Paragraph by paragraph
I would like to be considered for the post of Second in Mathematics at Bristol Brunel Academy, which I saw advertised on Teaching Vacancies for the start of the summer term 2027. I have taught maths in two Bristol comprehensives since 2019, the last five years at Cotham School, where I teach six classes across Key Stages 3 and 4 and run the Year 11 revision programme.
Post, school and start date
The school is named in the first line, because heads can tell when a letter has gone to twenty schools. Saying where he saw the advert tells them their recruitment channel worked, and the start date matters a lot in teaching, since most teachers can only leave at the end of a term. The second sentence gives what heads check next: the subject, the age group and how many classes he teaches now.
Over two academic years, the share of students in my classes reaching grade 4 or above rose from 62% to 78%. Most of that came from one change. After each mock, I stopped reteaching whole topics and built the revision club, now 40 students every week, around a question level analysis of their papers. Your advert asks the Second in Mathematics to lead Key Stage 4 intervention, and that is work I already lead at Cotham.
A result, and what caused it
On their own, results make a head wonder whether it was the teacher or just a good year group. David answers that by explaining what he changed (looking at each question on the mock papers) and how many students it reached (40 a week). Then he links it to a duty in the advert, which is how a panel scores applications.
In lessons I use Desmos and GeoGebra so that students can watch a graph move before they are asked to manipulate the equation behind it. Engagement in the classes where I trialled these resources rose by about a quarter on our department's own survey, and the resource bank is now shared by every maths teacher at Cotham.
How he teaches, through one example
There is no paragraph about his philosophy of teaching. He gives one thing he does in lessons (letting students see the graph before the algebra), a modest figure with an honest source ("our department's own survey"), and a sign that colleagues use his work. Heads see a lot of inflated numbers, so a modest one is easier to believe.
My first two years were at Ashton Park, where I raised homework completion in my classes from 65% to 88% with short weekly retrieval quizzes, and ran a Pi Day challenge that drew more than 200 students. Both started in my own classes and were then picked up by colleagues, which is the kind of influence I would like to have across a department.
Why the early career results are there
These results are from his first two years, and they stay in because both spread beyond his own classes. A Second in Department is partly there to shape what the whole team does, so that is the angle he gives them.
I hold QTS, completed my induction at Ashton Park, and my enhanced DBS certificate is on the update service. My application form and statement are attached, and I would welcome the chance to visit the school and meet the department before the closing date.
Checks, documents and an offer to visit
He covers QTS, induction and DBS in one sentence, then the documents, then an offer to visit. Many schools welcome a visit before the closing date, so asking for one shows he knows how teacher recruitment works. Sample lessons come later, on the interview day.
Letter, supporting statement or both?
Schools in England recruit under Keeping Children Safe in Education, the Department for Education's statutory guidance, and its 2026 edition is specific about applications. Paragraph 294 says schools should require, among other things, “a statement of the personal qualities and experience that the applicant believes are relevant to their suitability for the post advertised and how they meet the person specification.” Paragraph 295 adds: “Schools and colleges should only accept copies of a curriculum vitae alongside an application form. A curriculum vitae on its own will not provide adequate information.”
In practice that gives you two documents with different jobs:
| Document | What it is for | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Covering letter (above) | Why you want this job at this school, your best evidence and when you can start, in your own words. | One page. |
| Supporting statement on the form | Evidence against each line of the person specification, in the order the panel scores it. | Whatever the application pack allows; follow its limit exactly. |
When a school asks only for the form, the letter's paragraphs become the opening of your statement. When it asks for a letter of application instead of a statement, write the longer version and keep the structure of the letter above, adding one block of evidence for each essential criterion.
Here is how one criterion looks once it moves from the letter to the statement. A person specification for this post might list “Experience of leading intervention at Key Stage 4”. Under that heading David would write four or five sentences: who the intervention was for and how they were chosen, what happened each week, how he tracked progress after each mock, and the result with its cohort and measure. The letter gives the result in a line, and the statement explains how he got there.
The short version, for a request to visit
Many schools welcome a visit before the closing date, and a short note to the school office or the head of department is the usual way to ask. This version keeps the result that matters most and asks for one thing.
The same evidence, mapped to the Teachers’ Standards
Panels for teaching posts often score statements against the Teachers' Standards, the eight standards in Part One of the Department for Education's framework, alongside the school's own person specification. David's letter is short, but it already touches six of them. This is where, and what to add when the letter grows into a statement.
| Standard | Evidence in the letter | Add in the statement |
|---|---|---|
| 2. Promote good progress and outcomes by pupils | Grade 4 or above rising from 62% to 78% in his classes over two years. | The cohort size, the prior attainment, and how disadvantaged students did compared with the rest. |
| 3. Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge | Seeing the graph before the algebra, using Desmos and GeoGebra. | One misconception he plans around, and how the Key Stage 3 curriculum prepares for it. |
| 4. Plan and teach well structured lessons | Weekly retrieval quizzes at Ashton Park. | A typical lesson sequence and how retrieval fits into it. |
| 5. Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils | Implied in the mixed ability classes of his CV, not stated in the letter. | One adaptation for a student with special educational needs, described without identifying anyone. |
| 6. Make accurate and productive use of assessment | Question level analysis after each mock. | How the analysis decides which topics the revision club covers. |
| 8. Fulfil wider professional responsibilities | The shared resource bank and the Pi Day challenge. | Any coaching of trainees or early career teachers, and work with parents. |
Standards 1 (high expectations) and 7 (managing behaviour) are worth a short paragraph each in a statement, even when the letter leaves them out: they are the two a head is most likely to probe at interview.
Other teaching posts, other first lines
Early career teacher, first post
Lead with your training placements and the one lesson sequence you are proudest of. Since September 2021 the first two years are called early career teacher induction, so say where you would like to complete it.
I complete my PGCE in secondary mathematics at the University of Bristol this summer and would like to begin my early career teacher induction in your department, where I spent my second placement.
Primary teacher
Primary heads want to see how you would teach across the curriculum, not just one subject. Name the year groups you have taught and one subject you lead or could lead.
After five years teaching Year 4 and Year 6, and leading reading across Key Stage 2, I am applying for your Year 5 class teacher post for September.
Applying for head of department
For this job, what your team achieved matters more than your own classes. Give the department figure, how many staff you led and one decision you made about curriculum or assessment.
I have led Key Stage 4 mathematics in a department of nine for three years, and this is my application for Head of Mathematics from September.
Returning to teaching after a break
Explain the break in a sentence, then show you are current: the curriculum or specification changes you have caught up on, and any recent supply or tutoring work.
After four years caring for my children, two of them spent tutoring GCSE students, I am returning to classroom teaching and would like to apply for your maths post.
British international school abroad
International schools often recruit a year ahead and care about curriculum match. Name the English curriculum you teach, your QTS, and how long you plan to stay.
I am a UK qualified maths teacher with seven years of GCSE experience, applying for the IGCSE mathematics post at your Dubai campus from August 2027.
Timing: resignation dates decide your start date
Teachers in local authority maintained schools work to fixed notice dates under their national conditions of service, often called the Burgundy Book, and most academies follow the same pattern. The teaching union NASUWT sets them out like this:
| To leave at the end of | Leaving date | Resign by |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn term | 31 December | 31 October |
| Spring term | 30 April | 28 February |
| Summer term | 31 August | 31 May |
That is why David's letter names the start of the summer term: written in late October, it tells the head he can resign by the end of February and arrive after Easter. If your contract has different notice terms, as some academy and independent school contracts do, say so in one line rather than leaving the school to find out at reference stage.
Safeguarding, the DBS line and the online search
A head reads a teaching application with safeguarding in mind from the first page. Three things help.
- State your checks in one sentence. Your DBS level, and whether it is on the update service, answers a question the school will otherwise have to ask.
- Expect to be searched. Paragraph 301 of the 2026 guidance says schools “should consider carrying out a search (via an online search engine) as part of their due diligence on the shortlisted candidates”, and should tell shortlisted candidates that it may happen. Check what a search of your name returns before you apply.
- Never identify a pupil. Describe classes, year groups and percentages, never names, initials or details that would let someone recognise a child, and do not attach pupils' work with their names on it.
The same guidance asks schools to look at any gaps in employment, so if your history has one, explain it on the form in a sentence rather than leaving the panel to wonder.
Five things that sink a teaching application
Writing about your philosophy instead of a lesson
Paragraphs about a lifelong love of learning tell a head nothing they can test at interview, and every application says something similar.
Replace the philosophy with one lesson move and what it changed, like letting students see the graph before the algebra.
Results with no class or year attached
"Improved GCSE results" leaves out the year group, the measure and the time it took, so the head cannot tell what you actually did.
Give the measure (grade 4 or above), the classes, the period (two years) and the cause.
Nothing about the school
Heads can tell when the same letter has gone to every school in the area, and they notice when nothing in it is about them.
Read the advert closely, the school’s website and its latest Ofsted report, and connect one thing from them to your own experience.
Leaving gaps unexplained
Schools are told to look for gaps in your employment history. If you don’t explain one on the form, expect to be asked about it at interview.
Explain any gap on the form in one plain sentence: caring, study, travel, illness, supply work.
Sending the same statement everywhere
Person specifications differ, even for the same job title, and panels score against their own.
Rebuild the statement around each school’s criteria, in their order and with their words as headings.
Length and format for a school application
- Letter: one A4 page in a plain serif or sans font, 11 or 12 point. The statement on the form is separate and follows the pack's limit.
- Greeting: by name if the advert or the school's website names the headteacher (Dear Mrs Coombs, then Yours sincerely); Dear Headteacher with Yours faithfully if you write to the role, as David does.
- Date and spelling: British English and a written date, 29 October 2026.
- Key stages and grades: write them the way English schools do (Key Stage 4, grade 4 or above), and explain any grading from another system in brackets.
- One page: if a letter runs a few lines over, make the type one step smaller before cutting evidence. David's letter is set one size smaller, at 95%, so it stays on one page.
- Files: if the portal takes uploads, a PDF named with your name and the post, so it can be found later in a shared folder.
The main points from this page
- 1Put the post and your possible start date in the first sentence, because resignation dates decide when you can move.
- 2Give results with the cohort, the measure and the cause.
- 3Show one teaching move instead of a philosophy.
- 4Keep the letter to a page; the full evidence goes in the supporting statement, in the person specification’s order.
- 5State QTS, induction and DBS status plainly, and never identify a pupil.
Frequently asked questions
Do teachers need a cover letter in the UK?
Schools in England must ask for an application form with a statement against the person specification, and should only accept a CV alongside that form. Many still ask for a covering letter too, and the rest use the statement in its place. Either way, the letter above is the core of what you send.
How long should a teaching supporting statement be?
As long as the application pack allows and no longer. The covering letter stays at one page; the statement carries the full evidence against each criterion, so it is normally longer.
Should I write Dear Headteacher or use their name?
Use the name when the advert or the school website gives it, and close with Yours sincerely. Dear Headteacher is correct when you write to the role, and then the British rule closes the letter with Yours faithfully.
What should an early career teacher put in a cover letter?
Your training route, both placements, one lesson sequence you are proud of, and where you would like to complete your early career teacher induction. Results from placements are welcome if you can give the class and the measure.
Should I mention safeguarding in a teaching cover letter?
Yes, briefly: your DBS level and whether it is on the update service. Never include anything that could identify a pupil, and expect shortlisted candidates to be searched online as part of the school’s checks.