Amy Bennett Email and Phone Number

Delighted to be working across Years 9-13 teaching iGCSE and IB history. Leading a small team to excellent standards.I’m also House Co-ordinator for The Hill across Years 7-13.

Faculty leader for Humanities, with whole school responsibility for Citizenship, Student Leadership, Rights Respecting Schools and British Values. This role involves line managing History, Geography, Religious Studies and GCSE Citizenship. I collaborate with subject leaders of Geography and KS4 Citizenship to ensure the curriculum across all four subjects is rigorous, well-sequenced and delivered effectively. I design assessments, ensure we are research-informed as a department and lead on literacy and inclusive teaching strategies to name a few.We also have a number of ECTs, Schools Direct trainees and PGCE students who join us, and I lead on their development either as a mentor myself or supporting the mentors within the faculty.As a Director of Learning, my remit also covers whole-school Citizenship, Student Leadership and the Rights Respecting Schools Award. I plan the Citizenship Curriculum for Years 7-10, which is a core pillar of our Personal Development Curriculum. As it is delivered by form tutors, it’s important the resources are simple but comprehensive, and can be adapted to ensure all students can access the Citizenship curriculum. I co-ordinate Student Commissioners, Prefects and Student Concierge; I believe we should equip students with leadership skills so they can help the school improve but also to give them confidence, and build skills such as communication. Finally I am working with our Rights Respecting Steering Group to gain Silver accreditation for the school.

As well as being a classroom teacher and subject lead, I have been a form tutor from the start at Harris Academy Sutton. My tutor group have worked together as part of the inaugural cohort of students to create a school identity, house identity and form identity. We have adopted an endangered animal, discuss current affairs and work as a team to ensure we are all making the most of their time at school. It's a privilege to be their tutor!

Furthering the foundational work I started last year, we are moving into Year 2 of our development as a Secondary Academy, We now have a Year 7 and Year 8 cohort, and the history department now consists of three teachers. This year has been focused on reflecting and revising our Year 7 curriculum, designing and implementing the offer for Year 8, and planning for the future in terms of Year 9 and Key Stage 4.

Working as the only history teacher in a start up secondary Academy. As the only history specialist, I was therefore responsible for more than a usual classroom teacher, as I was responsible for designing a history curriculum from scratch, ensuring systems were implemented in the history department, and introducing our first cohort to a rigorous and challenging history curriculum. My vision from the start was clear and throughout the first year was responsible for creating medium term plans, assessment strategies, recruiting new members of staff and leading trips and enrichment for our students.

A Level Sociology is a new offer from our academy. I planned and delivered one third of the AQA Sociology curriculum to Year 12, leasing with two other members of staff to do so. This was taken on temporarily to cover sickness at first but is now permanent, and is massively rewarding. I taught Education and Research Methods, Families and Household, Beliefs and Crime and Deviance.

Writing, Oracy and Reading Development (WORD) is an Academy-wide initiative aimed at improving literacy levels across the curriculum for all students. As WORD Leader for Humanities, it is my job to plan WORD projects that fit within the curriculum, but whose focus is encouraging students to communicate effectively through a variety of mediums, using keywords, a range of punctuation and excellent spelling and grammar.

Teaching Years 7-12, with curriculum oversight for Year 7, 9, 10 and 12. Planning Edexcel Unit G from scratch for A-Level, and developing an enquiry-based curriculum for all year groups.

Responsible for the pastoral care and wellbeing of 26 fantastic Year 8 students, with a range of needs and interests.