We are looking for a Head of Religious Education to join us. In this role, you will provide the RE team with strategic and operational leadership, supporting teachers to improve their classroom practice with a relentless focus on ensuring that students achieve their academic personal best, as well as broadening and deepening the opportunities to explore and engage with the Christian faith through the wider life and culture of the school.
The Head of Religious Education is responsible to the Vice Principal: Quality of Education for the rapid progress and exceptional academic achievement of all students in Religious Education with a particular emphasis on:
* Being a visible example of our ethos, core virtues and leadership expectations that we hold
* Ensuring decisions are driven by data relating to quality of provision and student progress
* Building a cohesive staff team where the development of staff as teachers (both subject knowledge and quality of instruction) and leaders (career development and succession planning) is a core part of your practice
You will implement an exceptional Religious Education curriculum and provide opportunities for students to experience and develop their understanding of the Christian faith beyond the school classroom, with a particular emphasis on:
* Ensuring the curriculum contains a clear progression from KS2 to KS4 and beyond and that all staff can articulate what is taught, why it is taught at that point in the curriculum, and what it will lead to next for the students
* Leading and developing opportunities for students to engage with the Christian faith through supporting the development and delivery of the College’s collective worship programme and other congruent but innovative means
* Implementing schemes of work that clearly define the substantive and disciplinary knowledge and vocabulary that students need to master and which lead to consistently exceptional teaching
* Building meaningful curriculum links to local faith organisations, as well as a wide range of enrichment opportunities to engage all groups of students and build their cultural capital
Finally, you will ensure Religious Education teaching is consistently exceptional, with a particular emphasis on:
* Ensuring that schemes of work and lesson resources support consistently exceptional teaching and are regularly reviewed and improved through collaborative planning
* Leading regular quality assurance of the effectiveness of teaching across the department, continually identifying examples of best practice to be disseminated and areas for improvement to be addressed through collaborative planning and support
* Creating a culture of reflective practice and improvement and professional dialogue across your team so that staff are motivated and supported to develop their own skills and subject knowledge and to support each other
Applicants should note that there is an Occupational Requirement that the post-holder be a practising Christian.
As an 11–19 secondary school serving nearly 1,300 students in central Gateshead, we have a clear vision for excellence in character education, the examined curriculum and in service to our community, grounded in our strong Christian ethos. We are part of the Emmanuel Schools Foundation, which opens exceptional opportunities for knowledge sharing and career development. We have a clear model for school improvement to provide an outstanding education for all students and are relentless in the pursuit of this goal. You will be central to delivering our strategy as you transform both the school and our students’ futures.
Join us, and in addition to working with committed and helpful colleagues, the Trust can offer access to the following benefits:
* Defined benefit pension scheme
* Employee Assistance Programme
* Daily lunch allowance
* Free parking
* Access to our exclusive Benefits Hub
* Employee-centred and family-friendly policies and practices that support you in and beyond the workplace
* Enhanced sick pay, maternity leave and paternity leave (dependent on length of service)
* Cycle scheme
* Funded eye tests and glasses for DSE users (subject to T/Cs)
For further information and to apply, please click here .
Closing date: 9.00am on 5th May 2025.
Grace College is committed to the safeguarding of children and all staff are expected to ensure that the College is a safe and secure environment for our students. All applicants are referred to the Safeguarding Statement, which is to be found within the Policy section of the Grace College website.