CORE PURPOSE
We require an ambitious, vision-driven Head of Food Technology to lead, manage, and strategically develop our expanding Food, Hospitality, and Catering department. The successful candidate will oversee the curriculum design and delivery across Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, managing premium culinary facilities, tracking departmental progress metrics, and cultivating high-level practical execution and nutritional understanding to prepare all pupils thoroughly for terminal GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition public examinations and technical vocational awards.
THE SCHOOL
Our school operates as an inclusive, highly ambitious secondary provider dedicated to academic excellence, pupil character development, and equipping young people with essential life skills. The campus boasts modern, purpose-built food technology suites equipped with commercial-standard individual cooking stations, blast chillers, and specialized catering equipment. Our behaviour management framework relies on explicit routines, high professional standards, and mutual respect, maintaining an exceptionally calm, safe, and highly structured environment essential for managing high-risk practical workspace environments.
KEY TASKS & DAILY OPERATIONS
Departmental Leadership & Strategy: Provide inspiring leadership for the Food Technology faculty, managing subject specialists and specialized technicians, conducting rigorous quality assurance checks, and driving data-led intervention strategies to raise progress metrics across all cohorts.
Curriculum Design & Quality Assurance: Design and implement a knowledge-rich Key Stage 3 culinary curriculum that seamlessly bridges foundational food safety with advanced food science principles, driving pupil uptake at Key Stage 4 for GCSE and vocational Hospitality options.
Flawless Health & Safety Leadership: Serve as the department's chief health and safety officer, ensuring absolute, rigorous compliance with Environmental Health, COSHH, and local health and safety standards regarding food storage, equipment maintenance, and workspace sanitization.
GCSE & Technical Assessment Management: Lead Year 11 cohorts through the highly demanding requirements of the GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition Non-Exam Assessment (NEA), specifically tracking the NEA1 (Food Science Investigation) and NEA2 (Food Preparation Assessment) folders to secure elite outcomes.
Community Pastoral Leadership: Actively support the school’s wider pastoral and extracurricular framework, organizing healthy lifestyle cooking initiatives, local community baking enterprises, and maintaining positive, professional relationships with families.
PROFILE REQUIREMENTS
Qualifications: Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or a recognised equivalent teaching credential, paired with a strong honours degree in Food Technology, Nutritional Science, Home Economics, or a closely related culinary discipline. Food Safety Level 2 or Level 3 certification is highly desirable.
Leadership Capability: A proven track record of teaching excellence at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, with demonstrated capacity, organizational skill, or prior middle management experience required to lead a practical department and improve student progress.
Rigorous & Organized Mindset: Exceptional logistical and administrative skills, possessing the patience, clarity, and authority needed to lead practical cooking environments safely while maintaining high academic standards for pupils of all learning abilities.
REGIONAL CONTEXT
West Midlands Industrial Heritage & Food Innovation: Based in the historic city of Coventry, the school capitalizes on a unique regional identity positioned within the rapidly evolving West Midlands manufacturing and agricultural innovation sectors. The city’s rich cultural diversity and its proximity to major food manufacturing enterprises, regional agricultural hubs, and Warwickshire’s supply chain networks provide rich, real-world links for global cuisine modules, large-scale food sustainability studies, and commercial food engineering concepts, connecting classroom cooking directly to modern hospitality enterprise.
Connectivity & Infrastructure: The campus benefits from premium West Midlands transport infrastructure, offering straightforward road commuting via the M6, M42, M69, and the A45 corridor. Public transit networks operate seamlessly across the city region, utilizing comprehensive local bus networks alongside Coventry railway station, which provides regular, high-speed Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Railway services linking the school directly to Birmingham New Street, Rugby, Leamington Spa, Wolverhampton, and London Euston.
APPLICATION INTAKE
Please submit your current CV to begin the application process.
