Director of English - September 2021

When you join GEMS Education you join an international education company with a global network of International schools and over fifty years of education experience. GEMS Education is the leading Kindergarten to Grade 12 operator in the world educating over 110,000 children from 151 different nationalities. GEMS Education staff access the company’s professional development programme, one of the largest education training programmes in the world. This ensures the best possible academic outcomes as while ensuring that GEMS attracts and retains the highest staff calibre. To find out more about GEMS Education visit: www.gemseducation.com

The School:

An outstanding school in Dubai, GEMS Wellington International School offers exceptional learning opportunities for students aged 3 to 18. Following the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum in The Early Years, the National Curriculum for England to Year 11 and the International Baccalaureate at Years 12 and 13, our dynamic school environment combined with the extensive range of experiences offered enables students to succeed and to aspire at every stage of their learning journey. The entire school community, a truly international one, is passionate and committed to ensuring all are recognised and celebrated for their individual strengths, enabled as lifelong learners and nurtured as future leaders.

http://www.wellingtoninternationalschool.com/

About the Role:

We are looking for an outstanding Director of English to join our team at GEMS Wellington International School from September 2021.

This is an exciting time in the school’s development.  We require an ambitious, experienced and highly skilled leader to secure the highest possible for outcomes in English across age ranges 7-18 (Key Stage 3 – IB) at GEMS Wellington International School.  The successful candidate will need to be able to motivate others, harness the key strengths of their colleagues and lead continual improvement in English across identified phases.

This would be an exciting opportunity for an experienced middle leader with a track record of outstanding classroom practice and leadership at subject/curriculum level.  Experience of leading rapid, sustainable change in an English department is essential.  This position would suit an ambitious middle leader with aspirations to move to an Assistant Headteacher position within 2/3 years’ time.

Key Responsibilities upon appointment:

Leadership

• The development of the curriculum/subject leads under your leadership.
• Be accountable for English outcomes of students across phases Phases 3 and 4 (Keys Stage 3, 4 & post-16).
• To quality assure and develop the learning and teaching of English within specific phases and across the school.
• To develop the vision for English in the forthcoming years to support the aims, priorities and ethos of the school.
• To ensure that priorities are aligned with the school development plan and accurate self-evaluation takes place.
• To act as a positive role model and provide inspirational and strategic leadership to all stakeholders.
• Drive the National Agenda priorities associated directly with English and literacy, ensuring practice and key messages are embedded.
• To liaise with the Principal for Middle & Upper School and Deputy Headteacher (Whole school Curriculum & Assessment) to ensure effective deployment of staff according to skillset and experience.
• Implementing the process of strategic action planning, target setting and monitoring for all teachers and post-holders through stringent performance management.
• To lead and promote the importance of literacy across the whole school through the implementation of initiatives and high quality daily practice.

Learning, Teaching and Curriculum

• A relentless focus on improving the quality of Learning and Teaching of English across designated phases.
• To role model the high standards of learning and teaching and lead by example as an outstanding classroom practitioner.
• To develop high quality teaching across all phases which leads to exceptional outcomes for students across all age ranges.
• To be actively involved in the quality assurance of learning and teaching via the school’s MER process and develop strategies to support and develop staff accordingly.
• To design curriculum maps and schemes of work that ensure students’ skills are developed in preparation for GCSE and IB study.
• To ensure technology and digital learning is fully embedded into the English curriculum across all phases, preparing students for education and life beyond GWIS.
• To effectively monitor curriculum development and be flexible enough to respond to National (UAE and British Curriculum) and local initiatives.
• Ensuring continuity exists in curriculum transition from Year 6 to year 7 and at other transitional points, such as Key Stage 3 into GCSE.

Assessment: Progress and Attainment

• Rigorous and timely analysis of student performance and progress data.
• Identification of student needs and implementation of key actions to drive improvement in student outcomes.
• Quality assurance of assessment design to ensure they yield accurate, reliable and valid data for the purpose of analysis and intervention.
• Ensure the quality of marking, assessment (both formative and summative) is consistent and adheres to the English marking and assessment policy.
• Identify and take appropriate action on issues arising from data, reports and student attainment.
• To ensure that effective standardisation and moderation procedures are embedded into department practice.

The successful candidate will have:

• A B.Ed or subject related degree and PGCE / PGDE or equivalent
• Proven experience of teaching English at key stage 3, 4 and 5
• The ability to share your outstanding practice
• A creative and enthusiastic approach both in and out of the classroom
• Excellent IT and interpersonal communication skills to work closely with students and parents

As a teacher at a GEMS School you can expect:

• Students who are enthusiastic and keen to learn in a positive environment
• The opportunity to work within a team of highly supportive and creative colleagues
• Excellent professional development and guidance
• A school committed to doing the best for each and every one of its students

All positions attract an excellent remuneration package including:

Competitive tax-free salary, individual fully furnished accommodation, free schooling, private medical insurance, annual airfares to country of residence, and end of Service Gratuity.

GEMS Teachers also have free access to our loyalty app GEMS rewards www.gemsrewards.com which provides significant savings on day to day life in the UAE. We offer thousands of discounts and 2 for 1 offers on everything from flights, hotels, restaurants and retail outlets, making your salary go further and enhancing the opportunity to save whilst working overseas.