Recruitment
A school’s most important resource is its staff and Arnold House aims to recruit, reward and retain the best. If you are considering applying for an advertised post, this section of the website should be your starting point.
Teaching at Arnold House is fast-paced, demanding work. In recognition of this fact, teachers have generous non-contact time for lesson preparation in their well-equipped common room and work room. The average length of stay for a member of staff at Arnold House is seven years and the average age of the teachers here is 38. The common room is made up of almost equal numbers of men and women. Currently there are thirty-five full-time and thirteen part-time members of teaching staff working at Arnold House.
Professional development is to the forefront of the school’s five-year strategic plan. Teachers are encouraged to attend courses on a wide range of subjects. Regular monitoring of teaching and an appraisal with the Headmaster every two years ensure high standards and can lead to career development within the school or through promotion elsewhere. In the last nine years, two members of staff have gone on to be Heads at other prep schools and a third has moved on to be deputy head at another leading London preparatory school.
Teachers give generously of their time at Arnold House, sharing their interests and enthusiasms with the pupils in the School’s activities programme. Many staff, but not all, participate in the coaching of games. Teachers regularly lead school trips abroad and in this country. The Arnold House Parents’ Association offers travel grants to Arnold House to enable staff to undertake interesting activities in the holidays which will be of benefit directly to them and their pupils.
Arnold House staff live across the capital and, whilst travelling to work is not anyone’s favourite occupation, the school benefits from good public transport links. Pay and conditions of work at Arnold House are generous in order to recruit, reward and retain quality teachers. Pay and conditions will be discussed more fully at interview. Arnold House is an equal opportunities employer.
Small classes of well motivated and talented pupils, generous pay and conditions, the chance to work in the nation’s capital city are just some of the reasons why teachers come to Arnold House and tend to stay for a good length of time once they have arrived. But perhaps the main reason we are able to recruit the best, even at times of a shortage of teachers, is that this is a happy school.