About Craig Halfpenny:
I am a dedicated, capable professional looking for a fresh challenge after seven years in secondary teaching. I have a strong work ethic that is driven by my enjoyment of seeing tasks completed to a high standard, as well as highly developed communication skills and an eye for detail. I am searching for a role that will allow me to apply and enhance these skills in a new industry, as well as to offer the opportunity of greater balance in supporting my young family.
Experience
Current Role September 2017–present
Upon relocating to the North West, I obtained a new teaching position at UHHS. Here I have continued to teach Spanish throughout the age range up to GCSE, but have also developed my third language by embracing teaching French from Year 7 up to 11, guiding three cohorts of French students to their GCSE assessments. I have worked extensively to build a standardised, accessible set of teaching resources, including taking responsibility for the Year 7 and 9 Spanish courses, alongside GCSE French, and have been praised for making these clear and user-friendly for both students and teachers. To drive competition and, in particular, to engage reluctant boys, I produced two online Memrise courses covering our Year 7 and 8 Spanish curriculum, which have been highly popular and successful in getting students to take control of their own learning. In the past 18 months, like all teachers, I have had to adapt and find innovative and dynamic new ways of engaging students in both mixed and fully-remote settings, a challenge from which I have carried forward greater understanding of online and collaborative learning techniques. For the last two years, I have also converted our MFL Spanish Vocab’ Contest (which we instituted in 2019 as a yearly way of celebrating students’ language achievements) into a digital contest, to ensure it could still take place despite Covid restrictions. In both of my full-time teaching roles, as a Personal Development/House Tutor, I have overseen the pastoral welfare of a group of students within a year group (at UHHS) or in a mixed-age ‘vertical’ group (at DMCSC). This has enabled me to provide guidance to students beyond my own subject area, and I have enjoyed being a point of stability and trust for these young people, celebrating their successes. and pushing them to expect high standards of themselves. Most recently, the role of PD tutor has seen me deliver a curriculum that involves discussing sensitive social and health issues affecting young people. Alongside and beyond the safeguarding responsibilities which all school staff undertake, I have also been very proactive in communicating with parents and guardians at home to keep them informed, to share concerns and help to work holistically to overcome and issues. |
Previous Roles: September 2014—August 2017
As the lead teacher of Spanish in a diverse city school, I took responsibility for establishing and resourcing the Spanish curriculum, leading development of the subject from the arrival of our first students choosing the language from intake in Year 7 and guiding our first two cohorts of GCSE students through the course. I produced schemes of work for Years 7-11, including designing and innovating novel learning and assessment materials. I taught French at both KS3 and, during my final year at DMCSC, for my first GCSE class, as well as taking the opportunity to apply my other academic specialism and teach a Year 10 group on the GCSE Psychology course.
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March 2014 – July 2014
Prior to applying for my first permanent teaching position after completing my PGCE training year, I built classroom experience by performing supply and cover roles at a wide variety of schools across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. This involved organisation, flexibility and an ability to assess the most effective way of achieving the goals set out for each group, however unfamiliar. Pivotal was the ability to develop positive relationships rapidly, to deploy pragmatism in solving problems swiftly and to insist on high standards, taking a pro-active approach to behaviour management. |
September 2011– February 2012
I worked as part of a team providing dedicated support to Vodafone’s Small Business customers. My principal responsibilities were responding to billing and account issues, resolving technical problems and providing a first point of contact to assess customers’ needs. This involved a methodical approach, an ability to obtain information quickly and the duty to balance enforcing company policies with remaining empathetic and pragmatic about situations. |
October 2008 – June 2009
I successfully applied to spend eight months as an English language teaching assistant, working at IES Pere Fontdevila, a secondary school in Catalunya, north-eastern Spain, catering for students from ages 12-18. The position enabled me to further develop my Spanish language skills, but also provided a vast array of challenges and rewards. I taught students ranging from 13 to 18, primarily in English - although effective interaction with some students and non-English-speaking colleagues often necessitated the use of Spanish. Undertaking this role and living independently in Spain not only improved my ability to communicate with others across multiple levels, but also helped to bring out a deeper strength of character.
During my time in Spain, I assisted with English classes across a variety of levels at a local state adult language school. Here I helped enthusiastic learners primarily with conversation skills, as well as making presentations on contemporary British cultural issues. |
July 2006 to January 2011
I also undertook several part-time or seasonal roles to support me during my undergraduate, then Master’s study, largely in customer service-based retail positions. These included Next Retail, Asda, Odeon Cinemas, Debenhams, and promoting the University of Liverpool during open days and school visits as a ‘Liverpool Ambassador’ |
Education
-University of Nottingham (2012-13): PGCE Modern Languages, Distinction classification
+Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) French – Liverpool John Moores’ University (completed 2012)
-University of Exeter (2010-11): MSc (Hons) Social and Organisational Psychology, Merit classification
-University of Liverpool (2006-10): 1st Class BA (Hons) Combined Honours (Arts) - Psychology and Hispanic Studies, with distinction in the spoken use of Catalan. Awarded Royal Institute (Iliff) Scholarship for academic achievement in 2007 and 2008
-Barrow Hall College (2004-06): 4 A-Levels: English Language and Literature (A grade), Psychology (A), Spanish (B), General Studies (A)
-Great Sankey High School (1999-2004): 10 GCSEs: Five A*, one A, two B and two C including English Literature (A*), English Language (A), Science-Double Award (A*, A*), Maths (B). Awarded Rotary Cup for academic achievement in English
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