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CURRENT OPENINGS



  • Job Title

    Level 1 Teaching Assistant

  • Location

    Swindon, Wiltshire

  • Posted

    22nd March 2024

  • School

    Tadpole Farm Church of England Primary Academy

  • Salary

    See advert

  • Hours

    Part Time

  • Description

    The role is for 32.5 hours per week, 39 weeks per year. Salary: BG 6 £22,954 - £23,505 FTE / £17,253 - £17,667 Actual  Tadpole Farm Primary Academy forms part of the Diocese ...

  • Job Title

    Higher Level Teaching Assistant

  • Location

    Swindon, Wiltshire

  • Posted

    22nd March 2024

  • School

    Tadpole Farm Church of England Primary Academy

  • Salary

    BG9 - See advert

  • Hours

    Term Time

  • Description

    A great HLTA opportunity in a growing school where children lead learning There are not many times in a career when the opportunity arises to help support children within a growin ...

  • Job Title

    Level 2 Teaching Assistant

  • Location

    Swindon, Wiltshire

  • Posted

    22nd March 2024

  • School

    Tadpole Farm Church of England Primary Academy

  • Salary

    See advert

  • Hours

    Part Time

  • Description

    The role is for 32.5 hours per week, 39 weeks per year. Salary:  BG 8 - £26,323 - £28,495 FTE / Actual salary £19,785 - £21,418 Tadpole Farm Primary Academy forms part of the ...

  • Job Title

    Class Teacher - Maternity Cover

  • Location

    Swindon, Wiltshire

  • Posted

    7th March 2024

  • School

    Tadpole Farm Church of England Primary Academy

  • Salary

    MPS

  • Hours

    Full Time

  • Description

    Tadpole Farm CE Academy currently looking for an enthusiastic and motivated teacher to join our team from Term 6 on a full time basis to provide Maternity Cover in Key Stage 2. Th ...

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About Us

Tadpole Farm CE Primary Academy (TFCEPA) is a growing, new educational establishment which will serve the developing community at Tadpole Garden Village, in the north of Swindon. Once fully open, the school will provide education for 420 4-11 year olds, with nursery provision for 52, 3 and 4 year olds, in a state of the art learning environment.

We also offer wraparound care, run by school staff, and nursery lunchtime care too. We run a wide variety of afterschool activity clubs chosen by the children and are actively involved with the wider community through Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, a drama programme with Prime Theatre Company and various other local initiatives.

Our school sits at the heart of Tadpole Garden Village; a development 2000 houses that will be completed over the next 10 years and the academy is the ‘village school’. However, we also serve the other communities within the North Swindon development, as school places here are well sought after and often over subscribed. Within the development there is extensive green space which will be managed by a Community Interest Company. The academy sits on the board of this company and it will give us weekly access to outdoor learning opportunities supported by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

We are building our academy to be a valuable community asset. A warm beating heart at the centre of this community. The children will be nurtured as learners, creators and talent growers; will develop skills in self-resilience, independence and supporting others; will have opportunities to be involved in the wider community and world at large. As the development grows we will have the chance to help create a whole new village community as we will be the focal point of the development for some time to come.

DBAT, which is a multi-academy trust, is built on the principle of being a family which shares Christian values. There are currently 9 other schools within DBAT, with other schools on the route to joining. The Trust are opening a senior school in Wichelstowe in September 2019 - DBAT are a multi academy trust who are growing steadily and strongly. As part of DBAT, we work closely with the other schools, sharing developments and innovations that benefit us all. We also work with and learn from the community of Church of England schools across the Diocese and within the National Society. All DBAT schools work with their local cluster schools maximising our opportunities to improve practice and share experiences.

Some of the staff and Local Board members have shared video clips of their thoughts about what makes TFCEPA a great place to be involved with… take a look at the school website for these.

Working for Us

Are you looking for:-

  • a supportive and professional learning community?
  • challenges and opportunities?
  • a community that lives by Christian values?
  • a team where everyone’s contribution is equally valued and heard?
  • a working environment where everyone does, and feels able to do, any task necessary?
  • a place where coming to work is stimulating, rewarding and fun?

These are all things we feel about coming to work here at Tadpole Farm CE Primary Academy.

Professional Development

Regardless of the role you play in our academy, there will be opportunities to develop both within and outside that role. As a growing community, the staff cohort needs to be adaptable and flexible and our support for internal and external training will reflect this. Whether you are already working within an advertised role, looking to change career or are at the start of your career, we can help you take that next step. The current staff cohort has extensive experience across a range of roles and our access to training opportunities within DBAT, local school networks and national course providers mean that there are many routes to further development.

Innovation

You may already have lots of ideas that you are bursting to try out; you may not even know you have them but, by the professional discussions that you would be part of, we will ensure you have the opportunity and confidence to share these ideas and develop them further. We already share new developments we have worked on with other schools - our current focus areas are Innovative IT, Excellence in outdoor learning, reading for pleasure and writing innovations across all key stages. With the support of DBAT, we are beginning to develop our academy as a centre of excellence for RE teaching and will be setting up a resources hub for the schools in the area. Our Early Years, Key Stage One and Key Stage Two teams already provide support to other schools and we will be developing this as we become an outstanding education provider.

Living the values

We firmly believe that the children need to see our twelve, core Christian values lived, not just talked about, by the adults within our academy family. It is key for us that all adults know and show the values in their interactions with the children, and each other, on a daily basis. For you, coming into our community, this means you will feel welcomed, supported, encouraged and valued; appreciated for all that you bring to us and trusted to do all you can to help our community grow and thrive.

The Tadpole Team Approach

Currently there are 46 members of our staff team who all take part in discussions about changes, problem solving and how best to support the children and their families on their learning journeys. This collaborative approach is one which we will be developing and continuing as we grow. Our support staff are key to an effective team and have an equal voice in terms of learning and pastoral care, utilising their experience and observations so that we are all able to nurture the children effectively. Teachers and classroom support staff work closely together in year group and key stage teams to develop the children's learning pathways. Where practicable we aim to team teach, building on the excellent skills in Early Years teaching and would expect some element of team teaching to be present in every year group.

Mucking in… mucking out!

As a growing school, all of us can, and do, turn our hand to anything… even the jobs you love to hate. As the school reaches capacity, even though there will be more staff, we will all still be mucking in as this way of working fits closely with our Christian ethos of service and responsibility and supports the team style, which is already a strong feature of daily life here at TFCEPA.

A place where coming to work is stimulating, rewarding and fun.

The best people to tell you what it’s like to work here are those of us who already do - what was it that made us apply to join Tadpole Farm CE Primary Academy…

“A chance to be in at the start of something new and evolving. The opportunity to shape the school from the early days.”

“I was interested because it was such an exciting opportunity… then I met the lovely head and that made it a definite yes!”

“It was too good an opportunity to miss out on.”

“The Christian values the school promotes and the opportunity to be in at the beginning and mould the opportunities the children get.”

“I wanted a new exciting adventure...and it’s still going.”

“I applied because it seemed so exciting - I was looking for a new challenge and new experiences...and they happen daily.”

“I applied because it was an exciting opportunity and when I had met the head I knew it would be exciting to work here.”

“It ticked all the boxes of what I was looking for - somewhere to develop and grow my career and to learn more about my professional role.”

and what keeps us smiling every day...

“No two days are the same….helping children and their families grow and develop at Tadpole Farm is a privilege and so rewarding to see.”

“Working with a team of people who put the children at the heart of all they do.”

“It’s a lovely team of people and the children making progress make me smile.”

“There’s something new every day - it’s great knowing that you are helping the children to learn; to be the person who they will become.”

“The positive team I work with and the smiling faces of children when they are here.”

“It’s a fun place to work, everyone is so friendly.”

“I’m happy coming to work every day; the really friendly staff make it an enjoyable team to be part of.”

“We get to do lots of exciting things and are given the opportunity to try out our ideas.”

New to the area?

With the M4 at its doorstep, Swindon is easily accessible to London, Bristol, Reading and Cardiff, as well as many other major destinations, making it an ideal location for professionals who regularly have to travel in and out of town for work purposes.

Unemployment levels are one of the lowest in the country and according to recent reports, statistics show that Swindon's economy has outperformed the rest of the UK for a significant amount of time now.

Swindon's stigma as a highly sought after place to live and work has been further boosted by a £350 million investment to improve the town's leisure and retail facilities. The regeneration of the town centre is set to reclaim Swindon's title as one of the fastest growing towns in Europe and to cope with demand 40,000 new homes are set for construction over the next 15 years.

Huge organisations such as Honda, Intel, First Great Western and of course Nationwide have all made Swindon their home and thanks to the strong local economy and productive work force that the town offers, have thrived. Swindon is an economically resilient town and that’s why it is ranked among one of the top 10 highly innovative areas in the UK.

Transport Links

Swindon’s railway station is a main line station with good network links to London, Bristol, Gloucester as well as further afield to Birmingham, South Wales or the South West. There are also good coach services and regular bus services from the surrounding towns and villages.

Local and Recreational Attractions

There are many and varied local attractions such as historic Lydiard Park, the picturesque Town Gardens, the Steam Museum celebrating the growth of Swindon as a railway town. There is also the Swindon Art Centre, Wyvern Theatre, Cotswold Wildlife Park, Roves Farm and easy access to Cotswold villages and pubs.  Just north of the town is the Swindon and Cricklade Railway where visitors can enjoy a ride on an old fashioned steam engine and take a look at engines that are under restoration.

As you would expect from a town the size of swindon, the entertainment facilities are wide and varied including 3 cinemas, a bowling alley, ice rink and  many other leisure and fitness clubs.

If shopping is your thing, then Swindon offers the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet, Town Centre, which is undergoing redevelopment, and, closer to Tadpole Farm CE Primary Academy, the Orbital Shopping Centre, which includes a library and supermarkets as well as a range of high street shops.

About Diocese of Bristol Academies Trust

DBAT was founded in 2012, enabling the Diocese of Bristol’s Board of Education to sponsor academies.

The management of its affairs are overseen by its Board of Directors which operates a flexible Scheme of Delegation. This is based on the principle of detailed monitoring against and evaluation of Ofsted and Diocesan Distinctiveness criteria of all academies in the MAT and increasing ‘earned autonomy’ once academies demonstrate they are ‘good’ or better.

Mission Statement

DBAT’s core purposes are to:

• focus on improving the educational experiences, employment prospects and life chances of young people, especially those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds;
• demonstrate that children’s life-chances are improved when their formal education is within the context of an Academy that is founded in the Christian tradition, establishes an ethos that is distinctively Christian and embraces the very best practices in teaching, learning, leadership, management and safety;
• accelerate students’ levels of attainment and achievement, and raises student, teacher and parental aspirations and ambitions;
• help to create more cohesive communities enhancing opportunities for social mobility by striving to eliminate the attainment gap between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and young people who by circumstances of birth and inheritance take for granted their automatic right to a good education;
• transform the overall performance of underperforming schools in deprived areas, helping to improve and innovate in all aspects of teaching, learning and leadership and promoting the development of future leaders.

Vision

Diocese of Bristol Academies Trust (DBAT) aspires to transform the educational landscape of the Diocese, working with all Church academies (including educationally under-performing academies in disadvantaged socio-economic areas) to accelerate student attainment and contribute to community cohesion, so transforming academy performance and students’ life chances through excellent leadership.

Values

DBAT adopts the Diocesan values for schools which is that families of schools collectively meet all students’ needs and are based on the fundamental belief that all students can achieve, succeed and thrive. We own that it is our job to ensure this happens so that:
• Families protect all their member schools
• Families of schools meet the needs of all employees
• Families facilitate knowledge transfer
• Families distribute innovation
• Families save time and money
• Families ensure that all students can achieve, succeed and thrive
• Families deal effectively with special educational needs
• Families support new and existing leaders
• Families embed the capacity to improve/manage change
• Families build leadership capacity and succession
• Families aid the integration of Children’s services

In all Families there will be stronger and weaker partners but all are valued.

For more vacancies for DBAT please click here.