Working at Furze Platt Senior School 

'Pupils are ambitious to succeed. They have positive attitudes and enjoy learning.' - Ofsted 2026

Furze Platt is an extremely rewarding school in which to work. Our successful school is a happy, safe and caring learning community where achievement is promoted, potential realised and young people flourish. We have nearly 200 caring, committed and good-humoured teaching and support staff, together with a diverse student body of over 1500 students, who come to school ready to learn and who are supportive of the school’s policies and procedures. This is a school where staff and students work together to achieve high standards and excellent outcomes.

'Teaching is highly effective.' - Ofsted 2026

Our student body is taken from the town of Maidenhead, less than 30 miles west of London, and from other parts of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. Whilst overall the area is affluent, ours is a true comprehensive school, with students from all social, economic and ethnic backgrounds. The school is popular and well regarded in the local community. The achievement of most students is good or better and has been significantly above national averages for 4 years running. Both girls and boys make significantly better progress than children nationally.

'The school ensures that pupils benefit from a wide and rich set of experiences to enhance their learning and enrich their lives.' - Ofsted 2026

We are also a very inclusive school, and our vertical tutor group system, with nine tutor groups per year (7-11) and four Houses, emphasises the sense of community. We have a specialist unit for students with autistic spectrum disorder, and provide excellent support for those with academic or emotional difficulties.

Our curriculum is broad and balanced, and aims to meet the differing needs of our students.  Year 7-9 students learn a wide range of Key Stage 3 subjects which largely follow the National Curriculum. During Year 9 students choose their GCSE options and prepare for their GCSE studies.

Our Key Stage 4 curriculum provides an appropriate mix of academic GCSE subjects including English Language and English Literature, Maths, and both Single Sciences and Combined Science. Students can also opt for more vocational subjects such as Digital iMedia, Travel and Tourism, Child Development, Health and Fitness and Construction. The vast majority of students opt to study eBacc subjects of a humanity and a modern foreign language. Standards are very high; students make good progress and results are significantly above the national average.

‘Pupils are confident, respectful and independent.' - Ofsted 2026

Our Key Stage 4 curriculum provides an appropriate mix of academic GCSE subjects including English Language and English Literature, Maths, and both Single Sciences and Combined Science. Students can also opt for more vocational subjects such as the OCR Nationals in ICT and the BTEC Extended Certificate in Applied Science. Standards are very high; students make good progress and results are significantly above the national average.

The Sixth Form is an undoubted strength of Furze Platt. The broad curriculum offer and high standard of teaching has led to excellent examination results. A very large number of sixth formers progress to university, including Russell Group universities and Oxbridge. Sixth Form students are also expected to undertake community work in or out of school, including paired reading and maths schemes, and acting as subject prefects or mentors. They make a significant contribution to the school. The Sixth Form block has been upgraded and now boasts state of the art teaching rooms, study facilities and a common room.

'Staff feel valued and well supported. They know that leaders consider their workload when making decisions. Parents and carers are very positive about the school and appreciate how effectively leaders communicate with them.' - Ofsted 2026

We have excellent ICT facilities, with all departments having either a separate ICT suite or large numbers of laptops for student use. Our VLE (‘FP Online’) is first class, and enables staff and students to collaborate simultaneously over the Google ‘cloud.’ All teaching staff have their own school laptop.

We also believe passionately in music, drama, the arts and sport, and have some excellent facilities to support these. In particular, we have a fantastic Dance studio; two state of the art Drama studios, including a small theatre and our Music department, which has been completely redesigned, now houses a professional recording studio, practice rooms and classrooms. As would be expected, there are a large number of music and drama productions, both on a large and small scale. Our Leisure Centre offers a range of facilities available to students and staff.

'Pupils are taught effectively from a broad and engaging curriculum. Pupils achieve well. This is reflected in their positive outcomes in national examinations.' - Ofsted 2026

We have a strong team of teaching staff and are committed to developing our teaching still further, and thus to ensure that even more students reach their full potential. To this end, we invest heavily in teachers’ professional development. In addition to twilight staff development time and teaching and learning-focused INSET days, staff are encouraged to join working parties focusing on aspects of pedagogy and benefit from staff coaching. Where appropriate, staff attend external courses, and we encourage staff to visit other schools to see examples of best practice.

Our most recent Ofsted report (March 2026) rated us Strong Standard for Personal Development and Wellbeing, and Expected Standard for all other categories. 

What the new Ofsted grades tell you

'Expected standard’ means the school or other provider is doing everything that it should be doing... It’s a high standard. 'Strong standard’ marks out excellent, consistent work that’s making a real difference for children and learners. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-ofsted-report-cards-and-grades

'[Leaders] are fully committed to ensuring that every pupil has the opportunity to thrive.'- Ofsted 2026

Furze Platt is an exciting school to work in, and this is an exciting time to join us on our journey. I hope that the information in this pack inspires you to apply to work with us. Should you require any further information, then please visit our website (www.furzeplatt.com) or contact me via my P.A. at jacky.phillips@furzeplatt.net.

With best wishes

Dr A Morrison
Headteacher