Working at Stroud High School
Like the students at Stroud High School, all staff are all on a journey striving to be our personal best. Having the humility to believe we learn and develop all the time whilst having the integrity to work hard and do what we say we will do – these are essential values we all share.
Vacancies at Stroud High School are advertised through eTeach, please click here to see current vacancies.
Teaching is a wonderful profession, but it is important that a colleague’s formative years enable them to develop their classroom craft. The Early Career Teacher (ECT) induction is the bridge between initial teacher training and a career in teaching. It combines a structured programme of development, support and professional dialogue, underpinned by the Early Career Framework with monitoring and an assessment of performance against the Teachers’ Standards.
The induction programme at Stroud High School supports Early Career Teachers (ECTs) in demonstrating their performance against the Teachers’ Standards. Induction provides a foundation for ECTs and equips them with the tools to be an effective and successful teacher.
Alongside the statutory provision, all new colleagues at Stroud High School are offered the opportunity to have a professional coach. All ECTs aspire to develop their skills beyond the Early Career Framework towards the Exceptional Learning Criteria developed in each department alongside the principles of High Performance Learning.
The best teachers are passionate about their subject and always developing their own understanding of it. They also understand that the process of learning is about finding those strategies which have the greatest impact. We believe that professional development should be a combination of learning from others within, and outside the organisation.
Time is given to departments to learn and develop together through collaborative planning, observation, evaluative activities, such as learning walks, reading and discussion. All departments have developed Exceptional Learning Criteria for lessons, and this is also used as a structure for colleagues to develop. All colleagues can also have access to a trained coach to support their development. For those colleagues who want to simply excel in the classroom we support them with opportunities to develop subject expertise as well as pedagogical principles.
Many of our teaching staff have developed a professional expertise which enables them to support the development of the wider educational environment. We believe that the more we give as professionals the more we will learn.
Currently Stroud High School colleagues support subject based Initial Teacher Training Programmes, NQT, Middle Leader, Senior Leader and Headteacher programmes across the county with 3 different teaching schools. Many of our colleagues also take on key roles with Stroud High School to support the development of others.
At Stroud High School, we are all constantly developing in our roles and we are keen to continue to develop both our aspirant and current Middle and Senior Leaders. Our aspirant leaders are able to develop through opportunities to lead on projects, linked to their career stage, and receive appropriate coaching and external CPD. In addition to this, new Middle and Senior leaders are supported by an appropriate buddy.
The link meeting structure between Middle and Senior Leaders enables Curriculum Team Leaders and Year Leaders to evaluate the progress of their team and their own skills as a leader and with support and coaching to move both aspects forward. Middle Leaders have opportunity to lead whole-school work, often undertaken as projects for National College Programmes for Senior Leadership.
Other colleagues use their subject expertise to deliver Teaching Subject Specialism programmes as well as lead whole school initiatives on Challenge. All staff across the school are able to contribute to our termly teaching and learning newsletter - Ignite.
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For support staff we provide a programme of learning opportunities, linked to specific needs. This results in improved quality and effectiveness, alongside enhanced job satisfaction.
Support staff can also access a variety of CPD opportunities and where possible all training and development will be linked to the School Priorities and/or role-related training. Such training may include:
- Promoting the effectiveness of the staff as a team
- Responding to/coping with new demands/pressures/opportunities
- Achieving/maintaining the professional skills needed to fulfil a particular role
Training can be delivered either in house or through outside providers and are tailored where possible to the individual.
Opportunities for support staff to become involved in the whole school community are vast - from accompanying curriculum trips, taking part in enrichment activities such as the ski holiday and international expeditions, to becoming a member of the school orchestra or leading our Combined Cadet Force.