School Counsellor

School Counsellor- FS and primary 

The Aquila School opened in September 2018, initially with only primary children, growing to become a mixed 3-18 through school in future years. The school is located in a residential area of Dubailand and focuses on providing children with amazing learning. We have grown very quickly and expect to have around 1300 pupils from FS1 to Y12 in the coming school year. 

Teachers should be skilled at ensuring that children are actively learning throughout each lesson and ensuring that children make as much progress as possible and love coming to school. 

Children and families love our school due to our focus on amazing learning and developing a sense of community and school connectedness. Teachers enjoy working here because they are genuinely empowered to teach the children what they need to learn right now. 

The Aquila School is the first new build school designed and managed by The International Schools Partnerships (ISP) a comparatively new and rapidly growing organisation with schools in Europe, the Middle East, Mexico and the USA. 

The role- Job Description 

For all staff in school we share a responsibility to ensure that children are safe and properly supervised at all times. Our school vision statement is ‘amazing learning’- providing enjoyable and meaningful learning experiences for our pupils. All staff are expected to adhere to The Aquila Professional Code of Conduct and commit to promoting the 4 C’s – courtesy, consideration, co-operation and common sense across the school community. 

Job brief: 

We are looking for a professional school counsellor to ensure our children are safe and happy in school so they can focus on amazing learning. This will involve working with groups and individuals informally helping children manage issues and feelings including as time to talk, as well as providing formal counselling with parental consent and working closely with staff and families 

Key qualities and skills: 

• Proven working experience in school counselling with children aged 3 up
• Integrity and professionalism
• Kind, considerate and welcoming
• Ability to respond effectively to the needs of a diverse community
• Working knowledge of various counselling models, practices and resources
• Engaging interpersonal skills and excellent communication skills
• Sound judgement and emotional intelligence
• Ability to work and support children, staff and families

Core purpose of a School Counsellor: 

The school counsellor’s priority is to support the academic and social welfare of pupils by initiating and maintaining a positive relationship with pupils, staff and families in order to enhance the school’s academic mission of providing amazing learning. They are also responsible for engaging the community in building cooperative partnerships for the sake of a pupil’s success. They are expected to develop a healthy, safe and productive environment in which pupils can achieve their potential and are required to counsel and support pupils on personal development issues or when dealing with complex and sensitive issues 

Key duties include: 

School Counsellors must undertake various tasks, including: 

1. Helping children manage their feelings and deal with a range of incidents
2. Providing group and individual support on an ad hoc and planned time to talk basis
3. Managing playground games, buddies and other systems within the school
4. Monitoring and managing pupil attendance and punctuality
5. Providing formal counselling with consent of the family
6. Supporting staff in managing incidents and behaviour
7. Supporting families – individuals, support groups and larger groups eg through workshops
8. Working with staff to analyse in school assessments such as PASS
9. Working with the inclusion team, medical and safeguarding staff to provide the very best pastoral care for children
10. Take responsibility for personal professional development, keeping up-to-date with research and developments which may lead to improvements in the counselling service provided, arranging and delivering relevant training for staff as and when needs are identified.
11. Meeting the requirements of the local regulatory body
12. Contributing to the safe and smooth day to day running of the school

The Aquila School is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of our children and young people and expects all our staff to share this commitment. All posts are subject to appropriate background checks (Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) clearance from countries of residence for the last ten years, ICPC) as well as excellent references.  

To be line managed by the Head of Wellbeing 

Hours of work- 7.25am to 4.15 pm Monday to Thursday and 7.25 am to 12.00 noon on Friday 

Salary: To be discussed at the interview 

Holidays- as per the school KHDA approved calendar 

Essential 

Native level / excellent English speaker 

 Master’s degree in  

Counselling or Psychology/Psychotherapy/ 

Behaviour Therapy 

At least three years’ experience as a school counsellor in a comparable school 

An understanding of the developmental, emotional, social and educational issues of children and young people  

An awareness of range of needs of people from diverse ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds 

Warm engaging personality, able to relate well to children and colleagues 

Ability to help children become confident and independent learners 

Patience, tolerance and sensitivity 

A mature and non-judgemental outlook 

Enthusiasm

Desirable

Further therapeutic training or qualification in working with children and young people 

Experience of leading training for groups and individuals 

Experience of coaching  

Ability to collect and analyse data 

How to apply 

Interested applicants should ensure they meet the person specification and apply via TES. The closing date for this vacancy is Friday 19th April and the position start date is August 2024. 

About the International Schools Partnership Group  

The Aquila School is owned by a London based company called International Schools Partnership (ISP). The International Schools Partnership (ISP) is a growing group of committed colleagues in financially responsible schools around the world, all of which aim to be the school of choice in their local area. Learning is at the heart of everything we do for our pupils, colleagues and parents. We are committed to getting better, all the time. 

ISP was founded by an experienced team of committed educationalists and commercial operators who have worked together over many years. Our growing group of private schools located in the UK, the USA, Spain, Costa Rica, Chile, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, and Mexico educate children and pupils from 2-18 years of age. We have now expanded to 40 schools delivering multiple curricula and building on local brands and reputations with around 30,000 pupils and 5,000 staff located across the globe.