The posting
UWCSEA East has a vacancy for August 2027 for a Primary School Student Support Strategic Lead (K–5).
Following a transformative period of growth across our Student Support provision, we are seeking a visionary, dynamic, and collaborative Primary Student Support Strategic Lead (K–5) to strengthen our vibrant, multidisciplinary primary support team.
The Strategic Lead joins a multidisciplinary team of specialist teachers and teaching assistants providing additional and intensified support across Learning Support, EAL, SEL/Counselling, and Occupational Therapy, ensuring every child with individual learning needs is supported holistically to achieve their full potential across the five elements of UWCSEA’s Learning Programme.
As our strategic lead, you will consolidate streamlined, consistent structures, digital referral pathways, and central data systems to identify, monitor, and review students receiving tiered support, to ensure every learner experiences universal access, meaningful inclusion, and inspiring cognitive challenge in alignment with our UWCSEA Access & Challenge Protocol.
If you are a passionate inclusive leader driven by systems innovation, data-informed practice, and an unwavering belief that every child can thrive in a holistic learning community, we invite you to help shape the future of student support at UWCSEA!
Main Responsibilities
To provide a happy, stimulating, safe learning environment in which all children can thrive and achieve their very best.
Teaching & Direct Support
- Work with identified students delivering targeted, tiered support across domains. Support is provided primarily within the general classroom environment and other settings where necessary to remove barriers, develop confidence, and enable students to thrive across all five elements of the UWCSEA Learning Programme.
- Support children in developing positive relationships, agency, and resilience.
Leadership
- Join the leadership of the Primary Student Support Team and lead teams according to the UWCSEA Leadership Standards, fostering a strong, asset-based view of all learners and a culture of high expectations.
- Manage and maintain a single referral pathway for teachers and families to raise concerns, ensuring clear, predictable access to support. Keeping Heads of Grade central to the process.
- Facilitate weekly student-centered triage conversations with specialist Heads of Departments to review data informed, determining support intensity and assigning a dedicated advocate/case manager.
- Lead termly, data-guided reviews of referral patterns by teacher, grade level, and demographic (e.g., EAL, gender, entry year) to ensure support reaches every learner equitably, identify trends early, address systemic gaps or over/under-representation, and surround teachers with targeted resources.
Systems, Assessment & Documentation
- Oversee a single entry support dashboard to capture consistent record-keeping and progress monitoring protocols, using school information systems, that is easily accessible to all staff.
- Coach grade teams and specialists to interpret screening and assessment data effectively as an empowering routine practice, enabling them to separate classwide and gradewide instructional patterns from individual student intervention needs to prioritise targeted support.
- Point person for the Admissions Department to oversee and allocate assessments to the relevant Heads of Departments for student applicants requiring support.
- Guide teams to effectively interpret screening, diagnostic and standardised assessments to identify and prioritise student support needs in a tiered system.
- Track every case from opening to closure, ensuring timely review meetings, clear records of decisions and ensuring families remain informed and empowered as active partners throughout.
- Make well evidenced recommendations for further external assessments when school-based interventions are insufficient.
Collaboration, UDL & Professional Learning:
- Participate in collaborative co-planning sessions alongside curriculum mentors and grade teams to help design universally accessible and challenging learning engagements.
- Consult proactively with teachers individually and in team meetings to suggest strategies, accommodations, interventions, and goals to support student learning.
- Design and facilitate Professional Learning for classroom teachers, student support teachers, and TAs.
Partnerships & Transitions
- Partner with parents and students by maintaining clear, empathetic communication, ensuring families stay informed while actively elevating student voice.
- Ensure the smooth transition of students on the support register from Infants to Juniors and from Junior School to Middle School.
- Represent Primary Student Support in K–12 Student Support Services planning.
General College Contribution
- Teachers are expected to participate in the five key elements of a UWCSEA education: Academics; Activities; Outdoor Education; Personal and Social Education and Service
- Academic expectations include enthusiastic participation in Professional Learning, both that which is mandated by the College and that which is identified by the individual.
- On average the College expects a yearly contribution of two sessions per week in each season to Activities and/or Service
- The College expects that teachers will participate enthusiastically in the curricular Outdoor Education experiences which are relevant to their students and will also occasionally volunteer for holiday Outdoor Education trips
- A commitment to diversity and inclusion is essential alongside a willingness to adapt and develop pedagogy to meet the needs of our learners.
Expectations and Standards
- Follow the UWCSEA Professional Code of Conduct and Safeguarding Code of Conduct.
- Lead in line with the UWCSEA Leadership Standards
- Teach in line with the UWCSEA Teacher Standards
Person Specifications
Qualifications
- A Master’s Degree or postgraduate qualification in Special Education, Inclusive Education, Educational Leadership, or a related domain is essential.
- A recognised teaching qualification or certification with a minimum of 5–8 years’ teaching and leadership experience, preferably in large international primary schools (ages 4–11).
- Proven track record of working with students with additional learning needs, delivering individualised instruction, and demonstrating willingness to be flexible across the primary age range.
Experience & Competencies
- Experience and understanding of managing multidisciplinary teams across Learning Support, EAL, SEL, Counselling and specialist provision.
- Working knowledge of tiered support, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) frameworks and progress monitoring.
- Skill in building centralised data dashboards, streamlining documentation workflows, and eliminating administrative duplication and leading data-guided conversations, is highly desirable.
- Strong facilitation, organisation, and communication skills, with a proven ability to build strong partnerships with staff and families from diverse language and cultural backgrounds.
- Deep understanding of early childhood (Infants) play-based support alongside upper primary (Juniors) academic access strategies.
The following would be an advantage:
- Knowledge and experience of concept-based curricula; delivery and assessment
- Experience with a child centred, agentic learning philosophy
- Experience teaching students who are English Language Learners
Estimated Timeline:
The interview process may include the following stages:
- One-way online interview (Spark Hire): 26 October 2026 onwards
- Online conversation with Primary School leaders: 10 November 2026
- Final interview day (including various engagements and stakeholders): 16 to 23 November 2026
We plan to complete the final interviews during the week commencing from week 23 November 2026.
We aim to communicate with all candidates regarding whether they have been moved to the next stage or not.
Applications
The UWC Mission is to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future. We are committed to creating a community in which all members feel safe and secure, and know that their authentic selves and individual differences are accepted with respect and care. At UWCSEA, we acknowledge that diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) is an ongoing and evolving process and strive to create and sustain a sense of belonging for all members of our community, past, present and future. All qualified applicants, including those who identify as a part of marginalized group(s) and individuals with (dis)abilities are all encouraged to apply. Our school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all the students in our care and expects all applicants to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices and all appointments are subject to interview, satisfactory references, identity and criminal record checks.
