We already have some fantastic staff  (see Who we are) but we are always on the look out for other individuals to work with us to continue with our development of a wonderful, supportive and rich learning environment. We are looking for fantastic people - interesting and interested, who love to work with children and adults, and who like the idea of a school where an informal child centred, non coercive approach can be available to children throughout the primary age range and not just in an early years environment.

We particularly welcome interest from specialist activity leaders, and short term interns and volunteers. See below for more information.

 

All our staff and interns and volunteers work together in a team sharing the experience, responsibilities and work between them. We see the adults role as a vital one, supporting children in their natural progress and development within the context of them directing much of their own learning, always at their own pace and when they are ready.

 

Your role will be to .... 

- Engage with childrens' play and self-initiated activities on a daily basis

- Develop interesting activities and resources that will appeal to children of this age, support their current interests and educational needs. These activities will often have intellectual and practical skills 'built in' rather than being explicitly 'taught'. These will, wherever possible, be ones which you are also personally interested in.

- Model use of skills we wish children to have, for example the usefulness of respectful behaviour, numeracy, reading, writing, understanding of the world around us, verbal reasoning and so on.

- Recognise and facilitate opportunities for extending and deepening children's learning experiences. This will often need to be done spontaneously, in the moment, as well as on a more considered and planned basis.

- Support individuals in their ability to deal with conflicts such as sharing, to negotiate boundaries and set limits and support each child in developing their own sense of self.

- Genuinely find delight in a child's process of learning and discovery

- Facilitate a relaxing and enjoyable experience for all those who attend.

- Regularly observe, document and discuss with parents and other staff about the significant events, needs and progress of each child as well as the group as a whole.

- Become familiar with the culture, policies and practices of the school so that in time you can be comfortable discussing them with parents, and become more involved in the ongoing and wider development of the school.

 

Future prospects...

As the school grows we believe our staff team will grow too.  In the short term it may be possible to also work with parent and child drop in group at other times in the week as well as the school group of 4 -8 year olds. In the medium term we would also like to expand our opportunities to support local families with after school/weekend/holiday clubs, parent discussion groups etc. In the long term, once we have built our new building, we may consider developing a Family School nursery/kindergarden where younger children can attend independently of their parents and a secondary school too!

 

We think the Family School may suit...... 

- A creative person who has their own passions and, hopefully a broad range of, interests and/or skills that could be shared with children.

- Someone who appreciates that children are learning all the time and who understands the importance of play, communication and the benefits of working with children at their own pace and "in the moment".

- Someone with believes children have the right to be heard, reach their best potential and direct their own learning

- Someone with an understanding of the importance of supporting the emerging self in child development

- Someone who perhaps is dissatisfied with the current constraints on teaching elsewhere e.g. National Curriculum and SATS and testing regimes.

- Someone who prefers working within an integrated cross curricular, play based or largely activities-led type of educational approach.

- Someone who prefers an 'indirect' or 'informal' teaching approach to more formal, 'teacher led' or 'curriculum delivery' approaches. 

- Someone who likes working with other adults in a team (both in the classoom and 'backstage")- sharing responsibilities, ideas, thoughts, observations and paperwork.

- A parent who wants to work part time whilst their children are at school or someone who is training to work with young children in the future.

- Someone who is comfortable with an often unpredictable, and sometimes chaotic, classroom environment.

- Someone who thinks outside the box!

 

An interested and enthusiastic learner yourself, you will be a good communicator and have experience of working with children and respect them both as people and as individuals. Ideally you will have some understanding of child development and the different learning styles that people use and different parenting styles that exist.  Whilst a relevant qualification would be great, it is not as important to us as having a commitment to our holistic, child centred approach and who is prepared to work hard as part of a small team to enrich children's daily experience and to facilitate their continuous learning. Experience of child development, Ofsted and early years foundation stage requirements, informal assessment, observation and documentation practices would however be very useful. It is also important that we find someone who shares our philosophy on learning and who is able to interact with and support our families who are keen to parent their children in a different way. Many of them advocate natural birth, breast feeding and co sleeping and are keen to continue to support their children's development in natural and respectful ways and so an understanding of attachment parenting, positive parenting, nurturant parenting, slow parenting and autonomous learning would be valuable. 

 

Hours and pay would be negotiable depending on availability, qualifications and experience. A Criminal Records Bureau enhanced Disclosure will be required in the event of an employment position being offered.

 

We believe that our school provides a fantastic opportunity for creative educators to be involved in establishing a unique, different, alternative primary school in London.

 

If you are interested, please read the rest of our website and then email us your CV and contact details, together with a letter detailing why you are particularly interested in working with us and what you can offer.

 

email us at familyschoolster@googlemail.com

 

We always welcome interest from specialist activity leaders, volunteers and interns (although we currently do not have any available internships)

 

Specialist activity leaders - for music/dance sport, art and craft, science, outdoor games/sport, ecological/nature activities, storytelling etc - if you have something particular to offer, please do get in touch. A Criminal Records Bureau enhanced Disclosure will be requested in the event of an position being offered.

 

Interns and volunteers - Teachers and students are welcome to come to London for a term or more and work with us in the Family School, learning about alternative education as well as bringing a different perspective and energy to our school.

 

We are interested in individuals who think outside of the box, can develop rapport with a wide range of people and age groups, are interested in teaching as a career and want to explore alternative teaching theories and child-centered approaches. We are most interested in potential candidates who are aligned with our philosophies regarding education, the environment, communication and conflict resolution.

 

Interns will expected to be involved in staff meetings before and after school, school and parent group meetings as well as participating in the classroom with the children and other adults. Participation will involve designing individual plans, engaging in free play with the children, setting up materials and areas, making and recording observations, and assisting the teachers. An ability to interact with children in an effective, respectful, authentic way is required, as is a passion for learning and the ability and willingness to be creative and allow each to learn at his or her own rate and in his or her own unique style.

 

The school is using temporary premises in Brixton, London and there is an intern room located above the school. There is a kitchen, shower and toilet facilities on the premises and the building is secure. If you think you will need accomodation when interning with us please specify this in your email.

 

Brixton is a multi-cultural area of London located a short tube or train ride from the center of London and transportation is very good. There are several ethnic restaurants within walking distance as well as lovely parks. This is a great location to be in if you want to explore London.

 

Please also see additional page Interns

 

If you are interested, please email us your CV and contact details, preferably with a covering letter stating why you are particularly interested in working with us and what you can offer. A Criminal Records Bureau enhanced Disclosure will be requested in the event of an employment position being offered.

 

email us familyschoolster@googlemail.com

 

A new, small democratic primary school in South London with a difference.  - some background information.

 

Supporting children's development and self directed learning at their own pace.

Our school is one where children can be independent, self-motivated learners in a non coercive, child centred environment. Our educational approach is to support children's physical, intellectual, social and emotional development by allowing each child to set their own direction and pace and to choose the content of their learning based upon their own interests within the context of small, mixed-age groups and a rich and engaging environment.

 

We have an Emergent Curriculum.

In practice, this means our curriculum emerges from the interests and activities of all those involved, adults and children alike. Opportunities for play of all sorts, structured as well as open ended activities, plans or projects are all important and therefore usually available in our classroom environment.

 

Our other significant characteristics

We feel that small mixed age groups of children with a high adult to child ratio provides the most beneficial environment for this educational approach to flourish.

Whilst much of of the environment is quite 'free' and most activities are optional we do have clear boundaries and conflict resolution strategies.

We have No national curriculum constraints and we will not be administering SATS.

 

Other relevant information

We currently run sessions four days a week for a small group of children under seven years of age.

The idea is that we continue with this age group initially and then evolve the school organically "up" from there to eventually have a primary school of from 4-11 years in two mixed age classes of maximum 18-20. We currently have the sole use of a lovely, large indoor space with small yard in Brixton, London SW2 and we also own a beautiful semi-wild space with lots of lovely mature trees in Clapham North (where we hope to start building our purpose designed eco school building later this year).

 

The parent and child (under fours) drop in group two mornings a week (currently Mondays and Thursdays/Fridays) is a growing group with a diverse range of enthusiastic, intelligent and articulate families attending regularly. We provide a stimulating environment for the children during the sessions whilst their parents get some time to meet and socialise with each other. Children of this age pose unique challenges to their parents and so Virginia often leads discussions of the issues arising for families, to support them to parent confidently. For example: how to support their children's natural progress and development as they become more independent, how to resolve problems that come up without naughty steps or sticker charts, how to get the balance right between being too authoritarian nor too permissive as a parent, how to communicate respectfully and effectively as a family but whilst also ensuring their own adult needs are also met.  The environment is such that individuals feel comfortable to discuss any problems they are having openly with others, discussing practical solutions whilst their children play. Working with this group is an important role as this group is often the first introduction a family has to The Family School's philosophy and practice. We hope that many of these families will go on to enrol their children at The Family School once they reach four or five.

 

Further/background information is also available elsewhere on this website.....Contents page