Visiting Music Teacher – Piano (9-12 month Maternity Cover)

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Visiting Music Teacher – Piano (9-12 month Maternity Cover)

• Job title: Visiting Music Teacher - Piano
• Job Type: Fixed Term 1 year Maternity Cover, Casual, Part Time, Mondays and Tuesdays
• Salary: £40.37 per hour + holiday pay
• Department: Music
• Reporting to: Head of Keyboard
• Location: Highgate Junior School
• Start: January 2027
• Closing Date: 16 November 2026 at 8:00 am

We are seeking an enthusiastic and experiencedpiano teacherto providematernity cover in our thriving department from January 2027. The successful candidate would be teaching one-to-onepiano lessons to pupilsin theJunior schoolunder a fixed-term contractthat wouldlastbetween 9 and 12 months. Lessons would be taught on aweekly basis on both Mondays and Tuesdaysduring term time.There may be occasional scope for flexibility.

The successful candidate will have a passion for teaching, an excellent knowledge of piano pedagogy,as well asspecific experienceinteaching childrenunder the age of 11. You would be part of a vibrant piano communitywith opportunities for self-developmentthrough CPL eventsand engagement with like-minded colleagues.

Closing date for applications is Monday 16thNovember. Candidates selected for 1st round video interview will be informed by Wednesday18th and required to submit their material by midnight on Friday20th November. Second interviews will take place in person on Tuesday 24 th November.

The Department

Highgate has a long and distinguished musical tradition: former pupils include John Rutter CBE, Sir John Tavener, Howard Shelley OBE, Jan Latham-Koenig and Daniel Hope. The Senior School Music Department has its base in Dyne House at the heart of the School.

The Senior School Music Department has three offices/teaching rooms for the full-time staff, twelve teaching/practice rooms, five classrooms (including an IT music suite and a keyboard room), and a recital/rehearsal room, as well as a 300-seater auditorium refitted with the latest technology in acoustic design. The Junior School Music Department consists of one department office for the full-time staff, two music classrooms and ten teaching/practice rooms.

What I love about themusicdepartment at Highgate is that it’s so diverse - we have musicians that play every different genre of music, and performance opportunities that embrace this. One day a pupil could be singing a Renaissance piece in a choir or playing the violin in the Chamber Orchestra and the next performing a Pop song at one of the open mic nights!

— Highgate Music Teacher Job Description Person Specification

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.

Following a visit from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) in September 2024 to assess Highgate’s regulatory compliance and school standards, we are pleased to share the inspection findings, which reports compliance in all five areas and a ‘significant strength’ in our teaching expertise.

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

A fun, collaborative and forward-thinking environment with a real sense of community

— Philippa Studd, Junior School Principal

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: 16th November
• Video Interviews: 20th November 2026
• In Person Interviews: 24th November 2026

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.

Inclusion

We know that more diverse teams are stronger teams,and that the more inclusive we are, the more our staffand pupilswillfeel a sense of belonging and willthrive.

We are aware that people from certain backgrounds are under-represented inindependent educationinstitutions and we’re working to doing what we can to redress this. We are particularly keen to receive applications frompeople 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. Ifin the course ofcarrying 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 childrenand 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 befiltered,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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