Job Description

Position Overview

The Head of Student Affairs is a senior leadership position responsible for creating a safe, supportive, inclusive, and engaging school environment where students can thrive academically, socially, emotionally, and personally.

The successful candidate will provide strategic and operational leadership across student welfare, discipline, safeguarding, attendance, student engagement, parent communication, school activities, student leadership, and student support services.

The Head of Student Affairs will work closely with the Head of School, Academic Leadership Team, teachers, counselors, parents, and other departments to ensure a high standard of student experience and wellbeing across the school.

Key Responsibilities

1. Student Affairs Leadership

• Develop and implement the Student Affairs strategy in alignment with the school's vision, mission, values, and strategic objectives.
• Lead, manage, coach, and evaluate the Student Affairs team.
• Establish clear procedures, KPIs, reporting systems, and service standards for Student Affairs.
• Monitor the daily operation of student services and ensure effective coordination between academic and administrative teams.
• Provide regular reports and recommendations to the Head of School/School Director.

2. Student Welfare & Wellbeing

• Promote a positive, inclusive, respectful, and student-centered school culture.
• Oversee systems that support students' academic, social, emotional, and personal wellbeing.
• Identify students who may require additional support and coordinate appropriate interventions.
• Work closely with counselors, teachers, coordinators, and parents to address student concerns.
• Develop initiatives that promote student belonging, resilience, leadership, and positive character development.
• Establish effective student feedback mechanisms and respond appropriately to student concerns.

3. Safeguarding & Child Protection

• Provide leadership in implementing the school's safeguarding and child-protection policies.
• Ensure staff understand and follow safeguarding procedures and reporting requirements.
• Coordinate appropriately with the school's designated safeguarding personnel and leadership team.
• Ensure student welfare concerns and safeguarding incidents are documented, escalated, and followed up appropriately.
• Promote a school culture in which student safety and protection are treated as a priority.

4. Student Discipline & Behavior Management

• Lead the school's student discipline and behavior-management systems.
• Ensure disciplinary procedures are fair, consistent, transparent, and aligned with school policy.
• Investigate serious behavioral incidents and coordinate appropriate responses.
• Manage cases involving bullying, harassment, conflict, repeated misconduct, and other student concerns.
• Work with teachers and parents to develop appropriate behavior-improvement plans.
• Maintain accurate and confidential records of significant student incidents.

5. Attendance & Student Records

• Oversee student attendance, punctuality, absence, and withdrawal procedures.
• Monitor attendance trends and identify students requiring intervention.
• Ensure student records, behavioral records, transcripts, report-related information, and other documentation are accurate and properly maintained.
• Ensure relevant records comply with school policies and applicable requirements of the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.

6. Parent & Family Engagement

• Serve as a senior point of contact for significant student-related concerns.
• Build constructive relationships with parents and guardians.
• Handle sensitive parent complaints and student-related cases professionally.
• Coordinate meetings between parents, teachers, counselors, and school leadership when required.
• Develop initiatives that strengthen school-home partnerships and parent satisfaction.

7. Student Activities & Engagement

• Oversee student clubs, societies, leadership programs, competitions, assemblies, celebrations, and student events.
• Encourage meaningful student participation in extracurricular and community activities.
• Support student leadership and student voice initiatives.
• Coordinate major school events in collaboration with academic, operations, marketing, and administrative teams.
• Promote students' sense of belonging and pride in the school.

8. Student Leadership & Character Development

• Develop and oversee student leadership opportunities.
• Support student councils, student representatives, prefects, ambassadors, or similar leadership structures.
• Develop programs that promote responsibility, respect, integrity, leadership, and community engagement.
• Encourage students to take an active role in creating a positive school culture.

9. School Operations & Cross-Department Collaboration

• Work closely with Academic, Admissions, Marketing, HR, Finance, Operations, Security, and other departments.
• Support smooth student arrival, dismissal, transportation, campus movement, and major-event operations where applicable.
• Participate in school management meetings and contribute to strategic decision-making.
• Support crisis management and emergency response involving students.
• Represent the school professionally with parents, external organizations, and community partners.

10. Policies, Compliance & Continuous Improvement

• Develop, review, and update Student Affairs policies and procedures.
• Ensure policies are effectively communicated to students, parents, and staff.
• Use student data, attendance, behavior trends, parent feedback, and other indicators to identify areas for improvement.
• Establish measurable Student Affairs KPIs and monitor performance.

Introduce international best practices in student services, pastoral care, safeguarding, and student engagement.

Job Requirement

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Education, Educational Leadership, Psychology, Counseling, Social Work, Student Affairs, Management, or a related field.
• A Master's degree in a relevant discipline is highly preferred for this senior leadership position.

Professional Experience

• Minimum 5–7 years of relevant experience in education, student services, pastoral care, school administration, counseling, or a related field.
• At least 3 years in a supervisory or management position.
• Previous experience working in an international school, bilingual school, private school, or international education environment is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience managing student discipline, wellbeing, parent relations, and student activities.
• Experience managing and developing a Student Affairs or student-support team is highly desirable.

Technical & Professional Skills

• Strong understanding of student wellbeing, pastoral care, safeguarding, and child protection.
• Strong knowledge of student behavior management and conflict resolution.
• Excellent organizational and administrative skills.
• Ability to develop and implement policies, procedures, and strategic plans.
• Strong data management and reporting skills.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with students, parents, teachers, and senior management.
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with professionalism and discretion.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office/Google Workspace and school information-management systems.

Language Requirements

• Excellent English communication skills, both written and spoken.
• Khmer language proficiency is highly preferred, particularly for communication with Cambodian students, parents, staff, and external stakeholders.

Leadership Competencies

The ideal candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong leadership presence and professional maturity.
• Student-centered mindset.
• High emotional intelligence.
• Fair and consistent judgment.
• Excellent conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to remain calm under pressure.
• Strong accountability and integrity.
• Ability to lead multicultural teams.
• Ability to build trust with students, parents, and staff.
• Strategic thinking combined with strong attention to operational details.
• Commitment to safeguarding, student wellbeing, and inclusive education.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

Success in this role will be measured through:

• Student wellbeing and satisfaction indicators.
• Student attendance and punctuality improvement.
• Reduction in repeated behavioral incidents.
• Effective and timely resolution of student/parent concerns.
• Safeguarding compliance and incident-management effectiveness.
• Quality and accuracy of student records.
• Student participation in clubs, activities, and leadership programs.
• Parent satisfaction and school-home communication.
• Staff satisfaction with Student Affairs support.
• Successful delivery of school events and student programs.
• Achievement of Student Affairs departmental goals.
• Effective development and performance of the Student Affairs team.