Teaching Assistant Science Junior School

Job Description

Highgate School supports anonymous recruitment. This means we hide your personal, identifying information to remove bias from the hiring process. We encourage applications from candidates who experience barriers and inequity due to their ethnicity, gender identity, physical or mental health, sexuality, and/or socio-economic background. THE SCHOOLA culture of community, kindness and belonging Highgate is a different kind of independent school. We are a school whose charitable ethos is an inextricable part of both staff and pupil DNA. Highgate doesnt exist in a bubble, but is connected to, and part of, a community. We have partnerships with over 60 state schools across 7 London boroughs, and, in 2017, Highgate co-founded the free sixth form school, The London Academy of Excellence Tottenham (LAET), with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club as principal business sponsor.From the Pre-Prep right up to the Sixth Form, we are actively seeking to embed a real sense of belonging at Highgate. Everyone who works and studies with us deserves to feel they are part of an environment that: welcomes them enables them to be themselves understands them encourages questioning, self-knowledge, and self-expression helps them not just to manage, but to thrive, to discover and pursue their passions, and to develop as individuals and members of a community.To do this, we are evaluating diversity in our professional, curricular and co-curricular life, exploring how to attract pupils and staff from all backgrounds to work and learn at Highgate and providing opportunities to share our own experiences as well as learning from alternative perspectives. Our work on inclusion at Highgate involves pupils, staff, alumni, parents and carers.Award-winning successFounded over 450 years ago in 1565 by Sir Roger Cholmeley, Highgate is one of the UKs leading co-educational independent schools for pupils aged 4-18. There are currently in the region of 1,850 pupils split across our Pre-Preparatory School, Junior School and Senior School sites, in conjunction with approximately 600 teaching and support staff. We are proud to be able to claim some of the top academic results across the UK, as well as titles of Independent School of the Year 2019 and Independent School of the Year for Social Mobility 2019. Highgate has recently been named the Sunday Times London Independent School of the Decade by Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide. "Ranking in the top 25 independent schools in the UK for its results in the examination hall, Highgate achieves well for its children. But it also makes a difference for many more children beyond its own gates." Alistair McCall, The Sunday Times.Staff wellbeingHighgate recognises the value of staff wellbeing which we promote by encouraging a strong work-life balance, trying our best to support flexible working requests, providing a nutritious food offering and offering access to sporting facilities including our recently renovated swimming pool. Our ethos is to be a reflective community and we encourage mindfulness throughout our school, for example by offering weekly prayers in our chapel. We also encourage an open culture throughout our school, with our directors having an open-door policy and making use of regular staff surveys.We also encourage our employees to be continuously engaged in their role by providing opportunities to participate in the wider life of our school, such as taking part in trips or societies and getting involved in partnership projects.Charitable work and sustainabilityWe remain committed to our original status as an educational charity. Highgate offers a significant number of bursaries to pupils who would otherwise be unable to access our excellent teaching and enriching activities. We are also the principal educational sponsor of the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, which was opened to provide an academically-selective, well-governed free sixth form in a community where such opportunities are lacking.Alongside this, our staff and pupils undertake a number of charitable activities throughout the year. These range from staff giving up their time to neighbourhood schools and charitable organisations, to pupils undertaking community work in the local area or further afield. For example, we also sponsor the Great Lakes High School in Uganda.Highgate endeavours to be a sustainable school and we support a number of environmentally-friendly local and national initiatives on a daily basis. For example, our staff have embraced our initiative of no longer having single-use cups and, by providing everyone with a re-usable cup, our usage of plastics cups has fallen by 1,000 per week! We also encourage and have been recognised for a number of green transport initiatives.MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES Ensure that the preparation rooms and labs are clean, well organised and safe at all times Liaise proactively with the Junior School Teaching staff to ensure daily preparation requirements are fully understood and met Develop a strong understanding of the curriculum and what resources are required Keep up to date with where in the planning each class is and advising teachers on upcoming lessons (practical or otherwise). Assist the teaching staff in the setting up of practical sessions and demonstrations, including computer and audio-visual equipment in accordance with teaching staff requests Risk assess experiments and maintain the risk assessment folder (CLEAPSS) Provide a risk assessment to teachers for each practical lesson Investigate, trial and risk assess new practical science activities Liaise with Senior School technicians to share best practice Advise and guide non specialist teachers before and then in science lessons, particularly with practical work Work closely with teachers to provide a stimulating learning environment for the children Support and assist teachers in science lessons. Provide additional support to individual pupils or groups during lessons as required Clear up after lessons to include the washing of used glassware, cleaning of benches and sinks and ensuring that materials and apparatus are returned to their correct place Maintain a database of department resources and ensure apparatus and equipment in a clean and safe condition Maintain tidy organised storage and labelling of apparatus and equipment Repair, as far as reasonably possible and if safe, any faulty or damaged equipment Undertake resource management/stock control including chemicals and order replacement equipment as necessary Purchase teaching materials for lessons, such as seeds, household chemicals Undertake requisitioning and receipt of supplies and equipment Keep a record of all department spending in the Science department budget folder (Budgeting, ordering and invoicing) Maintain stores of departmental textbooks and store any which are not in current use Ensure stationery is available in each lab Support with paperwork including photocopying teaching materials and examina