Deputy Head Academic

Deputy Head Academic (Senior School)
Start Time: August 2026

Job Purpose

The Deputy Head Academic (DHA) serves as the senior leader tasked with maintaining high academic standards, ensuring curriculum coherence, upholding assessment integrity, and achieving strong examination results for students in Years 7–13.

The DHA is strategically accountable for academic standards, with operational execution carried out by Heads of Department and relevant Assistant Headteachers, including the Assistant Headteacher for Teaching & Learning, who will manage key operational areas within this framework.

In a setting where around 80% of students are non-native English speakers, the DHA explicitly ensures that academic progress and examination performance are bolstered by high-quality, strategically aligned EAL provisions.

Additionally, the DHA oversees the Senior School admissions testing program and is responsible for managing examinations administration, ensuring compliance, integrity, and operational effectiveness.

The role is strategic, systemic, and focused on maintaining standards. The DHA holds academic accountability, with operational delivery facilitated through delegated senior and middle leaders.

Reporting Line

Reports to: Principal

Line manages:
• Heads of Department (Senior School subjects)
• Head of EAL
• Academic Data/Assessment Lead (if applicable)
• Timetabling Manager
• Examinations Officer (internal and external exams)

Collaborates closely with:
• Vice Principal (Operations)
• Assistant Headteacher for Teaching & Learning
• Director of Upper Senior and Sixth Form
• Director of Pastoral Care and Parental Communication
• DSL/SEND

Core Responsibilities

1. Academic Standards & Outcomes (Years 7–13)

The DHA is ultimately accountable for academic outcomes at IGCSE and A Level.

The DHA will:
• Lead post-results analysis and strategic improvement planning.
• Ensure accurate and credible predicted grades.
• Oversee departmental performance review structures.
• Monitor value-added performance across different ability streams and departments.
• Identify instances of staff or departmental underperformance and ensure structured improvement plans are enacted.
• Maintain ambitious yet realistic standards within a mixed-ability, EAL-focused environment.

While operational monitoring can be delegated to the Assistant Headteacher for Teaching & Learning, the DHA retains accountability for examination standards.

2. Curriculum Strategy & Coherence (Years 7-13)

The DHA is responsible for designing and safeguarding the academic framework, with operational implementation led by Heads of Department and the Assistant Headteacher for Teaching & Learning.

The DHA will:
• Ensure continuity and alignment across KS3, KS4, and KS5.
• Oversee the integrity of the three-stream IGCSE pathway model.
• Embed EAL considerations into pathway decisions.
• Approve curriculum changes and subject pathway decisions.
• Advise on subject viability in collaboration with the Principal.
• Align curriculum offerings with university aspirations and financial sustainability.
• Ensure a rigorous super-curricular program that supports high-attaining pathways.

3. Strategic Oversight of EAL Provision (Years 7-13)

The DHA is strategically responsible for ensuring that linguistic development directly enhances academic standards.

The DHA will:
• Ensure EAL provision is strategically aligned with curriculum and examination demands.
• Line manage the Head of EAL.
• Ensure EAL staffing levels adequately support academic pathways.
• Align EAL curriculum planning with subject-specific academic vocabulary and exam language requirements.
• Ensure EAL intervention models facilitate IGCSE and A Level success.
• Monitor EAL provision's impact on examination outcomes.
• Ensure departments incorporate academic literacy into their subject teaching.
• Ensure students are linguistically prepared for progression into KS4 and KS5.

While operational coordination may be supported by the Assistant Headteacher for Teaching & Learning, strategic accountability remains with the DHA.

4. Assessment & Data Systems (Years 7-13)

The DHA oversees the strategic design and integrity of academic tracking and monitoring systems.

The DHA will:
• Develop, refine, and implement academic tracking systems and reporting cycles.
• Ensure consistency in departmental assessment practices (including homework schedules).
• Chair meetings focused on whole-school academic standards.
• Lead predicted grade moderation and sign-off procedures.
• Oversee the quality and accuracy of reporting.
• Ensure appropriate utilization of tracking data by staff and mentors.
• Ensure data systems incorporate EAL progress indicators.

Operational data routines and monitoring may be managed by the Assistant Headteacher for Teaching & Learning, under the DHA's direction.

No parallel academic systems should function outside of the DHA's oversight.

5. Quality Assurance of Teaching & Learning (Years 7-13)

The DHA is responsible for the strategic oversight of academic quality assurance, while the Assistant Headteacher for Teaching & Learning leads day-to-day operational management of teaching and learning.

The DHA will:
• Establish academic expectations for review cycles.
• Oversee departmental review frameworks.
• Ensure subject-specific teaching promotes academic language development.
• Hold Heads of Department accountable for curriculum delivery and outcomes.
• Contribute to the academic components of performance management and appraisal.
• Align professional development priorities with academic standards.

The Assistant Headteacher for Teaching & Learning will manage the operational delivery of review cycles, lesson observations, and the development of classroom practices within this strategic framework.

6. Senior School Admissions Testing Programme

The DHA has strategic responsibility for the integrity and alignment of admissions testing, which includes:
• Designing or approving academic elements of entrance assessments.
• Ensuring assessments appropriately gauge subject readiness and English proficiency.
• Aligning admissions criteria with curriculum pathways and EAL capacity.
• Guaranteeing fairness, consistency, and integrity in procedures.
• Overseeing moderation and standardization processes.
• Reviewing admissions data in light of academic strategy and staffing capacity.
• Collaborating with Admissions and the Principal to ensure defensible thresholds.

Operational management of admissions testing may be delegated, but standards and integrity remain with the DHA.

7. Examinations Oversight (External and Internal)

The DHA is responsible for line managing the Examinations Officer and ensuring examination integrity and compliance.

A. External Examinations (IGCSE and A Level)
• Ensure adherence to examination board regulations.
• Oversee entry, access arrangements, and security measures.
• Monitor deadlines and regulatory compliance.
• Lead post-series reviews.

B. Internal Examinations
• Ensure internal processes align with whole-school assessment policies.
• Oversee mock examinations.
• Ensure consistency in exam standards across departments.
• Monitor the integrity of internal examination data.

Operational logistics are managed by the Examinations Officer, while accountability rests with the DHA.

8. Parent and External Academic Communication
• Present examination results and academic strategies.
• Clearly articulate how EAL provisions contribute to academic success.
• Lead academic discussions during IGCSE and Sixth Form information evenings.
• Contribute to the school's academic marketing efforts.

9. Leadership Contribution
• Support the overall school strategy.
• Manage the academic budget.
• Engage in senior leadership structures.
• Ensure EAL provisions are financially sustainable.
• Advise on the academic implications of recruitment profiles.
• Review and update academic policies as needed.
• Model high expectations and intellectual credibility.
• Contribute to the induction of new staff.
• Prepare Board papers and attend meetings as necessary.
• Represent the academic vision of the school publicly.

Measures of Success (Indicative – within 2–3 years)
• Enhanced IGCSE and A Level outcomes.
• Increased accuracy in predicted grades.
• Improved academic progress supported by EAL.
• Consistent assessment practices.
• Clear accountability frameworks.
• Better university destinations.
• Heightened parental confidence in academic credibility.

Professional Profile

The DHA will be:
• A credible academic leader with A Level experience.
• Experienced in environments with mixed abilities and EAL learners.
• A disciplined systems implementer.
• Proficient in examination systems and regulatory compliance.
• Calm, politically astute, and collaborative.
• Committed to steadily and sustainably raising academic standards.

SPGS International School Chengdu prioritizes the health and safety of its students. Successful candidates will:

1. Engage in regular child protection training and sign the code of conduct.
2. Report any potential child safeguarding risks to the designated or acting safeguarding lead.
3. Strictly uphold the school's policies regarding information confidentiality and protection.
4. Actively promote and ensure the health and safety of all students within the school.
5. Report any student concerns to the designated or acting safeguarding lead.
6. Notify the designated or acting safety lead of any unsafe behavior on campus, adhering to the school's "whistleblowing" policy.
7. Maintain a professional relationship with students, respecting personal boundaries.

SPGS International School Chengdu is dedicated to safe recruitment and child protection; relevant qualifications and police clearance of applicants will be verified.

While this job description outlines the primary duties and responsibilities for the role, not every individual task may be explicitly detailed, particularly in a school environment that requires flexibility from its employees.

This job description is current as of the indicated date but may be adjusted by the Principal following consultation with the post holder to reflect or anticipate changes in responsibilities consistent with the grade and job title.