Ark Greenwich Free School
England
£39,739 - £62,500 per year
Salary:
Ark MPS/UPS, Inner London
Job type:
Full Time, Permanent
Start date:
05 January 2026
Apply by:
10 October 2025
Job overview
Ark Greenwich
This is a rare and exciting opportunity to work at one of the highest performing schools in the country. If you are committed to making a lasting difference in our local community and want to work in a seriously ambitious, respectful and high performing school, this could be the job for you.
At Ark Greenwich we take the wellbeing and workload of our staff seriously. We are committed to sustainable high performance and recognise our staff are our primary resource.
Ark Greenwich is a new, ambitious school model based on what we know excellent schools do. We have created a highly respectful and disciplined environment where our staff and scholars can fulfil their potential. We are one of the highest performing schools in the UK. 2025 Progress 8 estimate: +1.64, EM4+: 97%, EBacc entry rate: 73%.
Ark Greenwich exists to empower young people, regardless of socio-economic background, to grow and be successful. This is an ambitious and forward-thinking school that encourages innovation and values its staff. We are proud of our highly respectful and disciplined community and of the outstanding academic outcomes achieved by our scholars. Expectations for all members of our community are unashamedly sky high. We work tirelessly to impact the lives of the young people we serve. Scholars at our school are passionate about Humanities and achieve exceptional outcomes. We also place a primacy on our industry leading extra-curricular and character education programmes.
How is Ark Greenwich different?
* We are part of the Ark family of schools and benefit accordingly from outstanding networking and career opportunities and first-class CPD.
* Staff wellbeing is one of our main priorities. We provide breakfast for staff each morning, lunch for early careers staff and have a 6pm/weekend work-related communication cut off. We do not do knee jerk reactions, fads or last-minute deadlines. Our systems and processes for communication, marking and feedback and assessment are streamlined and the approaches we take are research led and based on our local context. Our full approach to staff wellbeing/workload can be found here.
* This is a small school model (600 scholars aged because we believe that our close-knit family community provides the optimum conditions for success.
* Scholar behaviour is exceptional with clearly defined and embedded routines. This means our teachers can focus their time on the things that matter – planning and delivering brilliant lessons for our scholars.
* This is a strict no excuses, no mobile phone school. Phones are not permitted onsite at all. Scholars wear business dress to prepare them for a professional career.
* Our curriculum is traditional and academic, and we do not take shortcuts to seek to boost our position in school league tables – we do not, for example, offer equivalencies such as Btecs or Vcerts. 70-90% Ebacc entry rate each year.
* We put high-quality teaching at the heart of what we do. We are committed to providing staff with weekly high-quality training. We run coaching for staff who want to see rapid progress in their discipline. Live coaching and current best practice in the field of education is central to our approach.
* We don't grade individual lessons or ask for lesson plans but we do place a primacy on curriculum design, independent learning and formative assessment.
* Our scholars enjoy 6 drop-down days per academic year, ensuring scholars benefit from a range of life-enriching experiences.
If you are ready to add further value to our Science department and to work alongside a brilliant school leadership team, then you will find this job extremely rewarding.
Alignment with the school's vision, values and approach to education is essential.
The Role and the Department
The school boasts exceptional science provision, supported by a generous curriculum allocation. All students study and make exceptional progress in Combined Science. Our state-of-the-art, fully equipped science classrooms provide the perfect environment for scholars to excel, complemented by stunning views of the city.
In 2025, the Progress 8 score for Triple Science averaged an impressive +2.3, with an overall average of +1.3 across all sciences. In Triple Science, 99% of grades were 7-9, while our combined science results were the best in the Ark network and among the highest nationally. Cumulatively, 95% of scholars achieved a 4+ or higher, & 90% achieved a 5+ or higher. More than 4 times as many scholars achieved a 7+ in Combined Science than the national average.
Applicants must be fully aligned with the school's values and ethos as set out in this document and on our website:
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About Ark Greenwich Free School
Ark Greenwich Free School
Adair House, 403 Shooters Hill Road, Woolwich
London
SE18 4LH
United Kingdom
We opened in September 2012 as a new Free School - a four-form entry, state-funded, mixed, non-denominational, 11-18 comprehensive school for the children of Greenwich. We are now full at The School is extremely popular and is 6 times oversubscribed and staff are hard-working and committed to the school's vision.
We have some very clear 'givens' and below is set out what we think are the most important features of our model. The school's ethos runs in line with our core values of Ambition, Growth, Fellowship & Scholarship. Underpinning this is a clear focus on Behaviour and we have exceptionally high expectations of our students.
We invest heavily in the curriculum and believe that the design and implementation of the curriculum is at the heart of school life. It creates an atmosphere for learning and sets the tone and philosophy for teachers.
Alongside being a school that values the importance of subject disciplines we also invest in high-quality weekly training and have access to world-class development opportunities through our partnerships with a wide range of schools, universities and sector-leading organisations. We are an accredited CPD provider through the Teacher Development Trust, many of our departments have won external awards in History and Computer Science, and we work closely with well-regarded curriculum providers. This means that we can help all staff at the school grow and develop.
We run a compulsory enrichment programme every Wednesday afternoon to ensure all our pupils receive a more holistic education. All of the AGFS staff commit to delivering elements of this. We also run a series of 12 'Drop Down Days' throughout the year where the timetable is collapsed, enabling all pupils to undertake day-long programmes and activities – for example, university visits and trips to museums and theatres - as well as providing space for more intensive subject-led learning and extended academic projects.
AGFS has been described by The Economist as providing "plenty of hope for British education" and was selected by the Evening Standard as one of five "new model schools" in London.
Additionally we have received the following comments:
"Fantastic and extraordinary…Quiet lessons, happy students, nuclear focus, masses of support for students" Tom Bennett, founder of Research Ed and behaviour adviser to the Department for Education
"Amongst the highest performing schools in London" Evening Standard
"It was a real pleasure to visit AGFS. You are absolutely focusing on the right things and should be extremely proud of your school" Rebecca Boomer-Clark (Former Regional Schools Commissioner)
'Every child deserves the best possible start in life - and nothing is more important to them than a good education. The teachers and staff at Greenwich Free School are passionate about the importance of education, and they combine their passion with great professionalism and skill. They will do their very best for your child.'
Lord Adonis, former Schools Minister
'AGFS is one of the country's most impressive and forward-thinking Free Schools, attracting considerable national attention and setting an exceptionally high quality bar for future Free Schools. I'm confident that its superb team will provide an outstanding education for the children of Greenwich.'
Rachel Wolf, Director, New Schools' Network
We warmly invite you to come and visit GFS and see for yourself all that we are doing to provide outstanding teaching and pastoral care to all our pupils.
Life at Ark Greenwich Free School is hard work, but it is also truly engaging, exciting and fun. It is a school of which our pupils are proud – and we are proud of each and every one of them.
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