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Head of Boarding and House Parent (Live-in Couple)

Head of Boarding and House Parent (Live-in Couple)

St. Peter's International School

Portugal

  • New
Job type:
Full Time, Permanent
Apply by:
25 December 2024

Job overview

Inspired Education is the leading global group of premium schools, with a portfolio of 118 premium private schools spanning 6 continents which utilise proven educational practices from every corner of the globe, ensuring over 90,000 students receive a world-class learning experience from Kindergarten to Year 13.

 

In 27 countries, Inspired schools are individually developed and anchored in the vibrant cultures of their respective locations. They collectively form an international family of schools that nurtures each student's academic and personal development in a progressive, dynamic, and innovative learning environment.

 

By joining our award-winning team of over 13,000 employees, you can work in state-of-the-art facilities alongside industry-renowned educators and leaders in some of the world's most desirable locations. We invest heavily in our team members who enjoy industry-leading professional development, exceptional career opportunities, and mobility across our group.


ROLE SUMMARY:

St. Peter’s International School is an international school that provides a competitive, high-quality response to the needs of a diverse population. Our fundamental principles are centered on the integral development of the child, valuing academic and professional success, based on attitudes, practices and values that contribute to the growth of the individual.


This is an exciting time to join the team as we are designing our growth roadmap and new staff will be able to actively participate in this project. While this is an organisation committed to academic excellence, we believe that this is only possible if we are also committed to the personal and professional growth of our staff.


All staff at St. Peter’s are actively involved in the pastoral life of the school. The role will also offer the opportunity for contribution to co-curricular clubs and enrichment.


To join our team in August 2025, we are looking for a well-qualified and talented Head of Boarding and a talented House Parent (live-in couple). 

 

The Head of Boarding will work closely with the Executive Head of School, assuming high-level responsibility for pastoral care, academic support, safeguarding, administrative management, and the overall well-being of the boarding community. This role is pivotal in creating a positive and enriching boarding experience, fostering an environment that prioritises welfare, inclusivity, and academic success for all boarders. This position is part of a live-in couple arrangement, where the other individual will take on the role of House Parent, providing additional support to the boarding community and ensuring a cohesive and nurturing environment for all residents.


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HEAD OF BOARDING:


Pastoral Care and Well-being

  • Ensure compliance with child protection, health, and safety regulations.
  • Be an approachable presence, fostering boarder well-being and inclusivity.
  • Champion mental health, collaborating with pastoral care and external professionals.
  • Support academic success by creating a structured learning environment and addressing barriers.

Community Engagement

  • Plan and deliver activities, trips, and events to enrich the boarding experience.
  • Gather boarder feedback and represent their interests within school leadership.
  • Promote connections with alumni and the wider school community.

Safety and Compliance

  • Conduct drills and ensure adherence to safety policies.
  • Maintain boarding facilities, ensuring security and risk assessments are in place.
  • Oversee safeguarding practices and ensure staff receive appropriate training.

Catering and Well-being

  • Collaborate with catering to provide high-quality, balanced meals, incorporating boarder feedback.

Technology and Digital Safety

  • Promote responsible technology use and balanced digital habits.

Leadership and Communication

  • Communicate effectively with parents and address concerns promptly.
  • Mentor and develop boarding staff, fostering excellence.
  • Contribute to the school’s strategic development and recruit key boarding personnel.


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE HOUSE PARENT:


  •  Provide student support and further their personal, moral, physical and intellectual development
  •   Safeguard and promote the welfare of students in the boarding house
  •  Support the Head of Boarding and other House Parents in their roles
  •  Maintain a positive house culture and be a positive role model
  •  Liaise and communicate with the Head of Boarding on all matters of boarding student life
  •  Assist the administration and supervision of the boarding house incl after school and weekend activities
  •  Monitor and report the academic and pastoral progress of boarding students to parents


THE IDEAL CANDIDATES WILL HAVE:

  • A strong academic background, with a good honours degree in a relevant discipline and the ability to teach at DP level.
  • A deep commitment to, and enthusiasm for, boarding education and its benefits.
  • A proven track record of leadership success in a boarding setting, with significant management experience.
  • Knowledge of Health & Safety regulations and the National Minimum Boarding Standards.
  • Exceptional interpersonal skills, with the ability to inspire confidence and collaborate effectively with staff, pupils, and parents.
  • Demonstrated ability to remain calm, efficient, and solutions-focused under pressure, with strong multitasking abilities.
  • A professional, approachable demeanour, capable of fostering a positive and supportive boarding environment.
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, including proficiency with digital tools.
  • Strong organisational and administrative abilities, with excellent attention to detail.
  • A willingness to embrace the ethos and values of the school, committing to its holistic educational philosophy.
  • Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and public holidays as required by the demands of the role.


SAFEGUARDING STATEMENT

Inspired Education Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, volunteers and other third parties to share this commitment. Safer recruitment practices and pre-employment background checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. 


About St. Peter's International School

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+351 12 336 990

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Our School is part of the Inspired Education Group

Inspired Education is the leading global group of premium schools, with a portfolio of over 100 premium private schools spanning six continents which utilise proven educational practices from every corner of the globe, ensuring over 80,000 students receive a world-class learning experience from Kindergarten to Year 13. In addition, we are delighted to be recognised in the top 10 highest value private companies in the UK by Beauhurst.

In over 24 countries, Inspired schools are individually developed and anchored in the vibrant cultures of their respective locations. They collectively form an international family of schools that nurtures each student's academic and personal development in a progressive, dynamic, and innovative learning environment.

By joining our award-winning team of over 12,000 employees, you can work in state-of-the-art facilities alongside industry-renowned educators and leaders in some of the world's most desirable locations. We invest heavily in our team members who enjoy industry-leading professional development, exceptional career opportunities, and mobility across our group.

Please visit our careers site for further information and to see our latest opportunities - https://careers.inspirededu.com/

Background

St. Peter’s International School (SPIS) is the longest established international school in Palmela, Portugal. The School provides a competitive, high-quality education which meets the needs of a diverse student population. The School’s pedagogical method is unique and teaching is highly personalised and differentiated to each student. Sports and all artistic areas are always encouraged and considered essential to all students.

The School is proud to be over 30 years old and still investing in excellence while providing a multicultural environment with around 40 different nationalities, which means students are always in contact with different cultures and languages.

SPIS offer a bilingual curriculum from Kindergarten until Grade 4, the Portuguese curriculum with extra lessons of English, Spanish, Latin from Grade 5 to Grade 9, and finally the option of the National Portuguese curriculum or the IGCSE+IB for Grades 9 to 12. This means the School covers a lot of options in terms of curriculum and, for that reason, students have a complete education that allows them to continue their studies in Portugal or abroad.

SPIS has a constant desire to evolve and improve the curriculum, the facilities and the conditions for all students and families; the School ceaselessly seeks to do more and be better every day. In short, all at SPIS believe that its students can achieve their maximum potential, be happy and fulfilled from an earlier age.

Considered one of the safest countries in the world, and with weather and a climate that catches everyone’s eye, SPIS has welcomed many families from all around the globe over recent years. To further develop the relationship with other countries, the School is proud to launch St. Peter’s International Boarding School, with a brand new building and boarding offering that will mark the beginning of a new approach, with a more bilingual environment and international curriculum. With comfortable rooms and access to a modern and safe campus, boarding students will feel very much at home.

Ethos & Aims

In a world that is constantly changing, in which society lives at an ever-increasing pace, education has taken on a leading role, bringing with it the highest of social responsibilities.

SPIS is an international school that provides a competitive, high-quality education to meet the needs of a diverse population. Its fundamental principles are centered on the integral development of the child, valuing academic and personal success, based on attitudes, practices and values that contribute to the growth of the individual.

SPIS’s mission is to build self-reliant, critical, creative students, who have the necessary skills and abilities to perform well at a personal, social and professional level. Thus allowing them to pursue their studies, and actively integrate into a rapidly changing and increasingly globalised society.

Considering the cosmopolitan spirit of the School, in which students of different nationalities work together, the English language acquires particular importance in SPIS’s educational context, and is present in the syllabus from Kindergarten to Secondary School. The acquisition of other languages is also vital – Spanish, German and Latin – and allow students to gain an in-depth understanding of the School’s social context, as well as an insight into different world views and cultural realities. This in turn encourages a cross- -disciplinary development of knowledge and values, as well as greater competitiveness in the world of work beyond.

Structure

The School currently includes a multidisciplinary teaching team, who are experienced and qualified to create innovative and challenging learning environments, in all teaching areas. Since its founding, the School has never stopped growing, innovating, modernising and investing in a diverse and multicultural educational context, responding to the needs and expectations of its students who come from all over the world. Teaching activity is planned as a team, seeking to achieve academic success, giving value to education with the aim to continuously improve the quality of teaching and learning.

SPIS develops formal, enjoyable and artistic learning activities, based on interpersonal relationships and meaningful content, which provide support to students while building their knowledge of the world and simultaneously discovering themselves.

SPIS consists of five sections: Pre-School, Primary School Junior School, Middle School. Secondary School and the International Section (IGCSE and IB Diploma). The composition of the School is as follows:

Nursery and Kindergarten 120 pupils - day students, from the age 6 months to 6 years old. The Coordinator is Mrs. Carlota Oliveira

Primary School 255 pupils - day students, from the age 6 to 10 years old. The Coordinator is Mr. José Henrique Junior School

Middle School 595 pupils - day students, from the age 10 to 15 years old. The Coordinator is Mr. Pedro Mata

Secondary School 323 pupils - day students, from the age 16 to 18 years old. The Coordinator is Mrs. Vanda Ramos

International Section 121 pupils - day students from the age 14 to 18 years old. The Coordinator is Mrs. Telma Fresta

Throughout its sustained growth, the School has benefitted from the ongoing development of its facilities, gaining a considerable amount of physical space, creating the scope for students’ numbers to grow substantially.

Academic

SPIS offers a broad academic curriculum with a wide choice of subjects at Secondary National Curriculum and also at the International Curriculum (IGCSE and IB Diploma).

Early childhood is a fundamental stage of children's lives, the first years being particularly important for their physical, intellectual, and emotional development. In Nursery School and Kindergarten at SPIS, the School has developed its pedagogical approach, bringing together best practices from various methods from around the world.

SPIS offers a differentiated curriculum in both Portuguese and English, using the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning Methodology), and bases its educational approach on values of academic and moral excellence. It offers its students a high academic standard, a quality teaching environment and provides a solid personal and social education, built through the development and acquisition of syllabus, skills, values and behaviour.

The English language continues to have a significant role throughout these teaching levels, during which the students are able to complete an international certification with the University of Cambridge. With the School’s ethos based on reciprocal kindness and respect; sports, arts, and the specific knowledge of different subject areas are a constant presence in a context which is in permanent adaptation to current academic models. The dynamic contexts and the differentiated approach adopted in the classroom, the extra support lessons and reinforcement of contents, as well as sessions which develop skills and study techniques, contribute to the acquisition of progressively more elaborated competencies.

In the International Section, SPIS is proud to offer its students a unique opportunity to immerse in a multicultural educational context and culture. Cambridge Assessment International Education is a part of Cambridge University, and prepares school students for life, helping them to develop an informed curiosity and a lasting passion for learning. The IB Diploma Programme (DP) is an academically challenging and balanced programme of education that prepares students, aged 16 to 19, for success at university and life beyond.

Build a career with Inspired Education

Inspired schools remain anchored in the vibrant cultures of their respective locations, and collectively, they form an international community that nurtures each student's academic and personal development in a progressive, dynamic, and innovative learning environment.

Specialist-led, extracurricular activities and exchange programmes are woven into the fabric of Inspired's approach to schooling, resulting in a well-rounded, diverse student population of engaged, active learners who confidently apply their wide-ranging skills within a global context.

Students benefit from a robust, holistic, international curriculum formed around the Inspired three pillars of modern education: academic excellence, sports, and performing & creative arts, with dedicated, highly qualified teachers who demonstrate Inspired's exemplary methodology. In the application of a student-centred teaching model, Inspired schools achieve outstanding examination results and, importantly, nurture happy, multi-skilled individuals who have faith in their abilities. Inspired students are empowered to fulfil their potential and are fully equipped to thrive in a modern world.

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