Founding Head of Secondary

Dubai British School Mira are currently recruiting for their founding year of operation.

Dubai British School Mira is seeking to hire an exceptional professional to become the Founding Head of Secondary commencing January 2026.

This is a rare opportunity for suitably qualified professionals who are innovative, cognitively agile, are committed to continual professional learning, and are passionate about building culture and community.

Successful candidates will become part of the Founding Senior Leadership Team at Dubai British School Mira and will be expected to embrace and embody our vision of ‘Enjoy, Aspire, Achieve’, whilst continually supporting the growth and development of our learning community within the school’s world-class facilities.

We are an inclusive school that believes all children can achieve when they are surrounded by caring, dedicated and hard-working professionals. The Founding Head of secondary should set a clear direction for the secondary school which ensures all members of the community are continually developing and learning, whilst keeping wellbeing at the heart of everything.

Job Purpose

The core purpose of this role is to provide professional, highly effective leadership and management that will achieve outstanding results in all aspects of the secondary phase. The Head of secondary promotes an inspiring vision and clear direction that is shared by all members of the secondary School and the Senior Leadership Team. Ultimately, the Head of secondary is responsible for ensuring that the curriculum, teaching and assessment practices inspire high levels of engagement, achievement and progress for students of all abilities. As an integral member of the Founding Leadership Team, the Head of secondary will play a key role in setting the direction and building the culture of the school.

Key Accountabilities

Inspirational and Strategic Leadership:

• Promote Taaleem’s mission of ‘inspiring young minds’ along with our vision of being the most respected provider of education in the Gulf.
• Collaboratively develop and promote an inspiring vision dedicated to instilling high standards for all secondary school community members.
• Communicate the secondary School’s vision and aims, ensuring all staff have clarity of expectations, professional competencies and outcomes.
• Distribute leadership effectively to achieve high standards of learning and personal development by creating an ethos of collective responsibility and mutual support.
• Inspire and empower middle leaders, teachers and support staff by clearly defining all roles and aligning these roles with school priorities.
• Work effectively with school governance teams (School Advisory Board, Parents’ Associations) and Taaleem Heads of Schools to ensure that decision making is informed and responsive.
• Ensure high quality teaching enables student progress and attainment to align with the expectations of our community.
• Contribute time and expertise to the professional development of Taaleem teachers and leaders.
• Participate in and lead professional development workshops in the UAE, including events run by the Knowledge Human Development Authority (KHDA).
• Consistently model the highest levels of leadership competence across all areas of responsibility.

 Self-Evaluation and Improvement Planning:

• Be receptive and respond appropriately to external evaluation and accreditation processes; acting professionally and efficiently throughout.
• Pro-actively gather the views of secondary school parents, students and others about the quality of secondary school provisions and programmes, using this information to help guide future direction.
• Involve all secondary school staff in systematic, rigorous self-evaluation with the explicit purpose of improving the quality of students’ experiences and their progress and attainment.
• Ensure that the secondary school academic programmes and curriculum are fit for purpose and challenge and support students of all abilities.
• Initiate, prioritise and lead secondary-school improvement activities via effective strategic leadership and planning.
• Develop long, medium and short-term planning to maintain ongoing improvement of the school according to KHDA/DSIB metrics.
• Ensure that all improvement activities are focused on creating impact and raising quality in the secondary school.
• Oversee the professional learning, growth and accountability of secondary school staff, including a focus on developing the evaluative and action planning skills of the Middle Leadership Team.
• Lead the utilisation of all forms of student data to drive the ongoing development of secondary school systems, procedures and teaching & learning.
• Maintain a strategic overview of the secondary school, ensuring that self-evaluation provides valid, comprehensive and reliable analysis for identifying key priorities, whilst remaining agile to respond rapidly the change, where appropriate.
• Embed the culture and values of the school through all decision-making processes, at all levels.

Effective and Efficient Management of Resources:

• Comply with all regulations and guidelines issued by the local authorities and regulators.
• Ensure accountability of the school’s actions and outcomes with regards to compliance and health and safety issues.
• Work closely with the Principal, DBS leadership teams and other Heads of Schools across the group to ensure that all policies, procedures and routines across the school are reviewed regularly and maintained at the highest standards possible.
• Lead on processes to recruit and retain the highest quality staff possible.
• Ensure that all secondary school staff are well-qualified and experienced, trained to do their roles and are deployed effectively to support the school.
• Embed structures which encourage impactful collaboration leading to raised standards (e.g. team teaching, coaching) and implement and effective and robust appraisal system to support this.
• Work collaboratively with the Principal and Admissions Manager to achieve enrolment targets and business objectives.
• Comply with all Taaleem policies and guidelines and submit high quality reports in a timely manner.
• Work collaboratively with the Principal to ensure that all mandatory training and professional learning is maintained.
• Work collaboratively with Principal, Operations Manager and SLT to develop CAPEX and Consumable budgets and then monitor performance against the secondary school’s budget lines.
• Work collaboratively with the Facilities Manager to address any health and safety issues and ongoing maintenance requests.

Parent, Student and Community Relationships:

• Ensure a proactive approach in delivering operational excellence focused on extraordinary service across all aspects of school life.
• Develop a culture whereby wellbeing is at the heart of secondary school life, taking into consideration the health and happiness of all stakeholders.
• Develop and enforce policies and procedures that create an environment that safeguards student and staff wellbeing and safety.
• Promote positive community behaviour via recognition, reward and suitable reactions to students’ indiscretions.
• Monitor and promote outstanding attendance and punctuality.
• Ensure that communication in the secondary school is authentic, two-way and connected to school life and learning.
• Build and maintain relationships with secondary school families and the community to support the ongoing improvement of school operations and to engage families as active partners in their children’s learning.
• Focus on identifying and meeting community (staff, parents, students) needs by taking interests and complaints seriously, and actioning accordingly.
• Inform the Principal of any serious student incidents or parent concerns and work collaboratively with the SLT to resolve issues in a timely and respectful manner.
• Develop strong community partnerships that effectively support all students’ development and improve students’ learning experiences.
• When decision-making, consider the impact on all stakeholders to ensure actions are taken with the best interests of the whole community in mind.
• Connect school events to local community events so that students and parents can participate in the broader local events such as the Emirates Literature Festival, World Art Dubai, music festivals, Taaleem sporting, creative and academic competitions, etc.
• Develop knowledge of the education landscape of Dubai, the UAE and the Gulf and monitor trends over time to ensure that DBS Mira becomes and remains a highly respected school.