Working at the British School Caracas

Currently we have no vacancies:

 

Should you wish to send us your CV for future consideration, please email it to the Head of School attached as a Microsoft Word document.

                                                        Brian Allen
                                                    Head of School

Established in 1950, The British School Caracas (Pre-School to Yr.7) has maintained an excellent reputation both for its high academic standards and its supportive atmosphere. International in its population, this recently CIS accredited school offers a British curriculum taught, predominately, by UK trained, graduate staff.

The School offers a virtually tax free, very attractive salary package, including accommodation, BUPA, and return air fare. National Curriculum experience essential.
Teaching
Classes at The British School Caracas don’t exceed 20 and very often are a good deal smaller. There are two, parallel mixed ability classes in each age group from Pre-School to Yr.6, and one Yr.7 class. 28 nationalities are represented on the pupil roll, with Latin American nations providing the majority of our pupils, who are all a delight to teach.
We have dedicated facilities for I.C.T., D.T., Art & Design and Science. Classrooms are light and well equipped. They all have ceiling fans and a few have air conditioning. There is a hall, music rooms, dining area for Yrs. 3 to 7, library/media centre, amphitheatre with stage, lighting and sound system, more than 60 PC's networked throughout the school including classrooms, interactive whiteboards for each year group, T.V. & video and a hard surface playground marked with courts for football, basketball, etc. We have specialist teachers for Spanish, P.E. and Music.
 All subjects, other than Spanish, are taught in English. We follow the National Curriculum for England modified for our Venezuelan context. Class teachers are in classroom contact with their pupils 33 lessons (35 minutes each and mostly in doubles) out of 45 per week. The timetable is arranged so that parallel teachers have some joint planning time. All teachers take one after school club from the second term as part of their contract and all carry some curriculum responsibility.
 We have an active P.T.A. The Board of Governors are all directly elected parents. The Head of School acts a Chief Executive Officer and the educational leader of the school.

He is assisted in this by a Deputy, two Key Stage Coordinators and an Administrator, who form a School Management Team. There is an extensive support and administrative staff, including teaching assistants in all KS1 & EY classes.

Medical
International health insurance is provided by BUPA. We have a full time SRN School Nurse on site and we are within minutes of a world class clinic that can handle any likely emergency. 

Housing & Transport
Housing is provided by the school in a secure, furnished, one bed roomed apartment including kitchen equipment. A lower, local cost of living than teachers are used to in the UK applies here and essentially teachers use local salary for food, clothes, utilities, transport and entertainment. Not many teachers bother with cars. Apartments are close enough to walk to school. Teachers share lifts, taxis or use local buses and the metro. Teachers are unlikely to need to bring much with them for their apartments, just personal items, music, a laptop, clothes, back-packing gear etc. We provide a small freight allowance. Single teachers use this to pay for excess baggage on their arrival flight. The British School Caracas is well resourced but some teachers like to travel with books or other teaching resources (and Marmite!) that they can’t do without. You are provided with a small settling in allowance on arrival in local currency.
Salary
If you were to be offered an interview for a teaching appointment at The British School Caracas a salary assessment would be calculated based of the number of your completed years of teaching since qualification. We have a 17 point incremental, local salary scale.

We conform to all the requirements of Venezuelan employment legislation. Most teachers live out of their local salary and use any surplus to purchase flight tickets and make travel arrangements from Venezuela. In addition we provide a sterling bonus paid offshore. This is intended for investment, pensions, mortgage payments, international travel and sustentation outside Venezuela.

We have a target dollar scheme whereby a calculation is made in June each year on a teacher’s entire package, local salary and sterling bonus, so that it can be dollarized and an adjustment made for any exchange rate fluctuation on the overseas portion if necessary. The intention of this exercise is to ensure that teachers walk away with what they contracted for at the end of the year.
Flights
A return flight to London is provided at the beginning and end of the initial, two year contract, and every year subsequently that a contract is extended by mutual agreement.
Social Life
Single teachers can enjoy an active social life and visit restaurants, clubs, salsa dance halls, cinemas and other places of entertainment on a regular basis with expatriate and Venezuelan friends. Once or twice a term colleagues organize weekend trips to the beaches about four hours driving from Caracas. It is possible to fly to offshore islands and places of interest in the interior.
 The school provides an induction programme on arrival and Spanish tuition for one hour per week for the first term. Most teachers continue this at a higher level. English is not widely spoken outside the school and small, British/American community, so it is necessary to become proficient enough in Spanish to shop, ride on public transport and participate in simple conversations.
Teachers move freely around the area where the school and their apartments are located. Altamira is one of the leading, residential areas of Caracas. Naturally everyone exercises caution, just as you would in any, large, capital city. 
Venezuela
Internet websites and publications such as Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide provide quite a good introduction to Venezuela.

Teachers travel widely within the country. Eco-tourism and adventurous, outdoor pursuits are popular. The following are typical destinations:
  • Mérida and the Venezuelan Andes
  • Mochima, a National Park on the eastern Caribbean coast with access to good beaches
  • Henri Pittier National Park, a cloud forest reserve with access to good beaches
  • Los Llanos, a vast Pampas like savannah grassland with interesting wildlife
  • The Gran Sabana in the south and including Angel Falls and the flat topped mountains called tepuys. This area was the inspiration for ‘The Lost World’ by Jules Verne
  • The Orinoco River and Amazonas. This is an opportunity to interact with indigenous people in the rain forests
  • Offshore islands like Los Roques and Margarita

The British School Caracas, backs on to the mountainous Avila National Park where there are waterfalls, paths and camp sites. Caraqueños enjoy the outdoors and use the Avila and other parks freely. There are periods of rain but generally the weather is pleasantly warm and sunny throughout the year.