Head Teacher Special Education - Pendle Hill High School

Position Information

Pendle Hill High School is a vibrant and inclusive Years 7 to 12 co-educational school with an enrolment of 750 students from the Wentworthville, Pendle Hill, Westmead and Toongabbie communities. A rapidly growing school enrolment includes 70% of students from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, as well as students with a range of learning support needs.

Our school has a high potential and gifted education class in each of Years 7 to 10, as well as an expanding Support Unit. Our Support Unit currently has 3 Autism classes and 2 Multi Categorical classes. From 2027 our Support Unit is expected to increase to 4 Autism classes, 1 Autism/IO class and 2 Multi Categorical classes.

Our school community is committed to improvement, personal best in student learning and achievement, quality teaching and equity in educational opportunities and outcomes. Our dedicated staff collaborate to foster academic growth and student wellbeing, embracing diversity and individual learning needs through a blend of high performance and mixed ability classes. We believe strong partnerships with families and the wider community are essential for student learning success.

Selection Criteria

Applicants must satisfy the teacher training and academic qualification requirements for this position. In addition to the general

Demonstrated capacity to provide collaborative and supportive leadership and management for a dynamic team of teaching and non teaching staff with a diverse range of skills and experiences

Demonstrated expertise in leading the shared development, implementation and assessment of impact of differentiated programs and processes for students with complex learning, behaviour and support needs

Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to build positive, productive and trusting partnerships with staff, parents and external agencies

Demonstrated capacity to work as an effective member of a school executive team to achieve our school’s strategic directions, with a focus on collaborative professional learning, high expectations, explicit teaching and learning improvement

General Selection Criteria

1. Successful teaching experience with capacity to initiate improvement in teaching, learning and classroom practice
2. Knowledge of curriculum, assessment and student welfare with the ability to lead and design quality, inclusive teaching and learning programs
3. Educational leadership skills to build the capacity and manage the performance of individuals and teams
4. Well developed communication and interpersonal skills with the capacity to build relationships and engage students, staff and parents
5. Ability to plan and manage resources effectively and equitably to support teaching and learning
6. Knowledge of and commitment to the Department's Aboriginal education policy

Conditions

An unconditional full approval to teach is a requirement. If you do not hold a full approval to teach with the NSW Department of Education, you are required to commence the application process at the same time as you apply for this teaching opportunity.

All Department of Education employees working in an SSP are required to be vaccinated as outlined at Vaccination requirements for school sites (nsw.gov.au). The successful candidate for this position will be required to confirm vaccination status prior to the department finalising their appointment and entry on duty. Find the department’s latest advice on COVID-19 (coronavirus) at https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19.

Special Notes

The Eligibility Requirements for Head Teacher Positions in NSW Government Schools are located here.

Applicants are to include details of their WWCC clearance number as part of this application.

About the NSW Department of Education

The Department of Education is the largest provider of public education in Australia with responsibility for delivering high-quality public education to two-thirds of the NSW student population. We welcome applications from all ages and genders, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, refugees and people with disability. If we can make some adjustments to our recruitment/interview process to better enable you to shine, please contact the Diversity and Inclusion Team (dandi@det.nsw.edu.au) or visit NSW Department of Education Diversity and Inclusion

New merit selection application guidelines for classroom teachers, executives and principals have been introduced to provide greater clarity to applicants and selection panels. The guidelines are located here. To ensure that your application complies with the guideline page limits, your attachments must be in PDF format.