Head of English - Secondary

Job description

Job Overview
Would you like to join a dynamic team dedicated to transforming the lives of young people within an inclusive, globally minded community school, all as part of a world-class organisation? Mesaieed International School (Secondary Campus) is seeking an exceptional teacher with the vision, ambition, and energy to contribute to a thriving learning environment that serves over 600 students. This is an exciting middle leadership opportunity for a passionate and outstanding educator and leader who shares our commitment to excellence and is ready to take on a key leadership role within our aspirational and dedicated school community as we continue our journey towards excellence.
Our School
Mesaieed International School is a not-for-profit, non-selective community school owned and operated by QatarEnergy. It offers a thriving, happy, and vibrant environment with high aspirations for its students, staff, and families. Our school sits at the heart of a kind and welcoming community, operating across three campuses: Secondary, Primary, and EYFS. As a through school, we deliver the National Curriculum for England, IGCSEs and A Levels/BTECs to over 1,200 students aged 3 to 19, representing more than 30 different nationalities.
Our vision is for our students to be high-achieving, healthy, and happy individuals who are well prepared to take their place as global citizens and leaders of the future. Our mission is to achieve this through inspirational teaching that places high value on learning, enjoyment, and the well-being of every student. MIS is proud to have achieved the highest level of accreditation from the Qatar National School Accreditation (QNSA), demonstrating both the strength of our provision and our commitment to continuous improvement.
Our students benefit from a culture of high expectations and strong pastoral support, reflecting excellent academic outcomes. In 2025 to 2026, students achieved record value-added progress of +1.1 at IGCSE and +1.6 at AS Level. At IGCSE, 54% of grades were 9–7 and 89% were 9–4, while a record 87% of students achieved five grades at 9–4, including English and Mathematics. AS results exceeded England’s national averages across every headline measure, with 31% of grades at A, 57% at A–B and 80% at A–C. These achievements reflect the impact of an ambitious curriculum, expert teaching and effective assessment in helping students fulfil their potential. Additionally, students at the end of KS2 achieved 97% ARE in reading, 91% ARE in writing, and 90% ARE in mathematics, significantly above UK averages.
We are committed to nurturing a culture of excellence in which both pupils and staff can flourish and strive to be the very best they can. A dedication to refining our teaching craft sits at the heart of our work at MIS, alongside our commitment to developing a world-class curriculum that is rigorous, ambitious, and rooted in deep subject expertise. We are passionate about growth, improving through thoughtful reflection, deliberate practice, and shared professional learning, and we believe strongly in the power of teamwork, knowing that we achieve far more together than alone. Teachers at MIS are committed to ongoing professional development and maintaining exceptional classroom practice; all staff play an active role in our busy pastoral system; and consistently high standards of student progress and attainment are expected. In addition, every colleague contributes to our co-curricular programme. For these reasons, MIS is a truly special place to work. The rewards are considerable: motivated, respectful, and eager to learn students, and opportunities to develop professional expertise through high quality CPD.
This is an exciting time to join the school. We have recently embarked on a whole school improvement journey, guided by our Framework for Excellence, and we warmly invite motivated professionals to help shape our future as we strive to become amongst the very best schools in the world.
Your Role
We are seeking an ambitious, knowledgeable and highly effective Head of English to provide strategic leadership for English across Key Stages 3–5 and lead the faculty through the next stage of its development. English is a high-performing subject at MIS. In 2026, 60% of English Language students achieved grades 9–7 and 99% achieved grades 9–4, with value-added of +1.7. English Literature achieved equally strong outcomes, with 60% at grades 9–7, 97% at grades 9–4 and value-added of +1.3. At post-16, English Literature achieved +1.4 value-added at AS Level and +1.0 at A2, with 88% achieving A–C at AS and 100% achieving A*–C at A2. This is an exciting opportunity to build on strong foundations and lead an already successful faculty towards even greater excellence.
We are looking for an inspirational and intellectually curious subject leader with a genuine passion for English, curriculum and teaching and learning. You will set a clear and ambitious vision for the faculty, ensuring students experience a rich, coherent and carefully sequenced curriculum that develops powerful knowledge, confident communication and a genuine love of language and literature. Combining deep subject expertise with a strong understanding of how students learn English, you will ensure curriculum, pedagogy and assessment work together to secure excellent outcomes for every student. Central to the role will be the leadership and development of people. You will build a collaborative faculty culture in which colleagues are supported to refine their practice, encouraged to think deeply about their subject and held to consistently high expectations. Through coaching, professional dialogue and quality assurance, you will balance support and development with appropriate challenge and accountability, creating conditions in which students and staff can flourish.
You will take strategic ownership of standards and outcomes across English, using assessment and data intelligently to evaluate performance, identify priorities and drive improvement. You will ensure assessment is purposeful and aligned with the intended curriculum, while leading the faculty to ensure every learner, including those with SEND and BML, can access an ambitious curriculum and achieve highly. Beyond examination outcomes, you will champion English as a vibrant and influential part of school life, strengthening a culture of reading, writing, oracy and intellectual curiosity through enrichment and wider opportunities. You will engage actively with subject associations, professional networks and developments in English education, ensuring the faculty remains outward-looking, ambitious and continually evolving. This is an exciting stage in our school's evolution as we continue our journey towards excellence. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in shaping the next phase of English at MIS, building upon strong academic outcomes while further developing the quality and ambition of our curriculum, teaching and wider English provision.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• An infectious enthusiasm for English and a compelling vision for a thriving, high-performing faculty in which students develop a genuine love of language, literature, reading and writing.

• A genuine passion for curriculum and teaching and learning, with the subject expertise to lead an ambitious, coherent and carefully sequenced English curriculum across KS3–KS5.

• A proven ability to lead, motivate and develop colleagues, creating a collaborative culture characterised by professional trust, high expectations, support and accountability.

• Expertise in evidence-informed English teaching, assessment and curriculum design, with the credibility to model excellent practice and develop it in others.

• A highly effective approach to quality assurance, using a range of evidence to understand the quality of provision and drive meaningful improvement.

• Confidence in using data intelligently to identify strengths, gaps and priorities and take responsibility for progress and attainment across the faculty.

• A strong commitment to inclusion, ensuring students with SEND, BML and additional needs can access and excel within an ambitious English curriculum.

• An outward-looking approach to subject leadership, actively engaging with subject associations, professional networks and developments in English education.

• A commitment to enriching English beyond the classroom through reading, writing, debating, competitions, performances, partnerships and educational visits.

You will be relentless in your pursuit of excellence. Mesaieed International School is bursting with potential, and this post is perfect for a leader who wants to make a real difference in a supportive and forward-thinking school. You will lead within an environment of professional autonomy in an ambitious, visionary school with exceptional students.

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership: Provide clear and ambitious leadership for English across KS3–KS5, establishing a shared vision for excellence and translating whole-school priorities into sustained improvement within the faculty.

• Curriculum Leadership: Lead the development and implementation of an ambitious, coherent and carefully sequenced English curriculum, ensuring appropriate depth, challenge and progression in language and literature across all key stages.

• Teaching and Learning: Secure consistently excellent classroom practice across the faculty through modelling, coaching, professional development and evidence-informed approaches to teaching English.

• Staff Leadership and Development: Lead, support and develop colleagues within the faculty, establishing clear expectations, identifying development priorities and creating meaningful opportunities for professional growth.

• Standards and Outcomes: Take responsibility for student progress and attainment across English, using assessment and performance information intelligently to identify priorities, address underperformance and secure excellent outcomes.

• Assessment: Ensure assessment across English is purposeful, rigorous and aligned with the curriculum, supporting accurate understanding of student learning and effective responsive teaching.

• Quality Assurance: Evaluate the quality of curriculum implementation, teaching, assessment and student work, using evidence to celebrate strengths, identify priorities and lead sustained improvement.

• Adaptive Teaching and Inclusion: Ensure the English curriculum is accessible and ambitious for every student, including those with SEND and BML, and that colleagues use effective adaptive strategies to secure success for all.

• Co-Curricular Enrichment: Develop a rich culture of English beyond the classroom through reading, writing, debating, competitions, performances, partnerships, educational visits and other subject-specific opportunities.

• Professional Engagement: Build meaningful engagement with subject associations, professional networks and current developments in English education, ensuring the faculty remains outward-looking and informed by strong subject-specific practice.

• Collaboration and Communication: Work proactively with senior leaders, colleagues and families to maintain high expectations, communicate effectively and contribute to wider school improvement.

• Safeguarding and Inclusion: Ensure high standards of safeguarding, equity and wellbeing in line with school policy and contribute actively to the pastoral and wider life of the school

Essential:

• Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), recognised teaching qualification or equivalent.

• Successful experience teaching English across KS3–KS5.

• Demonstrable success in securing strong student progress and examination outcomes in English.

• Successful experience of subject, curriculum or middle leadership, with evidence of improving provision and developing colleagues.

• A strong understanding of curriculum design, sequencing and progression across secondary English.

• Expertise in high-quality, inclusive, adaptive and evidence-informed classroom practice.

• The ability to lead, motivate, develop and professionally challenge colleagues while building a positive and collaborative team culture.

• Active engagement with subject associations, professional English networks and/or subject-specific professional development.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to build trusted relationships with students, colleagues and families.

• A commitment to safeguarding, inclusion, professional growth and collaborative improvement.

• Alignment with MIS’s values and the drive to contribute actively to the wider life and continued development of the school.

Desirable:

• A recognised leadership qualification or evidence of sustained leadership development.

• Experience leading English across multiple key stages, including KS5.

• Experience leading curriculum development or significant improvement within an English faculty.

• Experience in an international or culturally diverse school setting.

• Experience developing reading, writing, oracy, debating, performance or other English enrichment opportunities.

• Established engagement with subject associations, professional networks or wider English education initiatives.

Salary and Benefit Package
Successful candidates will be employees of QatarEnergy and enjoy the full benefits of working for the corporation, including generous tax-free salaries, free accommodation and utilities, interest-free car loans, education assistance for up to four children, medical cover, airfares, paid school holidays and access to sporting and leisure facilities.
If you would like to join our team and make a real difference in the education of our children, please apply immediately with a one-page letter of application detailing how you meet the above criteria, a full CV, and a recent photograph. Please ensure that you include your current headteacher/principal as one of your referees.
Mesaieed International School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. Successful applicants will be expected to have undertaken relevant safeguarding checks.