Head Teacher, Somerville Kindergarten

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

**The organisation**

Ngā Tamariki Puāwai o 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 Somerville Kindergarten we are passionate about providing tamariki (children) with a bi-cultural curriculum that recognises and celebrates that each person is unique and comes to us with a kete of knowledge, culture and experience.

Tamariki and whānau (family) are at the heart of what we do and our whanaungatanga (relationships) anchors their sense of belonging. With a culture of manaakitanga (kindness) and aroha (love) we fill our tamariki emotional and social kete which fosters meaningful play and enriches authentic learning.

We provide a beautiful homely environment that is welcoming, safe, secure, and purposely prepared for tamariki to have a home away from home. We believe that the environment is the third teacher, and we are passionate about fostering a warm and inviting environment that facilitates authentic play.

We support tamariki to engage and become kaitiaki (leaders) of papatuānuku (earth) and develop sustainable practices. We strive to embed Tikanga values throughout the programme to uphold the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We work alongside tamariki to increase our proficiency in the use of te reo throughout the programme.

We look forward to welcoming a new head teacher into our teaching team.

**The role**

**Somerville** 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 children.

If this is you, then please click Apply. We look forward to hearing from you.

**Applications close on 26**th** Ma