary) large and/or heavy pieces of equipment and materials
  7. Able to work to deadlines and prioritise work accordingly.
  8. A good level of organisational and administrative skills.
  9. A good working knowledge of, and commitment to implementing good health and safety practice and procedures, ideally including preparation of risk assessments
  10. Experience working in an engineering environment in industry or education
  11. Previous experience in a school or college is not essential, but an understanding of young people and a commitment to supporting their education is essential
  12. Good computer literacy and good level of competence in basic applications such as e-mail, internet, Word and Excel, and specialist design software such as 2D Design and Creo.
  13. An understanding of the wider issues of working with young people (safeguarding, etc) is important.
  14. The School has an open mind on the balance between experience and qualifications of candidates.
  15. A natural problem-solver who is motivated by implementing processes and solutions;
  16. The ability to build and maintain strong positive relationships with stakeholders in a warm and friendly manner;

Key terms and conditions

  1. This is a term-time plus five staff daysappointmentto commence at the earliest convenient date.
  2. The post will report to the Head of the EDT Department.
  3. A competitive salary and other conditions of service, based on the RGS Support Staff Pay Scaleup to £17,870pa, equivalent to £21,358 full time,depending on experience.
  4. 40 hour working week, Monday to Friday. In addition there will be occasional out-of hours work, which will be paid as overtime.
  5. During term time, a free lunch is provided in School for all RGS employees.
  6. There is an RGS Support Staff Sick Pay Scheme.
  7. The EDT Support Technician will be required to auto-enrol into a qualifying pension scheme, and will have the right to opt out of such a scheme. The employee will be eligible (and be encouraged) to join the RGS Support Staff Pension Plan, which is a qualifying scheme (full details will be provided).
  8. The EDT Support Technicianwill be required to comply with a range of RGS Policies, in particular those regarding Safeguarding, Data Protection, use of ICT facilities,and Health and Safety.
  9. As with all RGS employees, the EDT Support Technician will be encouraged to become involved in the wider life of the RGS community.

Application procedure

Confirmation of any appointment offered can only be made when the following procedure has been fully completed.

All staff who work in a school environment and may have unsupervised access to children must receive a satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which the School will arrange. The provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 regarding disclosure of spent convictions do not apply to those seeking to work in a School. We ask if you have any convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings that are not “protected” as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013). The amendments to the Exemptions Order 1975 (2013) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are “protected” and are not subject to disclosure to employers, and cannot be taken into account.

In addition,the position may involve supervising children under the age of eight outside teaching hours or managing the supervision of children under the age of eight the declaration will ask if you are living in the same household as someone who could be a danger to children. We will ask you to sign a declaration to that effect.

Confirmation of appointment to this post will be subject to:

a)receipt of a full, continuous, c.v.;

b)receipt of a satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau;

c)receipt of two satisfactory written references, one of which should be from the applicant’s current or most recent employer;

d)a satisfactory medical screening report.

Applicants must provide:

e)a completed RGS job application form;

f)a full c.v. (which under theregulations for selection of school staff must provide a continuous employment record and account for any gaps in employment);

g)a supporting letter setting out the strengths which the applicant believes he/she would bring to the post;

h)their daytime and home / mobile contact numbers;

i)their e-mail address; and

j)the names of two referees (one of whom should be their current or most recent employer), indicating whether the School may contact them prior to interview.

  1. Applications must be received by not later than 12.00 a.m. onFriday 8thDecember, 2017by e-mail to (with documents as Word attachments).
  1. Interviews will be held during the week commencing 11th December 2017.
  1. For an informal chat about this post, please e-mail the Head of EDT Department, Mr Peter Warne ()

Further information about the School is available on its website,

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