020 8371 5905
020 8371 5905
Have you ever considered a teaching job in Hackney? Historically referred to as a slum district and, as recently as 2010, as London’s most deprived borough, to say Hackney has had a change of fortune would be an understatement. What was considered a ‘no-go zone’ by most back in 1980, in 2012 became host to the Olympics and is now widely regarded as London’s hippest, most happening borough – a hot destination for the incoming (and mostly young) middle classes and still home to a rich diversity of communities.
Hackney is, ironically, anything but ‘hackneyed’. At just over 280,000, it’s a pretty populous borough – a far cry from its largely rural nature as a village on the marshland flood plain of the River Lea just 150 or so years ago, which was quickly absorbed by the burgeoning metropolis as soon as it was connected by the railway in the 1850s. Ever since, the borough’s been known for its diverse population – and, the more recent influx of the middle classes notwithstanding, it’s still growing richer and more varied by the year – those describing their ethic group in the census as ‘other’ increasing by 222% and ‘mixed’ by 84%. And, thanks to that mix of Caribbean, Turkish, Kurdish, Vietnamese and the largest Charedi Orthodox Jewish population outside Europe, the borough has always had a fabulously rich and kaleidoscopic social and cultural scene.
Given the borough’s long-standing notoriety as a deprived area, you could be forgiven for assuming the borough’s education professionals would be somewhat embattled – and there’s no denying there have been considerable challenges for teachers of some 27,000 pupils in Hackney’s 70 or more schools. That said, the borough has risen to those challenges very effectively. Responding to an OFSTED report that exposed serious failures some twenty years ago, the borough addressed those problems by working with the Learning Trust, which organised education until 2012, when the Hackney Learning Trust was formed – and under its aegis Hackney now boasts two of London’s most successful City Academies.
The great thing about living and working in a borough undergoing constant change is the buzz of positivity and possibility everywhere. You might find yourself in Shoreditch, where London’s first Tudor theatres were built and where the maze of backstreets around Liverpool Street station are teeming with restaurants, bars, and venues – or adjacent Hoxton, where the Gunpowder Plot was first exposed, and more recently home of the hipster. In great company with former residents like Leona Lewis, Paloma Faith and Alfred Hitchcock, whose career began in Hoxton, you’ll have truly global cuisine, the coolest clubs and bars and a plethora of innovative and exciting arts and live music venues on your doorstep, including the likes of the Arcola Theatre, Hackney Empire for live music and comedy, Hoxton Hall and the famous Art Deco Rio Cinema in Dalston.