Visiting Music Teacher – Jazz Saxophone

Job title: Visiting Music Teacher - Jazz Saxophone
Job Type: Casual, no guaranteed hours, work on Thursdays and Fridays
Salary: £38.41 per hour + holiday pay
Department: Music
Reporting to: Director of Music
Location: Highgate, North London
Start: 23rd April 2025
Closing Date: 28 February 2025 at 5:00 pm

Highgate seeks to appoint an experienced music teacher (specialising in Jazz Saxophone) for two days of teaching (individual music lessons) from April 2025, and to lead both a Senior School and a Junior School jazz ensemble weekly on Thursdays. The role requires the music teacher to provide pupils with a rounded musical education through the medium of the teacher’s instrument and its range of repertoire.

The Department

The department is led by the Director of Music who, working closely with the Head of Academic Music and Choral Music, oversees all aspects of the department’s musical provision. The Director of Music leads the co-curricular and music performance across Highgate’s Pre-Prep, Junior and Senior Schools, overseeing the Heads of Sections (Head of Woodwind & Percussion, Head of Brass, Head of Jazz, Head of Vocal Studies, Head of Strings and Head of Keyboard), and around fifty Visiting Music Teachers The Music department is proud of its commitment to partnership activities; it currently seconds two of its teachers, part-time, to the London Academic of Excellent in Tottenham, where these colleagues run the school’s A Level and co-curricular Music programme.

There are four music teaching classrooms, one Mac suite (complete with Logic, Sibelius and a recording booth), an auditorium and recital room for rehearsals and concerts, practice rooms for individual music lessons and a departmental office.

Each week, over 35 musical ensemble rehearsals and over 500 individual music lessons take place in 12 practice rooms, our auditorium, recital room, Chapel and other rehearsal spaces. Most senior ensembles are duplicated at intermediate level, providing transition from the Junior School into the Senior School. Every ensemble will have an opportunity to perform each term and concerts take place in school and in central London venues, including Southwark Cathedral and Pizza Express Jazz Club.

Job Description

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

To teach 35-minute or 50-minute saxophone lessons in jazz, pop and other appropriate styles
To lead two of the school’s jazz ensembles
To be actively involved in the promotion and recruitment of jazz saxophone in both Senior and Junor Schools
To prepare pupils to perform in concerts and in other public events including the school’s annual gig at Pizza Express Jazz Club and for the in-house Jazz Gala
To set an example of high standards to pupils by demonstrating the taught instrument in lessons
To provide a programme of study tailored to each individual pupil that allows for continuity from lesson to lesson
To engage positively with the annual VMT Continuous Professional Learning Programme
To provide 30 music lessons to each pupil each academic year
To ensure that each pupil is aware of their practice requirements for the next lesson and is following those requirements
To prepare pupils for public exams as appropriate
To attend the mandatory VMT Forum in September and Safeguarding training as requested by the Director of Music

These duties and responsibilities are intended as a guide. They are not exhaustive: the Visiting Music Teacher will be expected to undertake any reasonable task or responsibility as required by the Director of Music.

Person Specification

Criteria
How will these be tested or verified?
Qualifications
- Must possess a qualification in their instrument to at least degree level or hold a BA or equivalent in academic music
Skills and Experience
- Experience in teaching individual lessons, group instrumental lessons, ensemble leading, general musicianship and musical games
- The ability and desire to emphasise the encouragement of basic musical skills, physical ease with the instrument, and the enjoyment of playing through group tuition and ensemble playing.
- The ability to teach initial musical development, working imaginatively with pulse, rhythm, harmony and pitch to lay the musical foundations for tuition on jazz saxophone in subsequent years.
- The ability to explore all elements of music, including technical aspects of the instrument, note-reading and improvisation in an active and stimulating fashion.
- An understanding of the place of music in a school such as Highgate and support it in their teaching
Personal Attributes
- Setting the highest professional standards of dress, punctuality and politeness and be prepared to demand the same of their pupils
- Must have an ability to relate well to both pupils and other teaching and administrative members of the Music Department and the School and communicate effectively with parents as necessary

Benefits

Location | Highgate Village, adjacent to Hampstead Heath, with quaint shops and easy connections across London.

Pension | AVIVA workplace pension scheme offered – 26% employer contribution, with the ability to flex up to 16% of this as additional non-pensionable salary, employees contribute a minimum of 5%.

Personal development | Comprehensive induction support for new staff. Focus on continued professional development for all employees.

Leisure facilities | Free access, at stipulated times, to our sports facilities, including a fitness suite and swimming pool (recently refurbished).

Lunch | A complimentary lunch including hot meals, sandwiches, salads, fresh fruit and dessert.

Help with sustainable travel | Access to the Cycle to Work Scheme and a Season Ticket Loan scheme for public transport.

Family-friendly policies | Highgate appreciates that employees sometimes have family commitments so we try to be as supportive as possible, for example with enhanced maternity pay (8 weeks’ full pay, then 10 weeks’ half pay) and paid dependant leave.

Working at Highgate

A culture of community, kindness and belonging

Highgate is a caring, open-minded community, where we promote kindness, empathy and friendship. Everyone who works and studies with us deserves to feel they are part of a welcoming environment that enables them to be themselves and to thrive as individuals.

Our community extends beyond the school, through partnerships, charity work and our commitment to equality, inclusion and sustainability. All members of our school community are encouraged to look outwards and play an active role.

In a recent ISI inspection (Dec 2021), it was noted that “Pupils show exceptional respect for, and appreciate diversity within the school and wider community, and their own and other cultures, demonstrating sensitivity and tolerance to those from different backgrounds and traditions.”

Staff wellbeing

Highgate is committed to staff wellbeing, which we promote by encouraging a strong work-life balance; trying our best to support flexible working requests; providing a nutritious complimentary lunch in the dining hall; and offering access to sporting facilities including our recently renovated swimming pool.

The Staff Wellbeing Committee, with representatives across the School, meets regularly to drive forward initiatives, and a selection of staff have been trained as Mental-Health First Aiders.

We encourage an open culture throughout our school, with regular staff surveys, action committees and opportunities to feedback. We strive for continual learning and improvement, and staff training and development is paramount. There are opportunities to participate in the wider life of our school, such as taking part in trips or societies and getting involved in partnership projects.

More details about working at Highgate can be found here:

Work with us Aims + Ethos

Charitable work and sustainability

As an independent school, we want to use our position as a charity effectively: to make high-quality education accessible to as many children as possible – through our bursary programme at Highgate and through our work with local state schools. We have partnerships with over 60 state schools across 7 London boroughs, and we are the principal educational sponsor for London Academy of Excellence, Tottenham – an academically-selective state sixth form in a community where such opportunities are lacking.

Alongside this, our staff and pupils undertake charitable activities throughout the year. These range from staff giving up their time to neighbourhood schools and charitable organisations, focused fundraising campaigns, to pupils undertaking community work in the local area or further afield.

As a school, we have a central role to play in educating our pupils, staff and parents about the importance of environmental sustainability. We are taking positive action to adapt our operational performance to tackle the negative effects of climate change. We encourage all our staff to reflect upon their personal and professional practices, to support our environmental agenda and to make positive changes wherever possible.

Application procedure

Closing Date: 28th February 2025
Video Interviews: 5th March 2025
In Person Interviews: 12th March 2025

Contact: The Recruitment Team are happy to answer any questions about this post.

Early Application: Applications will be considered ‘as and when’ received and we may close the vacancy if we appoint before the closing date.

Apply here

Inclusion

We know that more diverse teams are stronger teams, and that the more inclusive we are, the more our staff and pupils will feel a sense of belonging and will thrive.

We are aware that people from certain backgrounds are under-represented in independent education institutions and we’re working to doing what we can to redress this. We are particularly keen to receive applications from people from minoritised ethnic and racial backgrounds, people with a disability and/or neurodiverse applicants (including those with a ‘hidden’ disability, LGBTQ+ people, as we are working to make our staff body more representative of the UK and London population.

We are also aware that many highly capable prospective candidates nonetheless rule themselves out of applying for positions because they may underestimate their own ability to do the role. With this in mind, we strongly encourage applications from anyone who is prepared to learn and develop professionally on the job and would like to stress that past experience of working in education, or admissions is not required.

If this application process doesn’t support your needs and you would like to discuss additional support to apply, please contact Recruitment@highgateschool.org.uk

Safeguarding

As this role will have regular unsupervised contact with children you must, if appointed, comply with Highgate’s Safeguarding Policy and Staff Code of Conduct. If in the course of carrying out the duties of the post the post holder becomes aware of any actual or potential risks to the safety and welfare of our pupils, these concerns must be reported immediately in accordance with the Safeguarding Policy. If whilst in the post, Highgate becomes aware of any safeguarding concerns to staff, pupils or the community; these will need to be followed up in line with the safeguarding policy and code of conduct which is underpinned by KCSIE and other legislation. These concerns may need to be shared with other agencies. A copy of these policies will accompany all offers of employment. Training will also be provided to all staff to support Safeguarding practice.

Please read before you apply

Highgate is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of children and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to this post, including checks with past employers, the Disclosure and Barring Service and overseas police check if necessary. Candidates from overseas must provide information about their past conduct, for example, by providing documents issued by overseas teaching authorities. DBS Privacy Policy

Please note that this role is ‘exempt’ from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore, you are required to declare any convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings that are not ‘protected’ (i.e. filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013). Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide details of all unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered, prior to the date of the interview. DBS Code of Practice

In accordance with the latest guidance from KCSIE, we shall be conducting online searches on any candidates who are shortlisted.

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