KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Strategy
The Chinese Principal is expected to contribute to the school’s strategic development and to assist the process and the provision of relevant information, trends and analysis. They will:
Maintain a regular dialogue with the School Principal and Chair of Governing Board to support their understanding of the school’s business operations and ensure that strategic matters are dealt with in a timely fashion.
Advise the School Principal, Chair of Governing Board and the Governing Board on business and financial policies.
Prepare reports and supporting papers for Governing Board meetings and other committees, participating in those meetings as required.
Construct proposals for annual budgets, pay and fee levels, and planned capital expenditure.
Chair the Staff Welfare and Remuneration Committee.
Provide support and advice on pay scale reviews and school fee determination.
Government and Public Relationship Management
Effective management of relationships with both the government and parents is crucial for ensuring the school’s stability, reputation, and development. As well as enabling the Principal to focus on the delivery of the quality education programme.
Government Relations
The role plays a key role in liaising with local education authorities, regulatory bodies, and policymakers to ensure the school remains compliant with national and regional educational policies. This involves:
-
Policy Compliance & Implementation: Understanding and aligning school operations with government regulations and support the Principal to align school policies to Chinese regulations.
-
Inspections: Maintaining high standards by coordinating with officials during school evaluations and inspection processes.
-
Advocacy & Partnerships: Representing the school in government meetings, fostering collaborations.
Parental Engagement
Building strong relationships with parents is essential for maintaining trust, student success, and community support:
Transparent Communication
Supporting the Principal on an effective parental engagement plan to keep parents informed through meetings, newsletters, and digital platforms about school updates, student performance, and policy changes.
-
Parental Involvement: Encouraging parents to participate in school activities, parent-teacher associations (PTAs), and decision-making processes.
-
Conflict Resolution: Supported by the Chair of the Governors and the Principal, addressing parental concerns with a proactive and empathetic approach to ensure student welfare and maintain positive school-home relations.
Through strategic government and parental relationship management, the role ensures a well-functioning, well-supported, and forward-thinking educational environment that benefits students, teachers, and the broader community.
Financial
In conjunction with the Chair of the School Governing Board and Principal, the Chinese Principal will oversee:
The maintenance of the school accounts in line with recognized accounting practices and requirements.
The provision of regular finance reports to the Governors.
The preparation of the school accounts and liaise with external auditors where required.
The preparation of appraisals for particular projects and the preparation of long-term financial strategy for the future development of the school.
The provision of advice on financial policy and ensuring that the agreed policy and procedures and put into practice.
The monthly preparation of management accounts, cash-flow forecast and other documents as required by the Governors.
The preparation of annual estimates of income and expenditure as required by the School Governing Board and updates of 5-year projections.
The agreement of budgets and monitor accounts against budgets, both at departmental and whole school level.
The preparation of any other papers requested by the School Governing Board to inform their decisions on matters such as annual fee increases.
To ensure that all unique variations are reported immediately and oversee the preparation of regular accounts for budget holders.
The management of the school accounting function and for the drifting and monitoring of all accounting procedures.
The purchase of all goods and services for the school.
The management of the payroll for school staff and the submission of returns to relevant government agencies.
The processing of fee accounts for parents each term, the preparation of pupil fees and ensure collection of fees and all extras.
The process for managing the late payment of fees and debtors.
The administration of the scholarship and corporate discount schemes.
The supervision of the catering and cleaning budget and operations in conjunction with the onsite managers.
The arrangement of the School’s insurance in all its forms, including employers’ liability, buildings and equipment cover, personal accident, travel insurance and other relevant cover and the management of insurance claims.
The preparation of the School’s business plan in conjunction with the Principal and the Chair of the School Governing Board.
Line manage the Head of Finance.
Compliance, Risk Management, Health and Safety
Ensure the school is compliant with all Health and Safety regulations (local and internal) and BSO standards.
Line-manage the H&S officer and lead on communication and engagement with the government, liaising with external agencies on compliance issues including making official reports if required.
Play an executive role in maintaining the school’s Health and Safety policies to comply with Health and Safety requirements.
Manage all aspects of health and safety on the site and all school-related health and safety matters for staff and students, providing timely reports to the Principal and Governing Board as necessary.
Ensure the school has appropriate risk assessment and risk management processes, including a risk-register, emergency evacuation and a crisis management plan in place at all times.
Ensure internal policies and statutory requirements affecting school operations and non-teaching staff are met.
Chair the Health and Safety and other operational, compliance-related committees as necessary.
Ensure the school has adequate insurance cover at all times.
Act as the school’s Data Protection Manager, in accordance with Chinese data legislation, ensuring appropriate IT security of information controls are robust and in place and all staff are fully conversant with the school’s data protection policies.
Ensure the security of the site, staff and students.
Oversee the School’s compliance with BSO standards and, in conjunction with the School Principal, lead the school through any external inspections, including Safer Recruitment procedures and maintenance of the Single Central Register.
Analyse risk and maintain the risk register.
Facilities & Building
In conjunction with the Estates team, the Chinese Principal has primary responsibility to present the premises and services in their best state at all times. They will:
Provide a strategic overview of the maintenance and refurbishment of the school buildings, security, fire prevention and lighting.
Oversee the management of maintenance schedules and the efficient operation of all estate facilities, including the gardens and land outside the buildings and the sports pitch.
Oversee the maintenance of boundaries, land drainage, roads and rights of way.
Oversee the purchase, repair and maintenance of all minibuses, plant and equipment, furniture and fittings.
Maintain essential services and installation, such as plant for electric and gas supply, heating, hot water etc.
Oversee and monitor the negotiation and management of all external contracts (and contractors), tenders and agreements for the provision of support services such as energy supply, telephone communications, insurance and capital construction or maintenance projects and the regular monitoring and review of such projects to ensure control, high-quality, value for money and, where possible, savings on expenditure.
Ensure the delivery of a first-class catering and front-of-house service for students, staff and events.
Ensure that catering areas meet the government requirements for hygiene and food safety.
Oversee the operation and management of the minibuses, ensuring compliance with regulations of the operation of minibuses, driver training and assessments, servicing and vehicle inspection tests.
Oversee and support the operation and provision of an effective IT infrastructure which meets the evolving needs of the school.
Ensure appropriate controls for IT security information are in place.
Human Resources
The Chinese Principal leads and manages all the non-teaching staff. They:
Are involved in the appointment, terms and conditions of service and appraisal of all members of the non-teaching staff at the school.
Oversee the management of the School’s Staff Handbook and other key documentation, to ensure the effective operation of the School, ensure compliance and support HR management.
Oversee HR involvement in and implementation of all other school HR process and policies (eg recruitment of teaching staff, renegotiation of staff contracts, teaching staff appraisal process, review and update of HR policies etc).
Manage the provision of all staff benefits, including expat teaching staff accommodation and medical support.
Ensure compliance with all aspects of local employment law and internal policies.
Oversee and monitor staff CPD.
Ensure the Head receives accurate advice on employment matters, including disciplinary procedures and ensuring the school has appropriate disciplinary and grievance procedures.
Line manage the HR manager.
Non-teaching Staff Management
Provide leadership for all members of the non-teaching staff and ensure an understanding of the school’s educational requirements.
Provide line-management for direct reports, including all aspects of performance management.
Conduct annual pay reviews for non-teaching staff with the School Principal.
Support the training and professional development of the non-teaching staff, including providing mentorship for non-academic heads of function, and managing talent and ensuring succession planning with HR.
Ensure safeguarding processes and procedures are in place for all support and outsourced staff.
Marketing, Admissions and Public Relations
Oversee effective marketing and branding of the school, developing strategies to engage external partners.
Oversee regular marketing communication with parents, such as weekly articles and newsletters and ensure that key messages about the school’s academic processes and practices are effectively shared with parents.
Work with Heads of Department and managers to build and maintain close and positive public relations, including partners, vendors and government departments.
Attend all government, parents’ and committee meetings as required.
Work closely with the Principal to support the academic team to gain a full understanding of the market and parents’ expectations.
Work closely with the Principal and Deputy Head of Academic to put in place appropriate testing procedure and to support the Principal in reaching Admissions decisions.
Non-Teaching Staff Management
Provide leadership for all members of the non-teaching staff and ensure an understanding of the school’s educational requirements.
Provide line-management for direct reports, including all aspects of performance management.
Conduct annual pay reviews for non-teaching staff with the School Principal.
Support the training and professional development of the non-teaching staff, including providing mentorship for non-academic heads of function, and managing talent and ensuring succession planning with HR.
Ensure safeguarding processes and procedures are in place for all support and outsourced staff.
Other areas
Build and maintain strong relationships between the school and the local community to support the school’s business purpose, developing an understanding of the political and environmental issues of relevance to the school, and liaising with local government including but not limited to the education bureau, the foreign expert bureau, and the entry and exit bureau.
Explore potential means of raising school revenue through additional commercial activities e.g. during academic holidays.
QUALIFICATIONS·
Bachelor’s degree or above in Business Management or a related Business field.
Professional qualifications in a functional specialty (e.g.: HR or accountancy) would be advantageous.
Fluent in English.
Proved record of managing public relationships.
A minimum of 10 years’ work experience in the field of business.
Management experience in operations, including at least 5 years of successful people management.
Experience of managing multi-disciplinary teams.
Experience with schools and the education field.
Understanding of high-quality education.
Familiarity with functional processes, policies and procedures in an international school setting.
Robust leadership ability, with demonstrable experience of leading a team by example, empowering others and commanding respect. to deliver quality customer centred outcomes.
Strategic and commercial planning ability.
A working knowledge of accounting procedures and requirements.
An appreciation of the regulations affecting international schools, including a commitment to the safeguarding and welfare of those in the School’s care.
Project Management skills.
Proven cost management and large-scale budget leadership and/or accounting experience.
Demonstrable evidence of managing change and knowledge of employment and other legal requirements.
Extensive experience of computerized systems.
Excellent oral and written communication skills.
SPGS International School Chengdu is committed to ensuring and promoting the health and safety of
children. Successful applicants will:
1. Participate in the school’s regular training on child protection, and sign the code of conduct
2. Immediately report to the designated or deputy designated safeguarding lead any potential risks for children
3. Strictly abide by the school’s policies on information, confidentiality and protection
4. Play the role of safeguarding members to promote and ensure the health and safety development of all students in the school
5. Report any students concerns to the designated or acting safeguarding lead
6. Report any unsafe behaviour on campus to the designated or acting safety lead in accordance with the school’s “whistle blowing” policy
7. Maintain a professional relationship with students and respect and maintain personal boundaries
SPGS International School Chengdu is committed to safe recruitment and child protection, relevant qualifications and police clearance of applicants will be verified
Whilst every effort has been made to explain the main duties and responsibilities for the post, each individual task undertaken may not be identified, especially in the context of a school which requires flexibility in all of its employees.
This job description is current at the date shown but, in consultation with the post holder, may be changed by the Co-principals to reflect or anticipate changes in the job commensurate with the grade and job title.
