Head of School

RDFZ King’s College Hangzhou is one of two new school development projects in China initiated through partnership between the prestigious King’s College School, Wimbledon and the highly successful Chinese education management group, Dipont Education. A third partner for the Hangzhou project is The High School Affiliated to Renmin University (RDFZ), one of the highest achieving schools in China. 

Construction has started on a greenfield, lakeside site in the Yuhang District of Hangzhou and will be completed in March 2018 with the school opening in September 2018. The campus has been designed by world-leading architects in educational facility design and it will, at capacity, cater for 3,195 Chinese and expatriate students from Early Years through to Grade 12.

Hangzhou, with a population of over 9 million people, is the capital of Zhejiang Province and an important city in China, recognised for its history, prosperity and beautiful natural scenery. It recently hosted the G-20 summit and will stage the Asian Games in 2022. Shanghai can be accessed in 1 hour by high speed train.

We are operating in historic times in educational development in China and this project has the potential to set the standards in independent school development within China and beyond. To support this, we are seeking to appoint a senior leadership team of highly qualified education professionals to manage the individual school sections and cross-campus areas of responsibility. There will be a shared pedagogical approach throughout the campus, enabling Chinese and expatriate students to benefit enormously from the cross-cultural exposure. The curriculum design will be structured to allow cooperation and integration whilst preserving the compulsory aspects of both Chinese and international programmes. The school design presents the campus as a place that responds to its local context and a global education culture.

Reporting to the Executive Principal and ultimately accountable to the Board of Governors, the Head of the International School (King’s College School) will commence appointment between January 2018 and April 2018 (dependent upon the availability of the successful applicant), to allow for sufficient preparation time prior to the school opening.

About the role

The Head of School will assume overall responsibility for the day-to-day management of the International School and will form part of the campus senior leadership team. Due to government regulations, the International School can only accommodate expatriate students and will do so from Year 1 to Year 11 with expatriate children under 5 and over 16 educated alongside Chinese classmates in the Bilingual Kindergarten and the International College on the campus respectively. Chinese nationals between the ages of 6 and 15 will be educated within the Chinese school on the campus.

The International School will cater for approximately 300 plus students at capacity with a curriculum modelled on the English National Curriculum from Key Stages 1 to 3, with IGCSE delivered at Key Stage 4. Additional instruction in Mandarin will be a compulsory element throughout the school to reflect the school’s location and cross cultural context.   

Key goals within the whole campus development are to encourage cooperation and integration throughout the individual sections of the school and to respect the high standards achieved by our partner schools. For the International School, this will mean seeking to emulate the ethos and standards of King’s College School (www.kcs.org.uk) as much as possible. This will be achieved through:

• Visionary leadership and management of the International School’s staff, delivering the curriculum to incorporate the best of modern pedagogy at all stages.
• Fostering an ongoing culture of professional development for all staff.
• Working closely with the Executive Principal and the senior leadership team to respond effectively to the unique setting of the International School.
• Working closely with the Head of Boarding and Pastoral Care and Co-curricular Director to ensure the well-being of students and to establish a rich extra-curricular programme.
• Recognising the multi-cultural nature of the student body and the school’s Chinese setting to promote internationalism.
• Endeavoring to build close links in the community the school serves, encouraging parental involvement where appropriate.
• Contributing to senior leadership team meetings and to provide the campus’s Executive Principal with advice related to the international school.

This exciting and challenging role commands an attractive, highly competitive salary and benefits package including: high quality housing; flights for employee and dependents and medical insurance for employee and dependents. Full tuition support will be provided for any successful applicant with school age children. The position will be offered on an initial three-year contract term with annual renewal thereafter.

Applications are invited from candidates with:

• Significant previous experience in a British school system at senior management level or above.
• Excellent professional presence and well developed people skills.
• The ability to innovate and inspire.
• A passion for international education.

Application process:

To submit an application, please email a CV and covering letter to Vanessa Cumbers, Director, CRS Education: vanessa@crs-edu.com or please contact Ms Cumbers for further information or an initial informal and confidential discussion.

Closing date: 30th November 2016.

First-round interviews will be conducted via Skype. Final interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held at King’s College School, Wimbledon (UK) in January 2017.