Job Description

Director of Keystage Upper Primary
Core Purpose: To take responsibilities in the areas of leadership, curriculum development, monitoring achievement and progress, liaison with parents and outside agencies as well as driving the delivery of wellbeing, support and safeguarding for all students. The position will require you to lead on the care and supervision of students as well as being an information point for students wellbeing within the school. The Director of Key Stage will manage the wellbeing of all students by leading and overseeing attendance, punctuality, achievement, behaviour and the wider holistic provision in the school. To ensure positive outcomes for all pupils, the director will be responsible for providing specialist support, in order to remove barriers to learning and uphold the highest standards of well-being, attendance and behaviour.
General:

• Create a vision and direction for the phase in the short, medium and long term.
• To be a point of contact with parents/carers in relation to pastoral care and behaviour matters. Liaising with teaching staff and senior leaders.
• Follow up on all correspondence from parents/carers to ensure enquiries have been dealt with.
• Meet parents as required.
• To keep up to date with the range of activities, courses and opportunities, organisations, and individuals that could be drawn upon to provide support to pupils and build up a detailed knowledge of support available.
• Establish constructive relationships with parents/carers, exchanging information, facilitating support for their child's attendance, access, and learning, and support home-to-school community links.
• To participate in all internal and external reviews that relate to the phase, as directed by the Executive Leadership Team, leading them where appropriate.

Leadership & Management:

• To support the Executive Leadership Team in their vision, ethos and values for the school.
• Contribute to, implement and evaluate the success of the School Development Plan relevant to the Skey Stage.
• Ensure that the work of the team is inclusive, and issues are addressed efficiently in curriculum and/or pastoral management.
• Ensure policies are translated into practice by the team and that you bring to the attention of SLT any which may need revisions or amendments.
• Manage effectively the transition of pupils to and from your phase and within it.
• Promote cross-curricular approaches to teaching and learning.
• Be a proactive and effective role model for your team in terms of teaching, behaviour and classroom management.
• To be an enthusiastic advocate for the HPL philosophy and take the responsibility of embedding the practices.
• To actively model and promote the values and ethos of the school and GEMS.
• To articulate and implement a clear vision to drive forward continuous improvement and enable the school to achieve aspirational targets for student success in line with the performance standards.
• To promote a culture that demands excellence, equality and high expectations for all students.
• Integrate sustainable practices into teaching, learning, and daily school operations, ensuring alignment with the school's sustainability goals.
• Encourage students and staff to adopt eco-friendly habits, such as reducing waste, recycling, and conserving energy, fostering a culture of environmental responsibility.
• Champion the use of creative and forward-thinking educational strategies to enhance student engagement, problem-solving, and critical thinking.
• Develop and oversee key stage-wide initiatives, such as eco-clubs, community outreach programs, or digital transformation projects, to promote responsible global citizenship.
• Encourage the integration of digital tools, interactive resources, and emerging technologies to support innovative teaching and learning practices.
• Work closely with teachers, student councils, and school leadership to implement and sustain impactful sustainability and innovation initiatives.

Pastoral:

• Set high expectations for staff and students in relation to pastoral care.
• Actively encourage and support all staff, providing advice, praise and assistance when needed.
• Foster and develop good relationships within school and between parents and LAB members.
• Foster and develop an atmosphere of trust and care within the school to generate a healthy team approach and a climate of security.
• Meet with pupils and parents as necessary to address pastoral concerns.
• To develop, agree and implement time-bound action plans with groups or individuals linked to the needs of vulnerable pupils and to maintain accurate records of work for each identified pupil.
• To liaise closely with school staff to ensure that everyone understands and supports the implemented strategies to develop pupils' skills for learning and learning behaviour.
• To contribute to the identification of barriers to learning for individual children and provide them with a range of strategies for overcoming barriers.
• To monitor and evaluate the quality of the wider holistic education on offer, including the pastoral programme, assembly provision and extra-curricular opportunities.

Attendance and Punctuality

• Monitor and track student attendance and punctuality across the key stage, ensuring any concerns are addressed promptly and effectively.
• Investigate and follow up on repeated absences or lateness, working closely with class teachers, parents, and pastoral teams to support student engagement.
• Ensure all attendance and punctuality concerns are managed in line with the school's attendance policy, implementing appropriate interventions where necessary.
• Regularly review attendance data, identify patterns or trends, and report findings to senior leadership, taking proactive steps to improve overall attendance.
• Communicate with parents regarding attendance issues, offering guidance and support while reinforcing the importance of regular and timely school attendance.
• Work with teachers, pastoral teams, and administrative staff to maintain accurate attendance records and implement strategies to improve punctuality.
• Develop and implement initiatives to encourage good attendance and punctuality, including recognition and reward systems where appropriate.

Behaviour and Wellbeing:

• Take a lead role in developing and implementing practices that reflect the school's commitment to positive behaviour and emotional well-being.
• Contribute to the schools' behaviour policy.
• To deliver interventions to groups or individuals, to meet their needs.
• Have high expectations of behaviour, promoting self-control and independence of all learners.
• Be responsible for promoting good mental wellbeing and resilience amongst pupils and staff, supporting the identification of pupils at risk of, or showing signs of, mental ill health and raising any concerns following school protocol/procedures.

Safeguarding:

• Understand the safeguarding policy and procedures and ensure these are adhered to by all team members.
• Be responsible for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people within the school.
• Ensure health & safety protocols are of the highest standard and promote best practice.

Quality Assurance:

• Together with SLT, lead on the school self-evaluation process for your phase including lesson observations, monitoring of school standards and bringing about improvement.
• Monitor the quality and effective use of classroom and corridor displays.

In relation to homeroom/form tutors:

• Provide training and guidance to teachers, within the Key Stage, in providing a 'World Class' pastoral programme
• To provide positive and effective leadership for a team of teachers.
• To support teachers in the promotion of school rules, including attendance & punctuality, uniform and behaviour for learning standards expectations.
• To chair fortnightly Key Stage Meetings.
• To support the delivery by teachers of the PSE programme within the Key Stage.
• To ensure that attendance registers are taken every morning and that absent teachers are covered.
• Ensure all teachers within the Key Stage provide regular communication with parents/guardians.

In relation to parents:

• To build a positive and effective relationship with parents.
• To create a termly newsletter that highlights and celebrates the students work and achievements.
• To ensure progress, targets and curriculum enhancement/intervention plans are reported.
• Share and celebrate with parents, all matters relating to the pastoral care and wellbeing of our students.
• Promote the phase through open house, coffee mornings, assemblies, social media, school website, cross curricular opportunities and links with the wider community.
• Prepare the Key Stage information booklet in conjunction with the Directors of Primary Curriculum.
• To coordinate all parent/guardian meetings including the start of the year coffee mornings and information sessions, Parent Teacher Consultation evenings, and so on with relevant staff including subject teachers, and homeroom/form tutors.

Skills

• Bachelor's / Master's Degree in Education with equivalency
• Mathematics proficiency
• 3 years of teaching experience with at least 1 year experience as a Senior Leader
• Relevant valid licenses as per ADEK
• Valid teaching license/Teaching qualification

GEMS Education is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all of its students and staff. A UK-enhanced DBS or equivalent police check is a pre-requisite for all appointments.
Education
Bachelor's/ Master's Degree (Education)

Skills Required