Head Teacher, Mission Bay Kindergarten

**ECE Head Teacher - **Mission Bay Kindergarten**
- Operational leadership opportunity
- Work in a collaborative and supportive team environment
- Permanent, full-time role at our **Mission Bay** Kindergarten**

**The organisation**

Ngā Tamariki Puāwai ō Tāmaki |Auckland Kindergarten Association (AKA) has a long history in New Zealand in the Early Childhood Education sector, beginning in 1908 in Freemans Bay. We now have 107 kindergartens, four KiNZ centres five Playgroups, and support services staff forming our organisation.

Ours is a bicultural environment, where the learning framework of Te Whāriki underpins all we do, and where the good of our tamariki and their parents and whānau sits at the very heart of our organisation. At AKA, we provide a safe and enriching early childhood learning environment where children can develop as confident and competent learners. Our kindergartens offer quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) to a diverse range of children. Our Auckland-wide network of kindergartens are places where young Aucklanders get the very best start to prepare for school and beyond - building the foundations for a lifetime of learning.

**The kindergarten**

At Mission Bay Kindergarten, children are well supported by teachers to develop friendships and confidence in themselves as capable, confident learners. The kindergarten has recently been refurbished, with a newly constructed building and playground specifically designed to encourage and support children to play, learn and explore.

Mission Bay Kindergarten has strong relationships with the local community and school networks, fostering friendships and a smooth transition to school. Ours is a multicultural community, and parents and whānau contribute to kindergarten life through sharing their cultures and customs. Our teaching team are committed to celebrating cultural diversity within our kindergarten, where we promote bilingualism and celebrate our multicultural community through music and art. Mission Bay Kindergarten's qualified and professional teaching team work with children to encourage their sense of curiosity and desire to explore. Furthermore, early numeracy and literacy are fostered through socio-dramatic play and games.

We are seriously committed to creating a fun learning environment, and we have recently purchased new furniture and resources. Our teachers are dedicated to, and passionate about, early childhood education, and quality learning programmes are based on the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum, Te Whāriki.

**The role**

**Mission Bay** Kindergarten is currently looking for a permanent, full time Head Teacher to join and lead our teaching team, and help us contribute to the high level of service that we are proud to provide our local community. If you are a registered and fully certificated ECE Teacher, and experienced ECE Head Teacher with proven leadership experience, this is a fantastic opportunity to be part of the AKA

We're looking for an experienced Head Teacher who really enjoys being a great example to your team as an exceptional leader. Through your open communication style, collaborative approach and focus on strengthening relationships; you will value the past whilst bringing to life a vision for the future that is shared by the team, kindergarten whānau and local community are on the journey together; and ensures that all key stakeholders are on the journey together.

Balancing professional leadership with management of the day-to-day kindergarten operations and teaching duties means variety and intrinsic reward. You need to be energetic and enthusiastic about providing excellent learning experiences to our tamariki, driven by our play-based philosophy and focus on dispositional learning; and have the resilience to meet the compliance and operational targets that the management component of the role requires.
- have 5+ years' experience in an ECE environment, and hold a current practicing certificate
- experience working with diverse communities
- have demonstrable skills in Pedagogical leadership
- experience in leading a team, where collaboration and development is key
- experience in leading small teams
- strength in leading the Internal Evaluation cycle
- operational leadership perhaps having managed an early childhood centre
- share the organisation's commitment to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, informing and leading bicultural practice
- share our kindergarten's philosophy of care and respect for the natural environment and sustainability and incorporate this in to learning experiences for children
- value the use of ICT as a teaching tool, utilising a range of available technological resources to extend children's learning and improve teaching practice
- have a strong focus on inclusiveness, recognising and valuing the rich diversity of the tamariki, whānau and local community

Ultimately, everything you do will be focused on achieving the best learning outcomes for chi