Dear Applicant, 

Thank you for your interest in the currently advertised position of Curriculum Area Leader for English at North Huddersfield Trust School.  It is a wonderful opportunity for the right person to play a key strategic role in the continuing growth, development and improvement of a truly unique community based educational establishment.  Our ethos is to provide a challenging, ambitious, inclusive education designed to create engaged, critical and resilient learners equipped to become the people who define, shape and transform society.  The narrative of the school is remarkable and I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity to lead the next phase of its history. 

The opportunity arises with the current postholder having secured a promoted position in another Kirklees school.  The successful candidate will be joining an extremely strong department who have played a major role in not only delivering record academic outcomes but, as importantly, providing a consistently excellent quality of education within a caring, supportive, aspirational environment. 

This is an ideal opportunity for a suitably experienced colleague to join NHTS’ strong group of middle leaders who continue to drive our ongoing successes and improvements. 

I took up post in 2019, with the majority of the senior team having been appointed since this time.  Staffing as a whole sees a positive balance between colleagues who are relatively new to NHTS and a number who have been part of the school for a much longer period of time.  When the school first opened in 2011, there was the matter of 340 students on roll.  We now have over 1000 students on roll and – as from September 2024 – will have an above PAN intake of 210 in all five year groups.  The LA have proposed a permanent increase in the PAN (from 180 to 210) with plans for a new teaching block to open during the course of the academic year 2024-2025.

During the last three years, the curriculum has been completely overhauled and the way it is delivered reformed and refined, so that it matches the ambition we hold for every student; huge strides have been made in the consistency and effectiveness of classroom delivery.  We are determined and confident that this will result in significant and sustained improvements in attainment; this was confirmed with record outcomes in August 2023.  We believe that education is not only about academic outcomes with our bespoke leadership and achievement programme designed to develop the people we believe will shape and transform society.

We were inspected by OFSTED in May 2022 which confirmed our status as a good school, describing ‘a welcoming and vibrant atmosphere’ where ‘the diversity of the school and community is celebrated’.  It also confirms the curriculum ‘sequences what pupils need to learn’ and is designed ‘to enhance pupils’ cultural capital and understanding of the world’.  As a school that is fully committed to inclusion, the report highlights that ‘pupils are calm and patient’ and that ‘staff help to build and manage positive relationships’. 

Please take the time to read the contents of this pack carefully and to look at our website which provides lots of information about the school, its values, links and identity.

I hope that, having read through all the available information, you are keen to submit an application and look forward to receiving it.  Should you wish to have an informal discussion about the role and/or arrange a visit prior to any application, please contact Nora Brown to arrange (further details in the body of the advert).

Thank you again for your interest in the position and, should you choose to make an application, I wish you the best of luck.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Fell

Headteacher