Why work at Fielding?

Ethos

Fielding is underpinned by a Values-based ethos.  Values-based schools nurture positive values such as respect, honesty, compassion, trust and integrity in staff, pupils and the community.  Research evidence shows that Values-based education promotes high academic achievement, whilst nurturing the individual qualities of both adults and pupils.

Fish!  Imagine working in a school where everybody chooses to bring energy, passion and a positive attitude to the job every day.  Based on Seattle’s Pike Place Fish market, The Fish! Philosophy shows us how to improve our own working lives.  Key principles:

• Play – work made fun gets done!
• Make their day – smile at a colleague you don’t yet know very well.  Turn an everyday encounter into a pleasant experience.  Look at grumpy people as a challenge, what will bring a smile to their face today?
• Be present – completely focus on being in someone else’s moment, especially when we are aware of the demands and pressures on our own time.
• Choose your attitude – attitudes are contagious.  Is yours worth catching?

“I was fed-up after a long morning commute but seeing adults

rushing round school before children arrived in their own Easter egg hunt just made me smile,"

Teacher, 2016 Staff Easter Egg Hunt

Pupils

Fielding’s pupils are the biggest reason to work here.  Teaching pupils who are keen and eager to learn reflects attitudes in our classes.  Disruptive behaviour is rare.  Adults build warm relationships with children helping them to thrive and achieve.  You’ll go the extra mile to meet the needs of the tiny proportion of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, the few children with Special Educational Needs or to boost the fluent child in your class with a family heritage of English as an additional language.

“It’s the first time in my teaching career in London that I can actually teach without fire-fighting behaviour issues and the drain of disruption,"

Experienced joiner, 2015

Teams

The next best reason for working here is our staff team.  There are 4 classes and teachers in each age group:  

• Teachers work collaboratively together to assess, plan and prepare learning. 
• PPA time is taken as a single morning or afternoon session together as a team. 
• A dedicated quiet, workroom has been created for teachers to work together. 
• Teachers share the work load burden fairly. 
• Key-stage 2 teachers have more PPA time than other teachers where we acknowledge the higher demands on marking work for older pupils. 
• Year Group Leaders are responsible for the day-to-day needs and outcomes of the Year Team.

Year Group Teams are organised into pairs to form Phases:  

• Each Phase is led by an Assistant Head teacher who also teaches in one of the year groups.  Assistant Heads are accountable for the outcomes of the Phase and responsible for an aspect of whole school leadership.
• Each Phase team has a Higher Level Teaching Assistant who leads the Teaching Assistants for the Phase.  Assistant Heads, Year Leaders, SENDCo and HLTA work together to deploy Teaching Assistants to best meet pupils.

Working groups are formed from Year Groups to work on specific school improvement priorities so that everyone feels involved and part of our whole school development.

Teaching, learning & assessment

“One of the things that really clicked for me this term was the cycle of teaching, assessment and planning. It is now hard to imagine teaching any other way than with Assessment for Learning to inform targeted teaching and encourage challenge.”

NQT, Term 2 review

Expectations about teaching, learning and assessment are based on academic research and the broad experience of senior leaders.  Clear frameworks and explicit expectations increases consistency and quality between teachers across our school:

• Fielding ‘Blueprint’.  Our clear framework for assessment, teaching and learning.  Visit us to see how all teachers use this framework to become outstanding practitioners.
• Visible Learning.  Based on the work of international researcher, John Hattie, we focus on teaching methods that have a marked and meaningful effect on pupils’ learning.  Action research by all teachers in our classrooms keeps our practice fresh and interesting.  Teachers innova te and we share our best practice through discussion and observation.
• School Pupil Tracker.  Fielding’s web-based assessment system helps teachers to know what children can and can’t do with automated reporting to parents at the end of each term and school year.

“I have gained a great deal from Visible Learning. I particularly like the idea of demystifying teaching for children so that you let them into the mechanics of the lesson and they know why they are doing things. I have enjoyed encouraging children to be reflective about their learning and to take charge of their own next steps, celebrating and analysing their successes.”

NQT Term 3 review

Behaviour & personal development

Pupil’s behaviour and personal development is a strength at Fielding because:

• Values-based ethos helps children to develop their moral compass.  They learn to make the right choice because it is the right thing to do.
• Fielding behaviour framework enables children to own their own behaviour through a language of choice.  Adults manage children consistently through the use of scripts, rewards and sanctions.  Analysis of sanctions identifies children who need additional support.
• MindUp helps children understand themselves and their emotions through a taught programme based on neuro-science.

Specialist teaching

Music, French and PE are taught by subject specialist teachers during PPA time, increasing quality for children and reducing your teaching workload. 

Career growth

Governors and senior leaders are committed to recruiting and retaining the highest quality team.  We aim to retain you by developing your career:

• Initial Teacher Training.  Join us as a School Direct trainee through our links with Ealing’s Teaching School Alliances and wherever possible, we will seek to employ you into your induction year as a Newly Qualified Teacher and beyond.
• Newly Qualified Teachers.  An experienced teacher mentor in your Year Group team will support your development, based on the clarity of our teaching, learning, assessment and behaviour frameworks.  An Assistant Head teacher will oversee your development, helping you to make links within and beyond the school.
• Promotion from within.  Leadership posts are offered internally to our pool of talented teachers.  Build on your successful foundation as a teacher here and, when you are ready, become one of our leaders at subject, year group or senior level.  Alternatively, if we cannot promote you, take all of your experience and expertise to successfully gain a promoted post elsewhere.
• Access nationally recognised training programmes including NPQML and NPQSL to work with other leaders in the Teaching School Alliance to develop and reflect on your school leadership.