Location Profile
Mount Clear College is a co-educational Years 7-12 school nestled in a beautiful bush setting adjoining the Woowookarung Regional Park, just six minutes from the heart of Ballarat. Although student enrolments are approximately 1,000 our focus it to combine the caring, student-centred approach of a small school with the philosophy of providing high-quality educational opportunities, stimulating and challenging every student to achieve personal excellence in their chosen pathways.
Our highly experienced and dedicated staff promote quality education where learning is at the centre of all we do. We are recognised for our strong, positive culture and are proud recipients of the Silver Award for School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support. Guided by the FISO 2.0 framework, we embed wellbeing and academic achievement together, creating a thriving and positive school community.
Mount Clear College is a great place to work and learn, offering incredible opportunities for students and staff. We are a culturally diverse school with sister school partnerships in Vietnam, Finland, China, Japan, and Turkey. Our purpose-built Language Centre supports global learning and connections.
Students thrive in the many opportunities on offer outside the classroom, including the Sport and Outdoor Education programs, and our outstanding and widely renowned Performing Arts program, providing students with multiple opportunities to shine. There are multiple international experiences available to students and staff as part of our broad curriculum.
In a rapidly evolving world, we embrace innovation, leverage emerging technologies, and prioritise digital literacy to equip every student with the knowledge, skills and confidence to thrive in an ever-changing future.
The College is home to one of only six specialist STEM centres in Victoria, providing students with cutting-edge facilities and unique opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Mount Clear College is committed to inclusivity, ensuring that students of all abilities are supported to thrive. We also proudly acknowledge and celebrate our First Nations programs, embedding respect, culture, and reconciliation as part of our learning community.
We value student and staff voice, alongside strong leadership opportunities, ensuring all members of our community have meaningful input into shaping their learning and workplace journey.
Selection Criteria
Selection Criteria
1. Educational leadership
- Outstanding capacity for visionary and exemplary educational leadership of a school or college.
- Highly developed skills in leading and managing change including the leadership of others in the process of change.
- Demonstrated commitment to ongoing professional learning and maintaining current knowledge of educational leadership, emerging technologies and evidence-based practice to improve school outcomes.
2. Financial, managerial and administrative ability
- Outstanding financial, organisational and resource management skills.
- Demonstrated capacity to lead effective operational planning, governance and compliance to support high-quality educational outcomes.
3. Planning, policy and program development and review
- Exemplary values appropriate to the development of student learning with a demonstrated capacity to achieve high quality student outcomes.
- Demonstrated ability to implement Department policies to a high level.
- An understanding of, and a commitment to, the use and implementation of learning technologies to improve teaching and learning
4. Leadership of staff and students
- A highly developed capacity to motivate staff, develop their talents and build an effective team.
- A clear capacity to foster a learning environment that takes account of the individual needs of students and helps students to develop their special abilities and talents.
5. Interpersonal and communication skills
- Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills in individual, small group and community contexts.
- Exemplary values pertaining to personal qualities of objectivity, sensitivity and integrity.
- An ability to work with families and the community to develop a strong learning and supported environment.
6. Community
- Demonstrated capacity to develop and sustain strategic partnerships that enrich learning opportunities and improve outcomes for all students, including working collaboratively with families, industry, tertiary institutions, community organisations and external agencies to strengthen student engagement, wellbeing, pathways and future-focused learning.
Role
The Assistant Principal Strategic School Improvement and Leadership role provides executive leadership to drive continuous school improvement, instructional excellence, student wellbeing and operational effectiveness.
As a key member of the Principal Class Team, the Assistant Principal provides strategic leadership across designated portfolios, including teaching and learning, curriculum, wellbeing, operations, compliance and organisational improvement.
The role leads whole-school improvement initiatives aligned with the School Strategic Plan, Annual Implementation Plan and Department of Education priorities. Through coaching, collaboration and distributive leadership, the Assistant Principal builds the capability of leaders and staff, drives the implementation of the College's strategic priorities, and works collaboratively to achieve exceptional educational outcomes for every student from Years 7¿12.
Strategic Responsibilities
The Assistant Principal Strategic School Improvement and Leadership will:
- Lead the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the School Strategic Plan (SSP) and Annual Implementation Plan (AIP).
- Drive evidence-informed improvement initiatives across learning, wellbeing, engagement, inclusion and organisational effectiveness.
- Use multiple sources of data to evaluate school performance and inform strategic decision-making.
- Lead whole-school improvement projects that improve student achievement, attendance, engagement and wellbeing.
- Ensure alignment of curriculum, assessment and reporting with Victorian Curriculum 2.0, VCAA requirements and Department priorities.
- Build coherence across Years 7-12 through aligned curriculum, instructional practice and student transition.
- Promote a culture of continuous improvement, innovation and collective efficacy.
- Contribute to strategic workforce planning, succession planning and leadership development.
- Support implementation of Department initiatives and emerging educational reforms.
Responsibilities
Leadership and Development Responsibilities
The Assistant Principal Strategic School Improvement and Leadership will:
- Lead, coach and mentor Teachers, Leading Teachers, Learning Specialists, Year Level Leaders and Education Support staff.
- Develop high-performing teams through coaching, feedback and professional learning.
- Build instructional leadership capability across the college.
- Lead Professional Learning Communities and collaborative inquiry processes.
- Foster reflective practice through observation, coaching and evidence-informed improvement.
- Build staff capability in differentiation, inclusive practice and high-impact teaching strategies.
- Promote student voice, agency and leadership.
- Develop strong partnerships with families, community organisations and external agencies.
- Keep abreast of emerging technologies and educational research, leading the implementation of innovative practices that enhance student learning, professional development, staff capability and school improvement.
Teaching and Learning Responsibilities
The Assistant Principal Strategic School Improvement and Leadership will:
- Lead excellence in curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and reporting.
- Monitor implementation of Victorian Curriculum 2.0 across Years 7-12.
- Champion curriculum review, innovation and development to ensure a contemporary, engaging and future-focused curriculum that meets the needs of all learners.
- Lead assessment moderation and consistency of teacher judgement.
- Promote evidence-based teaching practices.
- Lead literacy and numeracy improvement initiatives.
- Ensure high-quality intervention, extension and inclusive education practices.
- Support implementation of VCE, VCE VM, VPC and VET programs where applicable.
- Use student achievement data to monitor growth and target improvement.
Student Wellbeing and Engagement Responsibilities
The Assistant Principal Strategic School Improvement and Leadership will:
- Lead strategies that improve student wellbeing, engagement and attendance.
- Promote positive school culture aligned with SWPBS.
- Ensure effective implementation of wellbeing frameworks and inclusion practices.
- Coordinate support for students requiring additional intervention.
- Promote culturally responsive and inclusive practices.
- Strengthen transition programs across Years 7-12
- Support implementation of Child Safe Standards.
- Foster strong partnerships with families to improve student outcomes.
Operational and Organisational Responsibilities
The Assistant Principal Strategic School Improvement and Leadership will:
- Lead operational systems within their allocated portfolio.
- Ensure effective implementation of Department policy and legislative requirements.
- Oversee staffing, timetabling, resource allocation and organisational planning where appropriate.
- Contribute to financial planning and resource management.
- Ensure compliance with Child Safe Standards, OHS and emergency management requirements.
- Monitor school performance through regular evaluation and reporting.
- Coordinate improvement projects across multiple teams.
- Contribute to effective governance and risk management.
Department of Education Responsibilities
The Assistant Principal Strategic School Improvement and Leadership will:
- Uphold and promote the 11 Victorian Child Safe Standards.
- Ensure compliance with Department policies and legislative requirements.
- Support implementation of:
- Education and Training Reform Act 2006
- Disability Standards for Education 2005
- Equal Opportunity Act 2010
- Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004
- Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014
- Ensure effective use of Department systems including Compass, CASES21, VASS, eduSafe Plus and other required platforms.
- Support Department priorities relating to equity, inclusion and excellence.
Who May Apply
Appropriately qualified individuals currently registered or eligible for registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching.
Diversity and Inclusion
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.
Child Safe Standards
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
DE Values
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
- All staff employed by the Department and schools have access to a broad range of employment conditions and working arrangements.
- Appointment of successful applicants will be made subject to a satisfactory pre-employment conditions check.
- A probationary period may apply during the first year of employment and induction and support programs provided.
- Detailed information on all terms and conditions of employment is available on the Department's Human Resources website at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Pages/default.aspx
Conditions of Employment
- All staff employed by the Department and schools have access to a broad range of employment conditions and working arrangements.
- Appointment of successful applicants will be made subject to a satisfactory pre-employment conditions check.
- A probationary period may apply during the first year of employment and induction and support programs provided.
- Detailed information on all terms and conditions of employment is available on the Department's Human Resources website at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Pages/default.aspx
Qualification Requirements
To be eligible for employment, transfer or promotion in the principal or teacher class:
- The person must have provisional or full registration approved by the Victorian Institute of Teaching; and
- if the person completed an Australian postgraduate level initial teaching program or course of study on or after 1 January 2024, they must demonstrate that they have satisfactorily completed a postgraduate level accredited initial teacher education program that has been accredited by an Australian State or Territory Teacher Regulatory Authority as satisfying the requirements of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership 'Accreditation of initial teacher education programs in Australia: Standards and Procedures'; and
- a person who graduated from a Victorian Initial Teacher Education (ITE) program after 1 July 2016 must also demonstrate that they have passed the literacy and numeracy test for initial teacher education (LANTITE) requirements (this condition is satisfied where the LANTITE requirement is part of the Victorian ITE program completed by the person).
Details of qualification requirements as updated from time to time can be found at Recruitment in Schools.