Three Head Teachers sought for Orkney schools

A number of exciting leadership opportunities have arisen within the teaching profession in Orkney as the Council looks to recruit Head Teachers for three distinct local schools.

Image: Kirkwall Grammar School - main entrance.

The posts have become available at Orkney’s largest secondary school, Kirkwall Grammar School, at Dounby Primary School in the West Mainland and within the North Isles at Stronsay Junior High School.

Kirkwall Grammar School is a six-year comprehensive with just under 850 pupils and 80 full-time equivalent teaching staff serving Kirkwall, the East Mainland of Orkney and all the North and South isles excluding the island of Graemsay.

The school has quite a history with its first mention in a Royal Charter in 1486 but is probably considerably older. The present building was opened at the end of 2013 and was created using some of the most innovative and modern techniques to ensure it offers an inspiring learning environment, with state-of-the-art classrooms and an abundance of social space for the young students. Following the opening of the school, inspectors gave it an “outstanding” branding.

The school community reflects the increasing diversity of local society, economy and industry. Agriculture and fishing have been traditional industries for many years, and these have been supplemented in recent years by a growth in tourism, renewables, design and IT enterprises.

KGS has strong links with further education providers in Orkney and further afield, providing a broad range of opportunities to pupils – supporting the workforce of the future.

Dounby Primary School has a roll of 160, a staff team of 9 and caters for nursery, pre-school and primary pupils up to P7.

The school is a true community facility providing a wide range of facilities for the local community in addition to providing primary education for the children of the parishes of Birsay, Harray and Sandwick.

The school enjoys strong links with Stromness Academy, the secondary school to which almost all Dounby pupils progress following their Primary 7 year. The two schools work closely on a range of transition projects to support pupils moving to the secondary sector.

Stronsay Junior High School serves the island community of Stronsay, which has a population of around 320. The school sits at the heart of the island and community and enjoys panoramic views across the North Isles. The school roll is around 40, with a staff team of 8 and caters for pupils from nursery, pre-school and primary through to S4 in the secondary department. The school has forged solid links with Kirkwall Grammar School and further and higher education to ensure learning opportunities for all.

An ethos of hard work and a caring attitude has consistently enabled Stronsay pupils to achieve exceptional examination results, and each individual is encouraged to achieve his or her maximum potential.

Applicants must be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Relocation expenses are available for all three posts.

Orkney’s Executive Director of Education, Housing and Leisure, James Wylie, said: "These vacancies offer exciting opportunities to build on the strong and effective leadership of the outgoing Head Teachers in schools with distinct, strong and engaging communities. Each of these posts offer a fantastic opportunity for the right candidate looking to either relocate to Orkney or take a step up within our education team.

"Orkney's strong cultural heritage, leisure opportunities and community spirit makes it an incredible place to live, work and educate.

"We're keen to hear from people who can lead and inspire teams and focus on quality improvement to meet the needs of the schools, their pupils, the education service and wider community. We may be a small local authority, but our ambition is second to none- where there is challenge, we look for opportunity – never more so has this be true over the past year with our staff finding innovative ways of working.

Full information is available on the myjobscotland website.

The closing date for applications is 11 April 2021.

Further information is available here www.orkney.gov.uk/WeNurture