Assistant Headteacher of Secondary – Student Development

Safeguarding

At Taaleem, we prioritize the safeguarding and welfare of children. We uphold rigorous standards for effective child protection practices, and we expect all staff to share in this commitment. Successful candidates will undergo comprehensive background checks, including high-quality references, verification of relevant qualifications, identity checks, and police screenings, which may include overseas checks.

Job Overview

The role involves providing strategic leadership and accountability for student development for Years 7 to 11, ensuring that every student feels known, secure, motivated, and prepared to succeed. You will spearhead the secondary school's culture, behavioral standards, and personal development strategy, while continuing to develop a rigorous, coherent super curriculum and an extracurricular activities (ECA) program that reflects student feedback, developmental requirements, and overall school priorities. You will implement a data-informed wellbeing strategy for both students and staff, in line with KHDA’s Wellbeing Matters framework, ensuring that wellbeing is integrated into decision-making processes, systems, and everyday practices. You will directly manage the Heads of Year 7–11 to achieve consistently high standards, strong pastoral and academic outcomes, and effective parental engagement. Collaborating closely with the Deputy Heads of Secondary, you will work towards continuous improvement in academic achievement, attendance, behavior, and personal development across KS3–4, facilitating a smooth transition into Sixth Form while ensuring students acquire the knowledge, skills, habits, and independence necessary for success. You will align all systems, documentation, and quality assurance with the best practices observed in outstanding schools, ensuring that DBSJP’s offerings remain innovative, inclusive, and impactful.

Key Relationships

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

Strategic Leadership and Whole School Contribution

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

• Serve as a key member of the Secondary Leadership Team and the broader campus Leadership Team, contributing to policy formulation, self-evaluation, inspection readiness, and performance management, while deputizing when necessary.

• Utilize both internal and external data to assess academic needs at the student and cohort levels and implement targeted improvement strategies.

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

• Exemplify leadership behaviors that promote 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 for maximum impact on student outcomes.

• Work together with the Head of Sixth Form to ensure a seamless transition into KS5, focusing on readiness, guidance, and student leadership pathways.

Academic Progress and Outcomes

• Oversee strategic initiatives aimed at removing obstacles to learning and enhancing student progress throughout secondary school.

• Coordinate and ensure the quality of student support plans (both academic and pastoral), focusing on measurable academic improvements.

• Lead the design and implementation 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 an academic priority closely tied to attainment and progress.

Systems Leadership of Behaviour, Conduct, and Wellbeing

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

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

• Analyze behavior and wellbeing data to detect patterns affecting learning and design system-level responses.

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

Wellbeing Leadership (Students and Staff)

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

• Improve student wellbeing provisions by establishing systems that 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.

• Create consistent mechanisms to gather feedback from students and staff through voice cycles, focus groups, surveys, and feedback tools, ensuring insights drive meaningful improvements evaluated through dashboards and wellbeing metrics.

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

Leadership of Student Support Structures

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

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

• Collaborate closely with Inclusion/SEND to guarantee that students with additional needs receive appropriate academic challenges, interventions, and support.

• Lead multi-agency and stakeholder initiatives as needed to assure that every student has full access to the curriculum.

Data, Quality Assurance, and Impact Evaluation

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

• Develop 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 grounded in evidence 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 demands, independence, and expectations of Sixth Form life.

• Oversee thorough transition planning for inclusion students, collaborating with Primary and Secondary SEND Coordinators to ensure 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 acclimate quickly, feel a strong sense of belonging, and be set up for success from the outset.

Super Curriculum and ECA Strategy Curriculum

• Develop a cohesive and ambitious super curriculum that extends learning beyond scheduled lessons and is integral to shaping each student's identity as a learner. Ensure it provides meaningful academic challenges, fosters character development, and equips students with the skills, confidence, and readiness to succeed in the broader world.

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

Safeguarding and Compliance

• Participate as a member of the Secondary safeguarding team, ensuring exemplary policy adherence, training, case management, and audit readiness, while embedding 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 timely action on emerging themes, risks, and priorities.

Standards

• Serve as a model of outstanding teaching and cultivate a culture of excellence in learning.

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

• Guarantee 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, trends in staff retention, and metrics for workload/voice aligned with best practices.

• Participation: engagement levels 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 concerning wellbeing and personal development.

Person Specification

Essential

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

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

• An effective communicator who can engage staff, students, and parents in 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 results.

• 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 history of 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.