Principal - The Aquila School

About the role

The Principal leads with vision and integrity, building a safe, inclusive and supportive school culture where learning thrives. Working with the team, parents and the wider ISP network, the Principal positions the school as a "School of Choice" that attracts more enrolments and retains more students. The role covers safeguarding, learning and teaching quality, strategic planning, community engagement and commercial performance, and the Principal reports to the Regional Managing Director.

Key responsibilities

• Safety and wellbeing: protect the physical and mental safety of students and adults, lead with vision, empathy and integrity, build empowered leadership teams and champion employee engagement.
• Student learning: improve student outcomes and ISP Learning KPIs using data, embed the Learning First Framework and the five key learning pillars, lead the curriculum strategy and work with the Regional Learning Director.
• Community and customer service: deliver the School of Choice strategy locally, know the market and catchment, use parent feedback to plan engagement and collaborate on branding, communications and enrolments.
• Commercial success: own the school's commercial targets and KPIs, manage resources efficiently, drive enrolment growth and income, and support the team to meet commercial and EBITDA targets.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree (essential) and postgraduate teaching qualification such as PGCE, teaching license or equivalent (essential).
• Advanced leadership qualification such as MA Educational Leadership, NPQH/NPQEL or EdD.
• Senior leadership experience in a whole-school or multi-phase international setting, ideally in the Middle East.
• Proven track record of school-wide improvement, raising standards and strong inspection outcomes.
• Knowledge of international curricula (IB, NCfE) and experience with accreditation and inspection frameworks (Ofsted, BSO, COBIS, KHDA, ADEK or equivalent).

Required skills

• Strategic planning, educational leadership and safeguarding and child protection management
• Inclusive leadership, stakeholder engagement and team development
• Data-driven decision-making, marketing insights, financial acumen and change management