Assistant Head of Lower Primary

At Huili School Hangzhou, we believe that every child has the right to a well-planned, joyful, and holistic education. A Huili Lower Primary education prepares our children for the opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences of later life and provides them with an introduction to the essential knowledge they need to become confident, independent, and inspired individuals. Key to our educational ethos is full commitment to the school, with staff, children and parents all playing their parts in creating and maintaining a truly unique and vibrant atmosphere. Our staff are committed to encouraging our children to embrace a wide range of experiences and to foster in them Huili Values and the Huili Identity. In furthering the delivery of international education in a Chinese context, we have merged the Chinese Primary-School Curriculum with the UK National Curriculum to support our children.

As influential practitioners, we encompass many roles to multiple stakeholders. In responding to the unique individuals under our care, we combine theories of meaningful practice, tailoring them to address the specific needs of the individual child. Though this may differ from the educational experiences of our parents, we assure families that what we do is meaningful for their child. By articulating and linking our educational frameworks and planning to the needs of our children, we are able to constantly monitor and evaluate our practice for further modifications and reflection. At Huili School, we celebrate our position as a cultural junction, acknowledge and respect the cultural sensitivities of our setting. In embracing the full marriage of Eastern and Western cultures and educational beliefs, we seek to ensure that the essence of Wellington College runs indelibly through the DNA of our own cultural identity.

Objective:

Huili School Hangzhou is looking for an experienced candidate to cover the position of Assistant Head of Lower Primary. We are looking for candidates who understand collaboration and the importance of meaningful relationships as a means to strive for excellence in both their own professional development and for first-class provision for all of our children. Successful candidates will have the energy, experience, and passion to help realise their own and our aspirations.

At Huili School Hangzhou our leaders are recognized as role models within, between and beyond our school, building a strong sense of community, whilst being responsive to our children, families, and staff.

Experience:

We pride ourselves on being an incredibly creative and innovative school. We expect all our leaders to be a major contributor to the vision and to support in leading our lower primary school to outstanding achievement, contributing to our continuing rich development within the school, the local and wider community, which is essential in providing a highly valued bilingual education. The post holder will be expected to lead creatively on all subjects and areas of learning across Grade 1 and Grade 2. We are keen to maximise skills and abilities new staff can contribute. The ability to mentor and coach others is essential.

Key Responsibilities:

• Contribute to a setting that is underpinned by an image of a strong and capable child.
• Lead a significant curriculum area, formulating policies, writing and carrying out an action plan, with clear evidence of impact on pupil progress.
• Be an effective and proactive member of both the lower primary school’s senior management team and middle leadership team
• Support the Head of Early Years and Lower Primary in the formulation, implementation and review of the School Development Plan, targets, and actions.
• As an active member of the senior management team, develop and maintain positive and lasting relationships with the local Ministry of Education, government organisations and compliance officials.
• Assist the Head of Early Years and Lower Primary to exceed local government compliance and benchmarks.
• Play a key role in the whole school self-evaluation process.
• Assist the Head of Early Years and Lower Primary in monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching and learning and the impact on pupil progress.
• Be a Mentor, Coach and Appraiser in the Performance Management Process.
• Identify the continuing professional development needs of staff through peer coaching and performance management review.
• Oversee the management of budgets for specific responsibilities.
• Line manage staff in the relevant year group/s.
• Teach a suitable timetable, being able to support or cover colleagues when required.
• Assist in the recruitment and appointment of staff within the lower primary school.
• Play a key role in the transition process from HNH to our Lower Primary School and beyond.
• Monitor, through a strength-based approach in assessing the management of all forms of assessment, ensuring that appropriate target setting and pupil development spring from these, whilst ensuring clear communication of assessments to families and colleagues.
• Monitor and record pupils’ learning to ensure they remain on track to achieve challenging targets through pupil progress conversations, learning walks, documentation and planning scrutiny and moderation across the year group.
• Report regularly on progress to appropriate stakeholders through data analysis and summary documentation

Care and wellbeing of children

• Support teaching teams to ensure children have a strong sense of belonging with high levels of wellbeing.
• Ensure that necessary alterations to teaching and learning are implemented and communicated so that adequate cover is provided for any absenteeism of staff.
• Ensuring that all teams adhere to student-to-teacher ratios throughout the day.
• Maintain the highest standards of care, child protection and safeguarding at all times by upholding the 3Ps: Protection, Provision and Participation as outlined in UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Families

• Builds authentic relationships with families, knowing such understandings can lead to greater learning outcomes for children.
• Communicate with families and the wider community about the program, including presentations, workshops, through online platforms and parent meetings.
• Assist with the implementation of the admissions process for potential new families.

Environment

• Support the creativity, development and interpretation of an inspiring environment that fosters independence, inquiry, and learning progression.
• Motivate, guide and advise on a learning environment that is ordered, inviting and beautiful.
• Model and promote respect for the learning environment and resources, both indoors and outdoors.