Teacher of Classics (shared parental leave and maternity cover)

We are looking for two full-time staff members to cover the teaching of two colleagues who will be on maternity and shared parental leave for Play Term, September-December 2023. Subject to discussion during the application process, for the right candidate, one of the posts can be extended to the end of the Lent Term in March 2024.

The department is flourishing, with seven staff members in a dynamic and supportive atmosphere. Classics maintains its traditionally important place in the School’s curriculum. Both Latin and Greek are compulsory for boys in their first year; thereafter, they may continue with one or both.

About 55 to 60 boys each year sit GCSE Latin and about 30 GCSE Greek. In recent years, in Years 12 and 13, there have usually been 35 to 40 pupils studying Latin and 15 to 25 studying Greek.

Pupils arrive at Westminster with a variety of experiences in Classics. Our Fifth Form (Year 9) and Lower Shell (Year 10) curricula aim to bring them up to roughly the same linguistic standard while also introducing them to a wide range of literature and history. In the Upper Shell (Year 11), pupils study the GCSE set texts. In the Upper School, they pursue a stretching language course in advanced accidence and syntax and read, discuss and write on a range of poetry and prose before addressing the set texts for the OCR A Levels. In addition, pupils participate enthusiastically in an extensive cocurricular programme, including theatrical productions, an in-house magazine, our London-area reading competition, trips to Greece and Hadrian’s Wall, and visits to lecture days, museums and the theatre.

We pride ourselves on our commitment to rigorous language teaching. At all levels, the pupils learn to translate into the target language, and all Upper School pupils are taught prose composition. Our schemes of work extend far outside and beyond the linguistic and literary prescriptions of public examinations. This commitment to high standards of teaching and learning leads to our pupils earning outstanding results, including a significant number of places to study Classics at Oxford and Cambridge each year.

The successful candidates will teach full timetables over the whole School week (Monday-Saturday morning), but there may be some flexibility for the suitable candidates. They need to be able to teach Latin and Greek language and literature up to A Level with expert knowledge and insight and to inspire in the pupils a lively appreciation of the cultural riches of Classical antiquity. A readiness to teach Latin or Greek prose composition would be advantageous. Prior teaching experience is essential. The Head of the Department will provide detailed schemes of work and specific guidance and offer support at all stages.

If you would like to discuss the details of these posts informally, please contact the Head of Classics, Dr Duncan McCombie ([email protected]).

Please refer to the attached person specification for further details.

Equal Opportunities

We are an equal opportunities employer. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex or sexual orientation.

Safeguarding and Child Protection

Westminster School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Location: Great School (Dean's Yard)

Required for: September 2023

Contract: full-time, temporary (one term) - please read the details below

Salary: Westminster has its own salary scale, and new members of staff are placed at a point relevant to their qualifications and experience. Details of salary will be discussed at interview with those candidates who are short-listed.

Deadline for applications: Thursday 16th February 2023

Interviews will follow shortly after the closing date

Working at Westminster

Westminster School is a busy, purposeful and vibrant place to be and an excellent workplace. The community is made up of 750 pupils, 120 teaching staff and 108 support staff.

Our teaching staff — the Common Room — are friendly and welcoming and all new teachers quickly become part of the rhythm of life here, both inside and outside the classroom. Common Room social events are regular and varied, with plenty of opportunity to socialise outside working hours.

It also does not matter where you come to us from. Some teachers come to us straight from university or having just taken a PGCE. Some have taught in independent schools before while others come from the state sector, or another industry altogether. The common ground is that all our teachers have a great knowledge and love for their subject and are willing to be fully involved in the life of the School and the lives of the children who study here. The School has a vibrant co-curricular programme that offers a wide range of opportunities beyond the academic curriculum. We welcome candidates who can contribute their energy and expertise to the co-curricular life of the School as well as the academic.

At Westminster we will always select the best candidate for every position. However, we know we can only truly choose the best person on every occasion if a broad and diverse pool of candidates see the job advertised and are encouraged to apply.

As such, we continue to work on how our job roles are encountered, and particularly welcome applications from groups who have traditionally been underrepresented here.

Westminster School is for everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic. We hope you are encouraged to apply.

The School

Westminster School is a selective day and boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 and girls aged 16 to 18. There are approximately 360 boys in the Lower School (Years 9 to 11) and 400 boys and girls in the Upper School (Years 12 and 13). One quarter of the pupils board, and the School is structured and run as a boarding school, with an extended day and week and a strong House-based system of pastoral welfare, for boarding and day pupils alike.

Westminster is an ancient school, whose origins can be traced to a charity school established by the Benedictine monks of Westminster Abbey. Its continuous existence is certain from the early 14th century. Henry VIII personally ensured the School’s survival by statute and Elizabeth I, who confirmed royal patronage in 1560, is celebrated as the School’s foundress. Westminster is rare amongst long-established schools in remaining on its original site in the centre of London. Its proximity to Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and the use of the Abbey for its chapel, together with the stimulating diversity of the South Bank and West End, account in part for its special atmosphere and outlook.

The School is one of the foremost centres of academic excellence both in this country and internationally. Central to its academic ethos is the dialogue between teachers and their pupils, whether in the classroom or in tutorials, inspiring enjoyment of intellectual enquiry, debate and search for explanation and the development of skills of rational, independent thought well beyond any standard examination syllabus. The desired environment is happy, busy and purposeful; the pupils are intellectually, socially, ethically and politically engaged, with plenty of opportunities to develop initiatives and to articulate and defend their views, in line with the enduring values of the liberal tradition reflected in the School’s Charter. That tradition is fully committed also to the nurture of each pupil’s spiritual, moral, emotional and physical development and wellbeing – with a particular emphasis on drawing out individual talent wherever it lies - and to the preparation of young people for fulfilled private and public lives beyond School.

Westminster School