Assistant Headteacher of Secondary – Student Development

Safeguarding

At Taaleem, the safety and wellbeing of children are paramount. We maintain high standards for effective child protection practices and expect all staff members to share this commitment. Successful applicants will undergo thorough background checks, which include obtaining quality references, verifying relevant qualifications, conducting identity checks, and performing police screenings, which may extend to international checks.

Job Overview

This position entails providing strategic leadership and accountability for the development of students in Years 7 through 11, ensuring that each student feels recognized, safe, inspired, and equipped for success. You will lead the secondary school's culture, behavioral standards, and personal development strategy, while also enhancing a rigorous and coherent super curriculum along with an extracurricular activities (ECA) program that reflects student feedback, developmental needs, and overall school priorities. You will execute a data-informed wellbeing initiative for students and staff, aligned with KHDA’s Wellbeing Matters framework, ensuring that wellbeing is a key factor in decision-making processes, systems, and day-to-day practices. Direct management of the Heads of Year 7–11 will be part of your responsibilities to ensure high standards, strong pastoral and academic outcomes, and effective parental engagement. Collaborating closely with the Deputy Heads of Secondary, you will focus on ongoing improvement in academic performance, attendance, behavior, and personal development across KS3–4, facilitating a seamless transition to Sixth Form while ensuring students acquire the knowledge, skills, habits, and independence essential for success. You will ensure all systems, documentation, and quality assurance align with best practices observed in outstanding schools, maintaining the innovative, inclusive, and impactful offerings of DBSJP.

Key Relationships

You will collaborate closely with the Deputy Heads of Primary and Secondary, the Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning, the Assistant Headteacher for Sixth Form, the Primary and Secondary SEND Coordinators, the Counselling Team, and the Marketing and Admissions ECA Coordinator.

Strategic Leadership and Whole School Contribution

• Formulate and implement a compelling Student Development strategy that embodies DBSJP’s values and improvement objectives, addressing behavior culture, personal development, wellbeing, enrichment, and leadership from Year 7 to Year 11.

• Become an integral member of the Secondary Leadership Team and the broader campus Leadership Team, participating in policy development, self-evaluation, preparation for inspections, and performance management while serving as a deputy when needed.

• Leverage both internal and external data to identify academic needs at the individual and cohort levels and execute targeted improvement initiatives.

• Cultivate a proactive culture of high expectations, equity, inclusion, and academic ambition in partnership with curriculum and pastoral teams.

• Demonstrate leadership behaviors that advance the school's vision for excellence, wellbeing, and academic ambition.

• Collaborate with Heads of Department and Heads of Year to synchronize academic and pastoral interventions to maximize student outcomes.

• Work alongside the Head of Sixth Form to guarantee a smooth transition into KS5, concentrating on readiness, guidance, and pathways for student leadership.

Academic Progress and Outcomes

• Oversee initiatives aimed at eliminating barriers to learning and improving student progress throughout secondary education.

• Coordinate and ensure the quality of student support plans (academic and pastoral), emphasizing measurable academic enhancements.

• Lead the design and execution of academic mentoring frameworks, including check-ins for Middle Leaders, targeted interventions, and success-coaching models.

• Monitor progress data for designated student cohorts.

• Co-lead the school’s attendance and punctuality initiatives as academic priorities closely related to achievement and progress.

Systems Leadership of Behaviour, Conduct, and Wellbeing

• Direct the strategic development of behavior, wellbeing, and inclusion systems to ensure they foster academic success and character growth.

• Oversee the application of behavior policies to ensure consistency, empowering Heads of Year to effectively manage daily incidents.

• Analyze behavior and wellbeing data to identify patterns impacting learning and design system-level responses.

• Enhance restorative practices that encourage academic re-engagement, resilience, and positive relationships.

Wellbeing Leadership (Students and Staff)

• Chair the Secondary Wellbeing Committee and lead a measurable whole-school wellbeing strategy that emphasizes workload, student and staff voice, a positive culture, and proactive support, in line with the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter and KHDA’s Wellbeing Matters framework.

• Enhance student wellbeing provisions by creating systems to monitor belonging, resilience, connectedness, and safety; ensure early identification of needs; and collaborate with Heads of Year and the safeguarding team for timely support and intervention.

• Establish consistent methods for gathering feedback from students and staff through voice cycles, focus groups, surveys, and feedback tools, ensuring insights prompt meaningful improvements assessed through dashboards and wellbeing metrics.

• Cultivate a culture where wellbeing is evident in daily practices, underpinning routines, expectations, pastoral systems, and the overall student experience, ensuring students feel acknowledged, supported, and ready to thrive.

Leadership of Student Support Structures

• Manage Heads of Year 7-11 with a focus on academic mentoring, restorative culture, proactive intervention, and high expectations.

• Ensure coherence in pastoral, academic, and safeguarding systems, facilitating smooth information flow and shared responsibility.

• Collaborate closely with Inclusion/SEND to ensure students with additional needs receive suitable academic challenges, interventions, and support.

• Lead multi-agency and stakeholder initiatives as necessary to ensure every student has full access to the curriculum.

Data, Quality Assurance, and Impact Evaluation

• Maintain a strategic overview of triangulated student data dashboards concerning academic progress, attendance, behavior, and wellbeing.

• Create mechanisms to track the effectiveness of interventions on student outcomes and report trends to the Secondary Leadership Team, Senior Leadership Team, and governors.

• Ensure that all student-facing initiatives are evidence-based and evaluated for measurable results.

Pastoral Transition

• Collaborate with the Assistant Head of Teaching & Learning to align academic and pastoral transition systems, embedding readiness, expectations, learning habits, skills, and wellbeing structures early in each child's educational journey.

• Partner with the Deputy Head of Primary to ensure a smooth and well-informed transition from Year 6 to Year 7, focusing on effective information transfer, targeted support, and successful induction.

• Work closely with the Head of Sixth Form to ensure successful transitions into post-16 pathways, preparing students for the independence, demands, and expectations of Sixth Form life.

• Oversee comprehensive transition planning for inclusion students, working with Primary and Secondary SEND Coordinators to guarantee continuity in provision, accurate information transfer, and timely support.

• Guide Heads of Year 7–11 in delivering high-quality induction, pastoral tracking, and ongoing support to help students quickly acclimate, feel a strong sense of belonging, and be set up for success from the outset.

Super Curriculum and ECA Strategy Curriculum

• Develop an integrated and ambitious super curriculum that extends learning beyond formal lessons and is vital in shaping each student's identity as a learner. Ensure it offers meaningful academic challenges, fosters character development, and equips students with the skills, confidence, and readiness to thrive in the wider world.

• Collaborate with the ECA Coordinator to strategically design the extracurricular program throughout the year, utilizing student voice and developmental data to ensure equitable access, participation, and progression.

Safeguarding and Compliance

• Serve as a member of the Secondary safeguarding team, ensuring exemplary policy adherence, training, case management, and audit readiness, while integrating practices aligned with online safety and KCSIE. Align documentation with DSIB and KHDA standards.

• Attend whole school termly safeguarding meetings to contribute to strategic oversight, enhance cross-phase consistency, and ensure prompt action on emerging themes, risks, and priorities.

Standards

• Act as a model of exceptional teaching and foster a culture of excellence in learning.

• Stay current with advancements in curriculum and best practices, particularly within international schools, through organizations such as BSME and KHDA-inspected schools.

• Ensure that students receive the highest quality preparation for both internal and external assessments.

Key Performance Indicators

• Behavior and culture: rates of serious incidents, ratios of positive recognition, and profiles of detentions and suspensions.

• Attendance: overall attendance, punctuality, persistent absence, and subgroup equity.

• Wellbeing: indices for student and staff wellbeing, staff retention trends, and workload/voice metrics aligned with best practices.

• Participation: levels of engagement and breadth of involvement in the ECA program, including year-on-year growth in participation and equitable access across diverse student groups.

• Outcomes: indicators of progress for KS3–4 and improvements among targeted cohorts.

• Compliance: results from safeguarding audits, policy reviews, and feedback from DSIB inspections regarding wellbeing and personal development.

Person Specification

Essential

• Reflective, resilient, and capable of motivating others to achieve outstanding standards.

• Student-centered with a strong dedication to inclusive practices and high expectations for all learners.

• An effective communicator who can engage staff, students, and parents with the school’s vision.

• Positive towards all stakeholders and an advocate for school initiatives and processes.

• Proficient in data literacy and improvement planning with demonstrable outcomes.

• Proven experience in managing Heads of Year or equivalent teams.

• Expertise in roles such as Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) or Deputy DSL, with a strong record of multi-agency collaboration.

• A background in developing super curricula and ECA programs that are informed by student feedback.

• Skilled in designing and assessing wellbeing strategies for both staff and students.

Desirable

• Experience in Dubai or in international contexts, with familiarity with DSIB/KHDA frameworks.

• Training in restorative and trauma-informed approaches.

• Experience in leading the development of staff and student initiatives.

• Proven success in senior or whole school leadership roles focused on behavior, culture, and personal development, with measurable impacts in KS3–4.