Early Years and Primary Principal
Shen Wai International School
Shenzhen, China
- Expired
- Job type:
- Full Time, Permanent
- Start date:
- August 2017
- Apply by:
- 7 November 2016
Job overview
Shen wai (SWIS) is at an exciting point in its development. After modestly opening its doors in 2011 with 36 students, it is now a dynamic learning community of over 800 students from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 10 with plans to expand to Grade 12 by 2018.
SWIS is the first government invested international school in the dynamic city of Shenzhen and operates on a not-for-profit basis. Investment in the school has been significant and ongoing. In its short history, SWIS has achieved authorisation to provide the International Baccalaureate Organisation’s (IBO) Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP) and is a candidate school for the Diploma Programme (DP). SWIS is also a Council of International Schools (CIS) member and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) affiliate, expecting to achieve full accreditation from these agencies in 2017. The school benefits from excellent teaching resources, first-class facilities and is located in Nanshan district, one of the most desirable areas of the city. The school is heavily oversubscribed and once the school has developed into Grade 12, will accommodate 1080 students at capacity. SWIS is committed to becoming the top international school in South China within the next 5 years.
The Position
Reporting to the Director of School, and working alongside the Secondary Principal, The Early Years & Primary Principal provides overall leadership for teaching and learning for the early years and primary programme at SWIS with responsibility for:
- Managing the Early Years & Primary Division (620 children and a staff of over 100) in accordance with school policies and guidelines.
- Leading a management team comprising of Assistant Principal and two PYP Coordinators.
- Implementing the curriculum according to IBO and accreditation agency standards.
- Supervising and evaluating all teaching staff and supporting best practices in instruction and assessment.
- Effectively using data to assess programmes and leading the development of curricula programmes to meet the learning need of SWIS students.
- Facilitating the school’s interactions with parents and others in the school community. Recruiting and retaining highly qualified staff.
- Being a member of the School’s Governing Body and contributing to the development of the strategic plan for the whole school.
Person Specification
Applications are invited from candidates who have:
- Leadership experience with the IB PYP Programme within a world-class international school.
- An inspiring leadership style with a successful track record in developing successful and supportive relationships with students, parents and teaching faculty.
- An ability to listen to input from all school stakeholders, creatively and collaboratively solve problems, make timely decisions and communicate them clearly.
- An ability to positively energise and nurture the school community.
- An appreciation of the host school culture with prior work experience in Asia desirable, but not essential.
- A commitment to professional development of all personnel.
SWIS provides an extremely attractive salary and benefits package comprising of: salary and bonus scheme, provided housing or housing allowance, annual return airfare, PD allowance, medical insurance and fully paid tuition for children attending SWIS.
Application Process:
Please send a CV and covering letter to Vanessa Cumbers, Director, CRS Education: vanessa@crs-edu.com or contact by email for further information. Early application is preferred with a final deadline for all applications of the 7th November. First-round interviews will be held during October and the first week of November. Final interviews will be held at the school in November.
Employer Information
Based in central Shenzhen, SWIS benefits from its proximity to excellent amenities in the city and good transport links. Hong Kong is also just one hour away. Sporting, Arts and IT facilities at the school are excellent and unrivalled in Shenzhen. SWIS provides a world class education for expatriate students as well as children who hold permanent residency from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. For further information, please visit the school website at www.swis.cn
SWIS Mission
Shen Wai International School develops confident, open-minded, lifelong learners and inspires students to take action as responsible global citizens.
SWIS Vision
Inspiring Global Minds
SWIS Values
Inspiring – cultivating critical, creative, reflective thinkers with the skills and intellect to shape a better future.
Ethical – encouraging students to be open-minded and tolerant and to act with integrity, honesty and compassion.
Global – providing challenging educational programs for an interconnected world.
Sustainable – developing active learners with a lifelong love of learning.
About Shen Wai International School
Shen Wai International School (SWIS) is located in a scenic area of Shenzhen Bay and is the first international school in Shenzhen to be invested in by Shenzhen Municipal Government. The open, green and picturesque campus with its modern, state of the art facilities makes SWIS a particularly attractive learning and teaching environment.
Covering an area of 24,000 square meters with a construction floor area of 42,000 square meters, SWIS boasts spacious and extensive first class facilities with the capacity to host 1,080 students in our 54 classrooms.
SWIS offer an inquiry based programme with an expectation of excellence. We encourage our students to become active participants in their own learning and we ask parents to also share in the life of the school as a community.
At SWIS we have a highly professional and committed staff of fully qualified, experienced English speaking international teachers from countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These Class Teachers are supported by a fully qualified bilingual staff of Chinese Teaching Assistants.
As well as our small class sizes of 20 students, each with their Class Teacher and Teaching Assistant, the children enjoy specialist lessons in Art, Music, PE and Swimming each week with a daily Chinese lesson.
As an international school, the language of instruction at SWIS is English. We recognise that we have a special responsibility to foster the language development of all of our students and so we provide them the environment and the necessary language support to enable them to participate fully in the academic programme and the social life of the school, as well as to develop as individuals.
The Chinese language also has a special place in our curriculum. All of our students take advantage of the opportunity to learn Chinese while in China. Our Chinese programme caters for beginners through to native speakers and recognises the diverse learning needs of our students. The teaching of Chinese language is engaging, multi-dimensional, relevant, challenging and effective ensuring best practice language instruction for all learners.
Parents are also encouraged to take part in the life of the school as partners in their child’s education.
The school is already oversubscribed and has students from 3 years of age in the Nursery up to 12 years of Age in Grade 6. In 2013/14, SWIS will expand to enroll students in Grades 7 and 8, with further expansion of the upper school in the following year.
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