Head of School

Role Overview

The Head of School is responsible for the overall success of their school across all dimensions -educationally, financially, culturally and operationally. The Head of School aligns and invests all stakeholders in the vision and values of the school and works with staff, students and families to bring that vision to life on their campus. The Head of School is also an integral partner to support larger strategic priorities that have potential for network-wide impact and Guidepost’s long-term success in Hong Kong.

Core Job Responsibilities

Whole School Community Leadership

The HOS is the face of the school and represents the school and Guidepost network in Hong Kong to all stakeholders, internally and externally. The HOS deeply understands the vision of the school, embodies its values on a daily basis and is an excellent communicator capable of confidently and clearly conveying the school vision across a variety of stakeholders.

 

Program Leadership

 The HOS holds the educational vision for the school and is responsible for achieving it. This includes:

• internalizing and communicating a clear pedagogical vision to Guides, students and families and the program elements to achieve it
• identifying Guides relative strengths and areas of growth
• conducting regular classroom observations and engaging in coaching and feedback sessions with Guides
• collaborating with other teams within Guidepost to identify the support and resources that will most move the school forward.
• supervising all programs of the school (academic, project/internship, athletic, secondary school preparation, and other extracurricular programs)
• monitoring the quality of curriculum
• ensuring a consistent and systematic approach to evaluation, testing, and reporting to parents
• preparing for and conducting periodic program evaluations to celebrate successes and identify areas of opportunity
• supporting and monitoring the quality of individual coaching in your school and ensuring that coaches and students develop powerful and meaningful coaching relationships that lead to significant student growth and learning

The HOS is also a collaborative and supportive partner with the central team in refining practices and resources that can move their campus and the network forward.
 

Parent Relationships and Parent Communication

The HOS builds deep and trusting relationships with families and is the primary communicator to the entire parent community. This includes:

• sharing a high quality weekly newsletter to the school community with updates, inspiration and relevant information.
• creating regular opportunities for conversation and feedback with families, one on one, in small groups or as a larger community.
• identifying and managing systematic opportunities for parents to be connected to and contribute to the school via Open Houses, marketing team or program team.
• being a problem solver directly with families as needs arise and engaging with families as their partner.
• setting expectations, systems and norms for regular Guide and coach communication with families and monitoring the consistency and quality of that communication.

 

Hiring, Onboarding and Managing Your Team

The HOS is responsible for building and sustaining a team that is supportive, trusting, solutions-focused and positive.  This includes:

• The HOS partners with the talent team to develop job postings, review candidates and make hiring decisions based on the holistic needs of the school.
• The HOS is responsible for managing the onboarding of their staff by partnering with HR, IT, finance and the program team to provide the resources, clarity and learning to support staff success. 
• Develop strong, trusting and productive relationships with everyone on your team
• Collaborate with them to identify meaningful professional development goals and support their pursuit and achievement of those goals
• Provide regular informal feedback and manage the performance review process for formal feedback
• Effectively manage the annual performance review process

 

Financial Management

The HOS is responsible for achieving annual financial targets and campus profitability.

• The HOS in collaboration with the Reginal Director sets an annual budget that includes financial goals accounting for enrollment targets as well as staff, program and operational costs. The HOS then responsibly manages their school to meet their financial goals.
• The HOS establishes and maintains clear expectations for the team about expenses and regularly monitors the school budget to identify opportunities and address concerns.
• The HOS ensures that the campus accounts are kept up to date, including expense accounting, so that monthly reports about campus P&L are accurate and up to date.

 

Build and Maintain Culture for the Entire School

• The HOS leads the culture of the school by modeling the values, communicating effectively, nurturing and celebrating success, and effectively navigating challenges.
• The HOS is responsible for working with Guides and students to develop and support the routines, rituals, norms and practices that enable the entire community to strive toward those values.

 

Managing the Administrative Team to their Outcomes

 The HOS is responsible for providing excellent management to the Administrative team to support their work and insure the school meets critical outcomes. The HOS must align with the Administrative team on what admissions and operational excellence looks like and be able to provide coaching and support as needed to help them achieve that vision.

The range of this work depends on the needs and strengths of the team and progress toward outcomes but could include:

• developing the admissions and enrolment strategy
• weekly monitoring of progress in lead generation
• Providing tours and providing feedback to the team to improve tour quality and consistency
• Engaging directly in admissions work as needed
• attending school fairs, Open Houses, welcoming families, conducting interviews, etc.
• Identifying opportunities for operational improvements
• Monitoring the post-school (secondary school admissions process) strategy and execution

 

Qualifications

We're looking for someone who has: 

• A passion for the Montessori philosophy of education, and being a part of a team that is re-inventing primary school 
• A bachelor's degree (or equivalent) 
• Prior teaching and leadership experience in education  
• Strong interpersonal skills to lead school culture 
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills 
• Previous experience with school budgets 
• A high degree of personal initiative 
• Committed to the idea of endless improvement personally and professionally