Deputy Head Junior School

ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Our school is seeking to appoint a Deputy Head for our Junior School (ages 6 to 13 according to Spanish Primary) to lead the Academic (International Curriculum subjects) and Pastoral Curriculum for the Junior Stage. The deputy head manages the Junior Stage of the School including the general organization and will join the middle leadership team.

We are looking for an outstanding schoolteacher and form tutor, with passion for student development and experience in both teaching core subjects and leading PSHE curriculum. Some leadership experience will be useful but not necessary.

We are a private ownership school, secular and mixed and licensed by the Spanish Ministry of Education, thus our “official” curriculum and the one we are inspected on is the Spanish Model.

Our vocation is that of an English International School, so we run a personalized curriculum, International Curriculum, running side by side to the Spanish one. The International Curriculum we run, still under development, aims to increase our exposure to cultural diversity, a more hands on approach and variety of curriculum, mainly based on the English National Curriculum. At a minimum it should develop English as a Lingua Franca and never as a second language.

Our Spanish curriculum is the core needed by our students to prepare for Spanish University, most of our students go on to Spanish university, concentrating on the results needed by the Spanish Selectividad exam.

Due to the majority of our Families and half the staff being Spanish the post is for a fluent Spanish or close to fluent Spanish speaker, with an understanding of the Spanish southern idiosyncrasies. Knowledge of the Spanish curriculum will be valued but it is not needed.

The successful candidate will play an active part in leading the future development of the Junior School by effectively implementing and running a pastoral curriculum and an academic Cambridge Based Curriculum.

ABOUT THE ROLE- MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES (EXECUTIVE SUMMARY)

1.Reporting lines

●       The post will report directly to SLT (both to Deputy Head of Pastoral Care and Deputy Head of International Curriculum)

2.The role

●       To be a part of the pastoral team with an absolute focus on effective teaching and pastoral support to ensure students’ behaviour for learning, well-being, and academic achievement and progress is very good in his/her area of responsibility

●       To be part of the academic team by leading and managing the International Curriculum in the Junior School

3.Pastoral Care and organization

●     To correctly lead the pastoral curriculum. If not Spanish must understand Spanish cultural family aspects to achieve family satisfaction and have knowledge about Andalusian idiosyncrasies.

●     Manage the daily School Organization and pastoral care, working with the Subdirectores and Tutors

●     Implement School discipline policies setting clear expectations letting students know what is expected of them and following through with disciplinary actions when needed. Manage Subdirector on all disciplinary and behavioral aspects of students.

●     Maintain and develop pastoral curriculum

●     Interpretation and use of data to inform pupil progress.

●     Lead all school events.

●     Lead, support and promote all established systems, traditions at the present time: Head Boy & Head Girl, School Council (Prefect System), Assemblies, Mascots, Houses, etc.

●     Advising

●     Families. Attend, guide… active involvement.

●     Lead Staff.

●     Develop with the board and HR responsible a yearly plan for continuous development and evaluation of staff.

●     Ensure good staff morale within all staff.

●     Promote active participation of the whole school community.

●     Aid and understand cultural problems of foreign staff for a full integration within the school.

4.Academic - International Curriculum Coordination

●       To lead and manage teaching and learning to ensure that best teaching practice is systematically shared and embedded across the International Curriculum in the Junior School.

●     Provide exemplary leadership for the International Curriculum team in the Junior School.

●     Set appropriate and demanding expectations for student’s learning and motivation and to establish this across the Junior School for the International Curriculum.

5.Other duties

●     To teach a minimum of between 6 and 12 contact hours.

●     Co-responsible with the Pedagogical Director for Spanish inspection or any other future inspection schemes.

●     Maintain, promote and look after School quality and EFQM systems.

●     Admission of new students. Interview families and support the admission process.

●     Compose and publish articles for educational publications and for our in-house publications.

●     Promote and maintain connections with appropriate official bodies eg.- ACADE, CICAE, NABSS, ECIS, Cambridge, Comenius, British Council.

●     Support and promote any innovative novelties particularly English based.

Set yearly objectives for growth and improvement

QUALIFICATION, EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE:

Candidates must believe and be passionate about education and child development and be willing to put in the time and effort to develop and put in place an ambitious and effective pastoral scheme. One that not only delivers effective supervision and support of discipline and academic results but also provides a framework for personal development.

Good knowledge of the students and families is necessary, so an important part of the role is to develop a close relationship with them.

In order to guarantee future success and continued development good organization and structured proposals are required.

●     Master’s degree preferably in arts. PGCE or similar for education. Some management training is preferable.

●     Knowledge of the Spanish curriculum will be valued but it is not needed

●     Total comprehension of the National Curriculum at all levels and have knowledge of other International curriculums, including the I.B. in order to meet the mission and vision of the School.

●     Knowledge of quality procedures and EFQM.

●     Should be robust and enthusiastic.

●     Requires loyalty, high levels of discretion, tact, firmness and professional judgement.

●     Age: Experience, personality and maturity needed to undertake the post.

●     First class interpersonal skills, with ability to manage in a motivational and fair way which encourages staff to maintain high levels of performance and realistic diplomatic and public relations dexterities.

●     Very high level of oral and written skills including persuasion, negotiation and advocacy, in English and Spanish

●     Excellent public speaker.

●     High energy levels and a responsible and mature outlook on life and work.

●     Totally computer literate with up-to-date skills as a proficient user.

●     Excellent social background, experience and preparation becoming a role model for the whole school community.

●     Personal membership to educational organizations is looked on favorably.

●     Experience in participating and representing schools in international organizations with appropriate contact networks is also a plus.

Candidates should send, in both English and Spanish, full c.v., a cover letter, a Statement of Intent and a short description of your philosophy on Modern Education to rrhh@mm4edu.com

Closing dates for applications: 9th May 2021

Initial Interviews: Provisionally w/c 10th May 2021 (Via Zoom)