Early Year Classroom Teacher - Tianjin

Wellington College is committed to providing world-class educational opportunities in the city of Tianjin. We seek to recruit and develop staff members who are fully engaged with the stated vision of the school – [to] “aspire to create a caring, international community that develops well-rounded individuals with strong values and the skills to thrive within an ever-changing global society” and who are guided in their professional and personal conduct by the core Wellington values – courage, respect, integrity, kindness and responsibility. In this way, the post holder should regard the following outline of the job description not as a checklist of things to achieve, but as a starting point for their growth in the role.

ABOUT US

Wellington College International Tianjin’s Junior School provides pupils aged 6-11 years with access to an education rooted in the strong values and progressive approach to learning synonymous with Wellington College. The school offers its pupils rigour and challenge throughout the journey from Key Stage 1 and 2, largely mirroring the national curriculum in England, reinforced with the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) and our own bespoke Mandarin programme. We aim to prepare pupils for success during and after their time at the College; the overwhelming majority of our pupils go on to the Senior School from Year 7, in which they continue their work based on the English national curriculum, followed by IGCSEs and A-Levels.

Within a culture of shared vision, mutual respect, high academic standards, open communication and a commitment to best practice, the teachers at Wellington form an integral part of a close team determined to develop and evolve in their personal and professional development.

TIANJIN

China today boasts at least two of the world’s great cities on its mainland – Beijing and Shanghai. While these megacities, with populations well in excess of 20 million people, hog the limelight, so-called ‘second tier’ cities, such as Tianjin provide some light relief from the hectic pace of life. Tianjin may be the largest city most people have never heard of; it is China’s 4th largest city, with over 15 million people spread across its main urban centres. It is the former port city for Beijing, providing the capital with its access to the sea and the trade routes across the world.

Any visitor to Beijing or Shanghai cannot have failed to notice the scale of those cities, and with that vast size comes an almost inevitable compromise in terms of traffic jams, higher prices and crowds of tourists and locals alike. Tianjin, by contrast, has a rather less frenetic pace of life. Inhabitants can take long, peaceful walks along the beautiful HaiHe river or mooch around the former European concession areas in WuDaDao. It is a big city, but with the feel of a compact and connected centre – the ‘downtown’ areas of shopping, sporting and leisure facilities all sit within a few square kilometres of the CBD. Strolling, jogging or cycling around the city is remarkably easy and affords a chance to see the historic and cultural highlights whilst never being too far from a restorative coffee shop or restaurant.

The city’s traditional heart is around the Drum Tower, just a few minutes’ walk from the school. Here, arts and crafts’ shops rub shoulders with antique dealers and restaurants offering local Tianjin delicacies. Further along the river, and again within easy reach of the school, lie the former concessions, sections of the city which in the 19th Century were annexed by the major world powers, including Britain, Germany, the US and Japan. All saw in Tianjin the chance to exploit Chinese trade, and as a result, the city has developed some historic areas which reflect the architecture and ambitions of their former occupiers. A day spent wandering around WuDaDao, or the recently restored Italian concession area, makes for a fascinating journey into the city’s past. Venturing outside the city, Tianjin has its own stretch of the Great Wall, which makes for a scenic and peaceful two-hour hike: the crowded Wall sections around Beijing will seem a million mile away once you set foot on the Huangyaguan stretch of this UNESCO World Heritage site.

Professional Attributes

• Have high expectations of children and a commitment to ensuring that they can achieve their full educational potential and to establishing fair, respectful, trusting, supportive and constructive relationships with them.
• Demonstrate the values, attributes and behaviour you expect from children.
• Be aware of the professional duties of teachers and the statutory framework within which they work.
• Be aware of the policies and practices of the school and share collective responsibility for their implementation.
• Communicate effectively with children, young people, colleagues, parents and careers.
• Recognise and respect that the colleagues, parents and careers can make to the development and wellbeing of children and young people and to raising their levels of attainment.
• Have a commitment to collaboration and cooperative working with colleagues.
• Reflect on and improve their practice; take responsibility for identifying and meeting their professional development needs.
• Have a creative and constructively critical approach towards innovation; being prepared to adapt their practice where benefits and improvements are identified.
• Act upon advice and feedback and be open to coaching and mentoring.

Professional Knowledge and Understanding

• Have a range of teaching, learning and behaviour management strategies and know how to use and adapt them, including how to personalise learning and provide opportunities for all learners to achieve their potential.
• Know the assessment requirements and arrangements for the subjects/curriculum areas they are trained to teach, including those relating to public examinations and qualifications.
• Be informed of a range of approaches to assessment, including the importance of formative assessment.
• To follow assessment guidance set out in the whole school assessment policy.
• Know how to use local and national statistical information to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching, to monitor the progress of those they teach and to raise levels of attainment.
• Have a secure knowledge and understanding of curriculum areas to enable you to teach effectively across the age and ability range for which you are trained to teach.
• Know and understand the relevant statutory and non-statutory curricula frameworks, including those provided through the National Strategies, for your curriculum areas (all taught areas), and other relevant initiatives across the age and ability range for which you are trained to teach.
• Know how to use skills in literacy, numeracy and ICT to support your teaching and wider professional activities e.g. planning and assessment.
• Understand how children develop and that the progress and well-being of learners are affected by a range of developmental, social, religious, ethnic, cultural and linguistic influences.
• Know how to make effective personalised provision for the children you teach including those for who English is an additional language.
• Know and understand the roles of colleagues with specific responsibilities, including those with responsibilities for learners with SEN and disabilities and other individual learning needs.
• Be aware of current legal requirements and policy concerning the well being of children.
• Know how to identify and support children whose progress, development or well-being is affected by changes or difficulties in their personal circumstances, and when to refer them to colleagues for specialist support.

Professional Skills

• Assess the learning of those you teach and set challenging learning objectives.
• Plan and teach lessons and sequences of lessons that are well organised, demonstrating secure subject knowledge relevant to curricula across the age and ability range for which you are trained.
• Use a range of teaching strategies and resources including e-learning.
• Provide opportunities for learners to develop their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills
• Provide homework to sustain learner’s progress and consolidate their learning.
• Make effective use of a range of assessment, monitoring and recording strategies.
• Provide daily, accurate and constructive feedback on learner’s attainment, progress and areas for development.
• Support and guide learners to reflect on their learning, identify progress they have made and identify their emerging learning needs.
• Establish a purposeful and safe learning environment conducive to learning and identify opportunities for learners to learn in and out of school contexts.
• Establish a clear framework for classroom discipline to manage learners’ behaviour constructively and promote their self-control and independence.
• Work as a team member and identify opportunities for working with colleagues, sharing the development of effective practice with them.
• Ensure colleagues (e.g. Teaching Assistants) working with you, are appropriately involved in supporting learning and understand the roles they are expected to fulfil.
• Advising and co-operating with staff on the preparation and delivery of courses of study, teaching materials and programmes, methods of teaching and assessments and pastoral arrangements.
• Participating in arrangements for further training and professional development, including undertaking personal training and professional development identified through performance management.
• Safeguarding children’s H&S in school and on authorized school activities elsewhere. ▪ Other responsible duties as directed by the Head of Juniors.