This is your chance to be part of a brand-new school set to transform secondary education on the Isle of Sheppey and to be part of the story from the beginning.

We're ready to nurture every student's unique spark and provide them with a first-class education tailored to meet their needs, regardless of their starting points, backgrounds, abilities, or beliefs. EKC Sheppey Secondary (EKCSS) opens this September to students from Years 7-9, with Years 10 and 11 forming as our students move through to KS4.

Every aspect of EKCSS has been designed to blend the best from across sectors. So, whilst setting the highest standards for secondary education, we're rewriting the rules with a look, feel and approach that is deliberately different from a standard secondary school... we know this is exactly what Sheppey needs and will create a dynamic, engaging, exciting environment where students and staff thrive.

Our strong and supportive senior leadership team prioritises purpose over paperwork and value-adding activity over box-ticking, freeing you up to do what matters most: nurturing bright futures. At EKC Sheppey Secondary, the rewards far outweigh the challenges.

We are proud to be part of EKC Schools Trust, known for its innovation and empowering schools to meet the unique needs of their communities. As part of the wider EKC family, we, alongside our sister organisation, the East Kent Colleges Group, have a strong and successful relationship with young people and families on the Isle of Sheppey. The EKC Family is a unique and sector-leading partnership; together, we run the Island's only outstanding provisions – Queenborough Primary School and Nursery and EKC Sheppey College – and raising the aspiration of all within the communities we serve drives our work.

The approach and delivery model in our organisations have successfully addressed behaviour, created a culture of success, and are places where staff are extremely proud and happy to work. We will be bringing all this expertise, culture, ethos, and curriculum approaches to EKCSS.

There is never going to be a more exciting time to join our school community. We're not just opening a school but forging a learning community where students and staff thrive… where belonging meets brilliance!

"At EKCSS, staff wellbeing is at the centre of everything we do, it forms a part of every decision made. We believe that all staff should be involved in decision-making to ensure that a wide range of views and experiences are taken into consideration before any strategy is implemented.

We recognise that whilst incredibly rewarding, working in a secondary school is a very challenging environment, and therefore, we must put into place a range of wellbeing and workload strategies to ensure that every member of our staff feels supported and valued by their leaders and our school.  We will have a designated wellbeing budget to fund initiatives agreed in partnership with our staff.

We have very high expectations of our staff and provide high levels of support, development and care to ensure that they are absolutely equipped to deliver our ambitious vision. Across the Trust, 100% of our staff are proud to work with us!

Our aims are to:

Provide all teaching staff with over and above their PPA entitlement and provide occasional opportunities to work from home so that planning, marking and curriculum time is not interrupted by events from the school day.  

Ensure that meetings after school are kept to a minimum for example, departments of more than one member of staff will have meeting time scheduled into their timetable wherever possible; also enabling team planning, moderation and other team meeting activities as a supportive group.  

Implement a feedback policy which takes full advantage of a range of feedback tools to reduce marking workload.  

Make a commitment to annual reviews of all workload expectations and a continual focus on how burdens can be reduced.  

Include staff shoutouts and reward opportunities throughout the school year. 

Ensure that the business and education calendars are monitored and planned carefully throughout the year to reduce ‘pinch points.’ 

Implement appraisals which focus on evidencing strategies implemented, development and improvement, not reliant on data-driven targets. 

Provide additional time for essay-based or coursework-based subjects during tight assessment periods.  

Provide free lunches for staff who eat with students in our school restaurant or complete lunch duty. 

Provide free access to a wide range of resources for all school staff to reduce the need to create planning, make resources or report documents from scratch. 

Provide time for collaborative planning with subject experts to reduce workload. 

Introduce a comprehensive programme of CPD, including NPQs and career progression. 

Provide one Special Leave Day per year, per member of staff to enable staff to have the security that they can plan for something that they would otherwise miss because of the term time school commitments.   "