Early Career Teachers (ECTs)

Why teach in Westminster?

Teachers and support staff are staying within Westminster because of the excellent ongoing support and training they receive. We recognise that the development of the whole school workforce is essential and has a significant influence upon the success of our pupils and schools.

You will receive a high-quality induction programme for Early Career Teachers (ECTs) to support your progress through your first years of teaching. We provide training, monitoring and guidance to schools to ensure that your induction is effective, fair and supportive.

Our schools identify an induction mentor and a induction tutor who will have responsibility for overseeing your school based professional and pastoral support and we have a borough based ECT coordinator to quality assure your induction.

Our continuing professional development programme for teachers responds to the needs of Westminster schools and pupils. It is designed to enable all staff to further develop their teaching skills and to support schools in retaining high quality teachers and support staff.

Schools work well together in a range of partnerships. The local Central London Teaching School Hub (CLTSH) led by Paddington Academy, delivers a range of training and development opportunities. It is the DfE designated partner working with Early Career Framework (ECF) training provider, Ambition Institute, for delivery of the Full Induction Programme to ECTs undertaking induction. Many schools follow this particular programme for their ECTs, although there are other options for schools to choose according to their particular circumstances.

CLTSH also offer initial teacher training, National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) as well as other continuing development programmes.

Schools in the borough benefit from a wealth of educational resources and partnerships such as the Tri-Borough Music Hub that works with leading cultural institutions such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal College of Music.

On our doorstep are many world leading museums, galleries and theatres such as the British Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The National Gallery, and National Portrait Gallery are just nearby the West End with its many theatres and performance spaces. The Prime Minister’s base at Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament border the River Thames to the South.

All of these features and more provide easy access to rich opportunities for learning and exploration.

Benefits

Join a committed and successful team of teachers and support staff who enable children and young people to develop their full potential.

• high quality induction programme and support throughout the early stages of your career
• assigned induction mentor and dedicated tutor
• opportunity for school visits to observe and learn from experienced teachers
• continuing professional development programmes that offer the chance to progress further in the profession
• starting salary of £32,157 (1^st September 2021)

Our schools

We are a small but diverse and densely populated borough with contrasts in wealth and social mobility.

The large majority of primary pupils live in Westminster but fewer secondary pupils are residents and pupils often come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 20% of primary pupils are entitled to free school meals compared to 14% nationally and 23% of secondary pupils compared to 12% nationally.

Our pupils come from a very diverse mix of national and ethnic backgrounds. 70% of primary and secondary pupils have a first language other than English. This compares to 21% of primary and secondary pupils nationally.

There are also high rates of mobility across our schools (pupils arriving and leaving outside of the usual admission time).

Despite the challenging schools’ population profile, our standards – key stage outcomes - are among the highest across the country.

Where to find teaching positions

There are several ways to apply for teaching positions in our schools:

• The school jobs pages for Westminster and school jobs at Kensington and Chelsea.
• the national teaching vacancy service for teaching vacancies posted by our schools.
• School websites: all schools within Westminster have their own school website. This is accessible to students, staff and parents. Most will include a jobs page and here you will be able to access a current list of vacancies. 
• Times Educational Supplement - in addition to the paper, there is the TES website and the TES New Teachers website which is dedicated to supporting trainee and newly qualified teachers through the initial years of their career. The site offers advice, jobs, resources and information on school placements.

Contact us

If you have any queries regarding ECT Induction in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea schools, then please contact:

ECT Coordinator

Bi-borough Education Service,

(Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster)

Email: [email protected]