Co-op Academy Failsworth

The Citizenship and Religious Studies Department

At Co-op Academy Failsworth the Citizenship and Religious Studies department are a combined team that deliver our Citizenship, Religious studies and the RSHE curriculum. Our department prides themselves on being dedicated and committed to all that we do, placing the needs and success of our students at the centre of this.

Our curriculum at Co-op Academy Failsworth has been designed to be deliberately ambitious and knowledge rich. It provides students with a dynamic journey of learning supporting them in their progress from novice to expert. At the heart of our curriculum is our academy vision, to be a centre of excellence where the day in day out experience is outstanding for all. 

Within the Citizenship and Religious Studies department we believe all our students are entitled to a rich curriculum that challenges their individual abilities; is relevant to their life experience and present needs; is inclusive and has real world application. We operate a spiral curriculum that has our pupils and our community at its core. We continuously update and evaluate our provision and pedagogy to ensure that our curriculum is progressive, effective, engaging and meets the needs of pupils within our ever changing society.

As a department we are looking for a committed, dynamic practitioner that is passionate about delivering their subject through our carefully designed curriculum to best meet the needs of the students at our school. We as a department are dedicated to developing strong, meaningful connections with our students that inspire curiosity and fosters a love for learning for our subjects. We’re looking for someone who approaches teaching with fresh, innovative ideas and is committed to making a difference in every student’s life. 

Subject Information – Citizenship

Citizenship at Co-op Academy Failsworth incorporates both the Citizenship national curriculum and the Relationship Sex and Health Education entitlement. Our Academy has dedicated curriculum time with pupils in KS3 having one hour of citizenship on their timetable each week as part of their core provision. At KS4 pupils can opt to complete a GCSE in Citizenship Studies, for pupils who do not opt for Citizenship they continue with their weekly one hour core provision. GCSE Citizenship is incredibly popular at KS4 with strong option numbers every year. As a department we take great pride not only in achieving excellent results in GCSE but also that many of our pupils move onto connected post 16 options, for example a-levels in politics and law. 

Empowering our pupils to play an active role in their community and advocate on the issues they care passionately about is central to our department. This can be seen through the many projects and fundraising events we hold every year. Our desire is to give all pupils the opportunity to run meaningful and relevant active citizenship projects that not only allow them to develop skills for their future but to help them understand how powerful their voices can be.

Subject Information – Religious Studies

Our Religious Studies department has a keen focus on understanding that, delivered correctly, Religious Studies can be an incredibly relevant and meaningful subject for every student within the Academy. All KS3 students have a dedicated one hour of Religious Studies each week which provides the right platform for students to experience a broad and balanced curriculum. We are currently in the midst of a really exciting time for Religious Studies within the school, as a new religion and worldviews approach is being developed and implemented to align with the latest direction of travel for the Religious Studies community across the country. This is in line also with the development of the new SACRE for Oldham, which provides a real opportunity to ensure a relevant and innovative driven curriculum for our students.

We currently offer Religious Studies at KS4 as an optional study, using the AQA exam board, selecting Christianity and Islam as the focused religions. This has been an area of growth recently within the Academy which has seen a recent uptake in numbers. This is a priority for the department going forward as we look to establish this GCSE as a strong option for all students that would greatly benefit from taking. We also offer all our KS4 students a core delivery of Religious Studies combined with Citizenship. This is a great opportunity to teach all students within the academy throughout their time up until year 11, allowing a spiralling curriculum to take its full course for the students time at the Academy.

Why us?

At Co-op Academy Failsworth, is a fully inclusive, popular and over-subscribed 11-16 comprehensive Academy with almost 1500 students on roll. In June 2024 OFSTED rated the school good. We are located 3 miles from Manchester city centre, situated 1 mile from junction 22 of the M60. Our priority is to recruit the very best of staff for our Academy. Our staff enjoy working at our academy and you would be welcome to speak to them about their experience of working at the Academy. The academy is very focused on staff wellbeing.

All our values are based upon the values of the Co-op Group, which will inform our behaviours.

Self-help: We do not expect to be spoon fed – we will try to do things for ourselves in the right way and at the right time.

Self-responsibility: Everyone should act in a responsible way around the academy site and in the local community. We take responsibility for our own learning; we want to become independent learners.

Equality: We are proud to be part of a very multicultural academy, with students from all over the world; it is important that we treat each other with respect and accept that others may be different from ourselves. We should all have equal chances to succeed.

Equity: We want to look for the best in each other. Rewarding others fairly to encourage all types of achievement.

Democracy: We will contribute our ideas to make the academy a success.

Solidarity: We can achieve more by working together, rather than as individuals.

Our Values

Being part of the Co-operative Group, we are both guided and driven by the Co-op values which are embedded in everything that we do within our Academy - We strive to demonstrate the following ethical values in everything we do - they are our ‘Ways of Being’:

Succeed together

Do what matters most

Be yourself, always

Show you care

So, if you believe in our values, we would love to hear from you!

We offer a wide range of benefits and rewards to recognise the part you play in our success:

Benefits include:

Our employee benefits package includes:

●    Competitive Salaries and pension schemes

●    A superb and comprehensive range of CPD activities to further develop your career

●    11 Day Half Terms

●    Centrally planned curriculum

●    Responsive teaching

●    Investment in 2 hours CPD per week

●    Access to counselling services

●    Free parking

●    Free onsite gym

●    Fee flu vaccinations

●    You’ll get being a Co-op member, you’ll get a Co-op colleague discount card. This gives you a 10% discount in our Co-op Food stores.

●    Co-operative flexible benefits (discounted line rental and broadband package, family care advice and cycle to work scheme)

●    Discounted gym membership and leisure activities which includes discounts on Merlin Entertainments (Sea Life, Legoland etc), Virgin Experience Days, SuperBreak and many more!

●    Co-operative Credit Union: save directly from your salary and receive a competitive dividend. Borrowers can benefit from very competitive interest rates & terms (in comparison with other high street lenders)

●    Co-op Funeral care benefit

●    Season ticket and rental deposit loans

And More!

For more information about the Co-op Academies Trust, please visit: www.coopacademies.co.uk

The Trust is also committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage or civil partnerships.