Work Type: Ongoing - Full-time
Salary: Salary not specified
Grade: Assistant Principal - Range 1
Occupation: Principal and assistant principal
Location: Melbourne - CBD and Inner Metro suburbs
Reference: 1535895
References:
South Melbourne Primary School Context
South Melbourne Primary School acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are located and pay respect to their Elders past and present.
We are a high-performing government school with a clear sense of what we're about and how we work. Our school opened at the beginning of 2018 and we have recently been funded to expand to a second campus next door, with construction commencing in 2029.
Our results across NAPLAN, the Parent Opinion Survey, School Staff Survey and AtoSS are consistently above state benchmarks, above similar schools and among the highest in the state. We are deliberate about who joins us.
Our work is anchored in three values: Character, Community and Learning.
Character - Our People
Every person who walks through our doors is significant. Kindness and manners are baseline expectations. We maintain a warm, inclusive culture with high, clear expectations. We promote Relaxed Professionalism as our mantra as we strive to have fun but remain sharp as we conduct our work.
Staff work in Professional Learning Teams. Feedback is frequent, constructive and expected. Practice is routinely observed and discussed. We explicitly teach habits for success through our Big 10 Essential Habits. Our staff actively practise GEMS - Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Show More Love - in Staff Huddles, meetings and daily interactions.
This environment suits professionals who value teamwork, feedback and shared standards. It is unlikely to suit those seeking a highly autonomous or individual classroom model.
Community - Our Place
We live in the shelter of each other. Our community is diverse and multilingual, and we actively draw on that as a strength. We approach our community as an active partnership. We connect with families through Celebration of Learning Days, Whole School Assemblies and our Compass online portal. Student progress - both academic and social-emotional - is reported to families termly via Student Dashboards. EAL experience is an advantage as many of our students were born overseas and have English as a Second Language.
We have partnered with the City of Port Phillip to establish an on-site Kindergarten and OSHClub, providing wrap-around services for our families.
Learning - Our Program
Literacy and Numeracy are our core priorities.
Our teaching is grounded in Cognitive Science and Direct Instruction. We prioritise consistency and have a low-variance, high-fidelity curriculum. Staff use data to plan, teach and evaluate impact. Shared planning reduces duplication and ensures every student benefits from the same quality of teaching. We have a highly structured academic and social-emotional curriculum and work from defined lesson plans developed as a school.
Coaching, observation and feedback are embedded, not occasional. Responding positively to feedback with focussed actions is a baseline expectation.
Our Specialist Programs provide rich opportunities for students across Music and Performing Arts, Visual Art, Mandarin and Physical Education.
What to Expect
Kindness and manners are the cornerstone of success
Practice is visible and open to feedback
Teamwork is non-negotiable
A positive, professional disposition is expected at all times
Clear instructional frameworks and structured collaboration are the norm
You will be coached, and you will be expected to grow
We are a school that takes practice seriously. If that aligns with how you want to work, we'd like to hear from you.
Each applicant must address the below selection criteria:
KSC1 Educational Leadership
Demonstrated capacity to lead whole-school improvement initiatives in curriculum design, pedagogical coherence and instructional practice, working with PLTs to align lesson preparation, content and pedagogy, and using data to inform and escalate priorities.
KSC2 Staff Leadership
Demonstrated capacity to build leadership and teaching capacity across the school, including the development of Team Leaders and Program Leaders and their capability to lead teams in delivering content and pedagogy effectively, and to lead curriculum-focused professional learning and change.
KSC3 Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting
Demonstrated capacity to design, write and refine whole-school curriculum, and to implement and manage assessment and reporting processes to ensure coherence and consistency across the school.
KSC4 Organisational Management
Demonstrated capacity to manage the systems, platforms and resources that support curriculum delivery, including oversight of learning programs, assessment platforms and related staffing and scheduling.
KSC5 Community Engagement
Demonstrated capacity to build effective partnerships with students, parents, staff and the community, to design and refine platforms and practices that give families visibility of student work and progress, and to represent the school's curriculum and learning priorities externally.
The Assistant Principal - Curriculum Design & Development is a member of the Principal Class team and contributes to whole-school strategic planning, governance and school improvement decision-making. The role provides executive leadership of the school's curriculum, pedagogy and assessment systems, builds the leadership and teaching capacity of staff, and manages the systems and platforms that support curriculum delivery. The role also strengthens family and community engagement with student learning, ensuring all work aligns with the School Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plan.
GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES
The core role of Assistant Principal - Curriculum Design & Development may include but is not limited to:
Appropriately qualified individuals currently registered or eligible for registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching.
The department is committed to diversity and inclusion and developing a workforce that is representative of the community we service. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQA+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for roles within the Department. The Department recognises that the provision of safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work and diversity across all schools and Department workplaces. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for staff with disability (see Workplace adjustment guidelines).
Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander candidates from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via [email protected]
Applicants seeking part-time employment are encouraged to apply for any teaching service position and, if they are the successful candidate, request a reduced time fraction. Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.
Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Our schools actively promote the safety and wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or harm in the school environment, in accordance with their legal obligations including child safe standards. All schools have a Child Safety Code of Conduct consistent with the department's exemplar available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/child-safe-standards/policy
The department's employees commit to upholding the department's Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. The department's Values complement each school's own values and underpin the behaviours the community expects of Victorian public sector employees, including those who work in Victorian Government Schools. Information on the department values is available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview
To be eligible for employment, transfer or promotion in the principal or teacher class:
Details of qualification requirements as updated from time to time can be found at Recruitment in Schools.