Deputy Headteacher

Deputy Head Teacher - Job Description
Dawnwood Education

Who are we

To prepare our children for an increasingly unknown future powered by new technology, we need to do things differently from the very beginning. Dawnwood was founded with an aim to re-think pre-school education from the ground up. Our first kindergarten (for children aged 2-6 years) is scheduled to open in Sep 2016 in Downtown Guangzhou (a major metropolis of Southern China, 2 hours from Hong Kong). We are no ordinary pre-school, we are:

• An international community of children, families, educators and researchers
• A truly transformative campus in a first-class location, built to promote openness and embrace connections
• The first pre-school in China to present a bilingual, ‘modernised’ approach to the Reggio Emilia philosophy
• A research hub for pre-school educators in the surrounding regions to learn and celebrate learnings together

Why join us

You will have an opportunity to really make a significant impact in a fast-growing organisation. In addition, we offer:

• Highly competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Various allowances (modern subsidised housing, flight, medical insurance)
• Free breakfast, lunch and snacks provided through nutritionists
• Chinese (Mandarin) lessons
• Potential to grow into a partner-level role that offers other long-term incentives (e.g. equity share option)
• Professional development opportunities through Dawnwood’s partnership with universities

Responsibilities

You are the overall leader for the curriculum and teaching deliveries.  Specific responsibilities include:

• Leading the curriculum development, goals and strategies to support our mission
• Establishing site-specific culture, processes and policies as part of the lead team
• Developing strategies to market and maintain the school’s enrolment as part of the lead team
• Representing Dawnwood in industry and public events, including delivery of speeches & interviews
• Attracting, hiring and nurturing a first-class teaching team, whose responsibilities include:
  o Co-lead in a small class environment (1:4 – 1:7 ratio depending on the year)
  o Designing inquiries for the class to create an experience that’s relevant and real-world
  o Curating learning activities based on each child’s abilities, interests, and learning style
  o Measuring children’s academic and social emotional learning against the Dawnwood Curriculum
  o Making children’s learning and development visible through documentation and ‘Learning Stories’
  o Partnering with parents to optimise and evolve children’s development at school and at home

Qualifications

• Passionate in early childhood education, with exemplary entrepreneurial and leadership skills
• Relevant qualifications in early childhood education from a recognised University
• 7+ years prior kindergarten teaching experience, of which 2+ years should include team management
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Prior experience as a founding member for a new school site is desirable
• Prior experience in working in a Reggio Emilia /  IB / EYFS pre-school is desirable 
• Prior experience in leading, developing and/or teaching bilingual early childhood curriculum is desirable

Apply Now: Applicants should send their CV and cover letter to hr@dawnwood.com. The cover letter should state the reason you are applying for this role, your vision for the role, your earliest start date, your current and expected employment package.  Please note that only short-listed applicants will be contacted for an interview. Successful applicants will be asked to show three satisfactory references. The start date for the role is July/August.