Job Description

Required from September 2025

PSHE/RSE is an important part of the broad curriculum taught at Channing. Years 7-11 are taught at the same time for 1 period per week and all form tutors are expected to teach their form group. The current post holder is retiring after over 2 decades in the school, having transformed provision and established PSHE/RSE at the heart of wellbeing in the school. Having recently published our strategic vision for 2035 and highlighted the key skills we believe our pupils will need to learn during the next 10 years, this is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious professional to both build on the existing curriculum as well as develop it further to meet the needs of a forward thinking and inspirational education.

Channing is a Girls on Board School and the Head of PSHE and Life Skills will play a key role in ensuring that the approach is fully embedded in the curriculum as well as supporting Heads of Year with issues around friendships. The expectation would be for the holder of the role to be trained in the Girls on Board techniques and to deliver sessions using the Girls on Board approach.

We are looking to rebrand our Year 10 enrichment lessons (1 lesson per week) as Life Skills and for the new Head of PSHE and Life Skills to develop a curriculum by working closely with pupils and colleagues. The Head of PSHE and Life Skills will be responsible for making decisions about the content of this new curriculum, as well as ensuring that all lessons are taught effectively. This is an opportunity for an individual who is interested in curriculum design and understands the importance of building on the school vision and ethos.

Channing recognises that some topics are better taught by experts in their field and there is a generous allowance for guest speakers and workshops. The Assistant Head of PSHE supports the postholder with administrative tasks as well as lesson design. We are a Tooled Up school and a large amount of resources are available for both staff and parents to call upon. We are also members of other organisations, including the Schools Inclusion Alliance, the Safeguarding network, HMC and GSA.

Alongside practical considerations such as curriculum design and effective delivery, the Head of PSHE and Life Skills will be responsible for relevant policies and staying up-to-date with the most recent changes in legal framework. The post-holder will be supported by the Senior Deputy Head in this role.

The Head of PSHE and Life Skills will be an excellent classroom practitioner, who is particularly skilled at handling sensitive and difficult topics across the whole school. This would include supporting other classroom staff delivering these.

Further information about the role and to apply, please use the link above.

Deadline for applications: Monday 3 March 2025

Interviews: Thursday 6 March 2025

Channing School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. To assist in this, the school follows a formal recruitment procedure for the employment of all staff which adheres to the recommendations of the Department for Education (DfE) in “Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education” and the school’s Child Protection Policy. A copy of this procedure is available on request.

Subject to statutory provisions, no applicant will be treated less favourably than another on the grounds of a protected characteristic. Ability to perform the job will be the primary consideration.