Headmistress

Reports to: The Board of Trustees of the School

Supervises: All members of staff, both teaching and non-teaching

Position: Fulltime contract (3 to 5 years, negotiable)

Salary and benefits: Negotiable

Location: Homosha Woreda, Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, Ethiopia

Background

The vision of Pharo Girls’ Boarding Secondary School, Homosha, is the all-round academic and personal development of girls to reach their highest potential and become future leaders and role models.

We aim to foster the intellectual and personal development of promising girls in BenishangulGumuz Region so that they are inspired to achieve academic excellence, to be capable of serving the society in whatever walk of life they follow, and to become economically self-reliant. We strive to provide a stimulating, enriching and forward thinking learning and living environment for girls, where achievement, enterprise, creativity and leadership are nurtured and developed.

We value critical thinking, leading by example and responsibility.

We are striving to make the school ready to receive its first students of 60 to 70 girls in Grade 9 in September 2018 (the beginning of the 2018/19 Ethiopian academic year). We expect that the school will reach its maximum capacity of 200 students in its fourth year of operation in 2021/22.

The Headmistress is expected to take up her role at the beginning of the third quarter of 2018.

Purpose

The purpose of the Headmistress role is to:

• Offer exemplary leadership, inspiration and guidance
• Play a major role in the strategic planning for the whole school
• Oversee the academic community
• Set up and maintain the systems that are necessary for such a school
• Manage the day to day routines of the school ensuring excellent academic performance
• Ensure the provision of personal, emotional and health care protection and support for students
• Recruit locally, train and handover to a successor within 3 to 5 years.

The position is best suited to an experienced headmistress who is considering a life changing and challenging experience in a setting that is perhaps different from where she has gained most of her prior experience. It is likely to be fulfilling to an individual who would like to use her experience, personality and drive to help in the establishment and the running of an institution that will be seen as a model for others who would like to learn from it in the wider region. It is likely to be rewarding to a person who has a passion to see all girls have the opportunity to get excellent education, reach their full potential and be role models and leaders in their immediate and wider communities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Governance

• Maintains a professional working relationship with the Board of Trustees, including attending Board meetings as specified by the Board.
• Brings to the attention of the Board such matters and data about the needs and operation of the school as are appropriate to keep the Board fully informed to meet its responsibilities.
• Submits to the Board recommendations on personnel actions such as appointment, promotion, job performance evaluations, and dismissal of immediate subordinates.
• Submits to the Board a complete annual budget proposal with the assistance of the Board’s Finance Committee.
• Submits to the Board monthly financial statements on various matters concerning the school’s financial health, including income, expenditures, variances and cash flow projections.

Organisation and Management

• Participates with the Board in strategic planning and develops school improvement plan with the faculty and staff.
• Creates an appropriate and strong management team for the school.
• Promotes an internal organisation that permits transparent, open communication; up and down.
• Works to produce smooth day-to-day internal operations.
• Takes responsibility for the safety and security of all the school’s students and staff; oversees the safety and security plan.
• Approves and administers rules and procedures in the Student Handbook and Teacher Handbook.
• Works to promote harmonious relationships between students, faculty and administrators, recognising the importance of developing each individual.
• Develops and implements a plan for communicating with and motivating relevant stakeholders.

Academic Programmes

• Keeps abreast of current educational trends and implements them as deemed appropriate.
• Provides leadership in the process of developing progressive curricula that adopts and builds on the Government’s relevant curriculum.
• Works with staff to identify curriculum needs in terms of teaching materials, faculty, and programme support.
• Helps faculty design, implement and administer academic programmes and services appropriate to the needs of the enrolled girls and consistent with the school’s vision, aims and values.
• Organises activities, elective offerings, cultural exposures, fine arts, and athletics sufficient to round out the school’s academic programme and provide for student interest development.
• Implements formal and informal programmes that relate to high moral and ethical conduct; a system of positive discipline that promotes kindness, courtesy, respect, responsibility, integrity, and love of learning.
• Establishes and oversees programmes for after hours and occasional weekends, including extended day programmes and recreational and cultural activities.
• Initially participates in teaching especially the English language so that the students will develop good command of the English language.

Enrolment

• Works with a committee comprising the Board, relevant government authorities and other key stakeholders to establish and administer criteria, standards and procedures for admission.
• Recommends enrolment objectives with respect to student numbers, character, equity, and qualities to predict success at the school and executes programmes to achieve them.
• Collects exit interviews to families leaving the school to assess our strengths and weaknesses and to put in place improvements required to make the school continuously more successful.

Students

• By working with faculty, makes sure that policies are in place to meet student needs and makes sure that those needs are met resulting in a positive experience of living and learning for students.
• Sets standards of participation and achievement in all relevant areas, including academic and behavioural.
• Oversees the evaluation of student progress and systems for communicating with parents.
• Works with the faculty to develop and implement procedures for tracking student status and progress and for intervening early when concerns are identified.
• Meets with the faculty regularly to discuss student progress, and assures and facilitates contact and follow-up with families as needed.
• Gives advice and guidance to students who leave the school about the best options available to them and that takes into consideration their status, talents, progress and achievements.
• Puts in place and operationalises children/student safety and protection policy and procedures.

Personnel

• Defines the teaching and non-teaching professional faculty positions needed to implement the school’s programmes and recruits highly effective teachers and staff to fill them.
• Recruits teachers by developing a plan to attract great teachers and by executing that plan resulting in the excellent faculty being in place for the school.
• Determines standards and take appropriate steps to measure and maintain reasonable performance and professional growth among immediate subordinates and, through them, all professional employees.
• Establishes practices and procedures to promote productive working conditions, discipline, and harmonious and constructive relationships among all of the school’s professional staff.
• Consciously works to establish an atmosphere of team building and planning; follows a collegial managerial style rather than authoritarian.
• Maintains personal contact with all school staff members, fostering good public relations, promoting high morale, and identifying personnel problems as early as possible; encourages similar conduct among subordinates.
• Recognises, coaches, and provides meaningful feedback through active performance management throughout the school year.
• Maintains accurate personnel records by overseeing procedures and practices resulting in consistent and meaningful records being kept.

Finance and Administration

• Oversees the implementation of the financial management policies and procedures and the internal control procedures that the Board puts in place; manages the school’s Accountant.
• Once the Board approves the annual budget, ensures that the resources are carefully managed within the budgetary guidelines; seeks approval prior to initiating any variances from the budget.
• Recruits, manages and guides support staff that provide services (kitchen, dormitory, compound, security, etc.) to make the school an excellent learning and living environment.
• Ensures that the fixed assets (school buildings, vehicle, etc.) and other assets (cash, food items, stock, etc.) are properly looked after and used only for the intended purposes).

School Sustainability

• Actively supports and encourages the school’s income generation efforts.
• Assists in the income generation efforts by articulating in many different settings the school’s unique vision and the value of the aims for which income is being generated.
• Proactively pursues (envisions and plans; proposes resource requirements to the Board; operationalises, efficiently manages and controls, be accountable for agreed profitability targets, etc.) opportunities for income generation within the compounds of the school.

Community Relationships

• Encourages meaningful parent and community participation in events that aid and support the aims of the school.
• Interprets the school and its programmes to the public and strives to personify the school.
• Serves as the primary spokesperson for the school; speaks at relevant community events.
• Gives tours to potential students/families and informational packs as needed.
• Promotes the school (vision, aims, values, programmes, etc.) via the website.
• Establishes excellent working relationships and arrangements with institutions that are vital for the safety, security and general wellbeing of students and staff (e.g. referral hospital, fire brigade, police, etc.)

Qualifications, Experience and Personal Qualities

• Postgraduate degree in education management or other related disciplines.
• Minimum ten years’ experience in the education sector, at least five of which as a Headmistress of a girls’ boarding school.
• Commitment to the vision, mission, aims and values of The Pharo Foundation and Pharo Girls’ Boarding Secondary School.
• Strong passion for and commitment to girls’ education.
• Passion for Africa’s development and familiarity with the continent will be an advantage.
• A role model across the school in terms of punctuality, attendance, positive engagement and professional relations among staff.
• Great determination, with the willpower and patience to see things through.
• Emotional intelligence to understand the importance of relationships, empower staff and pupils and show great empathy.
• Proven ability to exercise great judgment and make the right calls.
• Positive disposition to involve the whole school community and take people forward together.
• Optimistic, resilient and energetic with the ability to remain calm in a crisis.
• Confident and charismatic communicator, persuader, listener and motivator.
• Willingness to live and work in a rural setting with limited access to modern amenities.

To apply

Please email the following to recruiting@pharofoundation.org by 12th May 2017

• Your CV
• A covering letter briefly outlining how you meet the key duties and responsibilities and the required qualities and skills, when appropriate with evidence (maximum 1,000 words).
• A brief summary of the three most important points that will define your leadership and the three most important points that you will make sure that a school you run will avoid (max. 500 words)
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If any of the three requirements are missing in your application, your application will not be considered.

Pharo Girls’ Boarding Secondary School, Homosha