Job Introduction

Westminster Under School is seeking to appoint an Assistant Master (Academic) for September 2024 (or January 2025, for the right candidate).  This is an exciting and varied role within a dynamic, warm, and forward-thinking school, with a reputation for excellence. We are seeking an outstanding and enthusiastic leader who will play a crucial role in shaping the academic landscape at Westminster Under School, as we move forward into an exciting new chapter of the School development, expand into new modern, spacious premises from September 2025 and become a co-educational school for children aged 4 to 13 from September 2026.

The prime responsibility of the Assistant Master (Academic) is to maintain oversight of academic affairs across the school, including organising internal and external assessments, timetabling, managing the senior schools admissions processes, tracking pupil progress and assisting with our own admissions processes. A full job description and specification is included.

The Assistant Master (Academic) works closely with the Assistant Master (Teaching and Learning) to ensure that the highest standards of pupil progress are achieved, by carefully tracking pupil progress and using the information to foster academic growth throughout the School. To this end, the post holder will also collaborate frequently with our Heads of Departments and a wide selection of teaching colleagues.

The Assistant Master (Academic) is a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) and is accountable to the Master for fulfilling the specific responsibilities of the role. In common with other members of the SMT, the Assistant Master is required to take a whole-school perspective and to contribute to the strategic vision and planning of the School’s development. The Assistant Master (Academic) will undertake some teaching.

Role Responsibility

Monitoring and Assessment

• Maintain oversight of external assessments and exams throughout the school, ensuring that timings and loadings throughout the year are manageable and appropriate for both teachers and pupils.
• Establish and maintain clear expectations in relation to academic standards, quality, and achievement for both pupils and teachers in the School.
• Design, implement and review tracking systems, monitoring and evaluating their effectiveness and impact in raising pupil progress and attainment.
• Lead teaching colleagues, including Heads of Department and Heads of Year, in the use of tracking and monitoring at departmental and whole School level, including use of baseline and value-added data, and effective target setting.
• Ensure that staff understand the data gathered and are empowered to utilise the information to enhance teaching and learning.
• Monitor achievement across the School and identify barriers to learning which may affect achievement, in collaboration with the Assistant Master (Teaching and Learning) and Head of Learning Development.
• Use assessment data to identify areas of strategic development at individual, group (e.g. SEND, EAL), departmental and School level.

Admissions and Transitions

• Be fully conversant with the general requirements for transition to senior schools; including Pre-Tests, interviews, and Year 6 and 8 entrance examinations (including scholarships).
• Coordinate arrangements for ISEB Common Pre-Tests in Year 6, including the preparation of boys and communication with parents, in liaison with the Head of Academic Transfer.
• Coordinate arrangements for external exams, including Common Entrance, Challenge and King’s Scholarship (and any other senior school entrance exams).
• Coordinate additional lessons for Eton King’s Scholarship and Winchester Entrance exams (or other senior schools if necessary).
• Writing of academic references, primarily for Years 6 and 8, in liaison with the Assistant Master, Teaching and Learning, and the Head of Academic Transfer.
• Coordinate arrangements for testing of external 11+ candidates.
• Organisation of Saturday lessons for 11+ entrants.
• Collate all senior school information (past papers, examination feedback, etc.) and make these available to colleagues.
• Communicate with boys, parents and staff regarding external examination arrangements and publish relevant information on Aptus and in the weekly newsletter.
• Liaise with The Master, Registrar, and Head of Learning Development over the assessment of new children filling occasional places.
• Assist the Assistant Master (Teaching and Learning), Registrar and Head of Learning Development with regard to 4+, 7+ and 8+ entrance exams.
• Liaise with the Registrar and the Master regarding future schools.

Pupils and Parents

• Oversee the academic reporting system within the school, reviewing effort and attainment grades and providing relevant data to staff for discussion regarding pupils’ progress.
• Monitor and track the progress of pupils in both formative and summative assessments.
• Analyse progress data to identify and address trends, coordinating/delivering CPD and support as required, in collaboration with the Assistant Master (Teaching and Learning) and Head of Learning Development.
• Develop the use of the MIS for academic purposes throughout the school, ensuring that it is being used correctly by colleagues.
• Assist with arrangements for Year 8 setting and whole school form classes to ensure pastoral and academic balance.
• Liaise with parents regularly over educational matters, including regarding children’s suitability for future schools, suggesting the most appropriate points of departure and destinations and managing expectations for all.

SMT 

• Contribute to the review and development of policy and practice throughout the school.
• Construct and review the annual timetable, which includes complex setting arrangements further up the School.
• Construct, circulate and implement bespoke timetables in order to accommodate mid-year changes, as needed, e.g. to cover staffing changes.
• Assist in projected staffing needs, based on projected pupil numbers, and ensure the correct grouping of pupils.
• Ensure that the Assessment, Marking, Recording and Reporting policy and the Admissions policy ensure are periodically updated and contribute to other policies as required, e.g., Admissions, SEND, etc.
• Possess a thorough and up-to-date working knowledge of ISI requirements and adjust school policy and practice as appropriate.
• Be responsible for the academic aspects of inspection.
• Assist the SMT in deciding appropriate whole-school INSET.
• Assist with the professional development and review process as necessary.
• Assist with proof reading reports.
• In co-ordination with Assistant Master (Teaching and Learning) and other senior managers, set agendas for, chair and distribute minutes of Heads of Department and other academic meetings.
• Be closely involved in the appointment of new staff.
• Teach as required.

The Ideal Candidate

Please refer to the attached person specification below.

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 Under 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.

Package Description

Required for: September 2024 or January 2025

Location: Vincent Square - Westminster Under School

Contract: full-time, permanent

Salary: Westminster Under School 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.

There is also an associated responsibility allowance for this role.

The closing date for applications is 09:00 on Monday 15th April.

Longlist interviews will take place on Friday 19th April. Shortlist will follow shortly after.

About the School

Working at Westminster Under School

Westminster Under School is a busy, purposeful and vibrant place to be and an excellent workplace. The community is made up of 292 pupils, 43 teaching staff and 50 support staff.

Our teaching staff are friendly and welcoming and all new teachers quickly become part of the rhythm of life here, both inside and outside the classroom. 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 come here.

At Westminster Under School 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 Under 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 Under School is a great environment for happy and purposeful pupils, and for the staff who teach them. Our aim is to produce well-rounded individuals with a love of learning and an enthusiasm for life. We expect the boys to be hard working and active participants in their lessons, but we place equal importance on the boys embracing extra-curricular activities at the School.

We want our pupils to enjoy their time at School and we believe that one of the best ways to achieve this is by providing stimulating, challenging lessons. The boys are encouraged to think for themselves, to engage fully in classroom discussions and to take pride in their work. We aim to foster a love of learning in all our pupils and a love of teaching in those who educate them.

The Under School is a day school with approximately 292 pupils aged between 7 and 13. The School was founded in 1943 in the precincts of Westminster School in Little Dean’s Yard, just behind Westminster Abbey. The 17 boys with whom it began rapidly became 60 in number and by 1950 there were 80 boys in the Under School. The boys had to compete for space with the senior school pupils who had returned from evacuation at the end of the war, but in 1951 the Under School acquired its own premises in Eccleston Square. Numbers of pupils continued to rise during the 1960s and 1970s and in 1981 the School moved once again to its present site overlooking the Westminster playing fields in Vincent Square. A stone’s throw from the same Square is the striking Art Deco Sports Hall, which is used by both Westminster Under and Westminster Great School pupils.

To this day, the Under School enjoys a strong and important bond with Westminster Great School. Both schools foster a deep sense of the importance of independent thought and the ethos of a liberal education, giving them a unique shared identity. It is usual for Under School pupils to be offered a place at the Great School, and the vast majority accept their offers, continuing on until they leave the School in Year 13.

Westminster School