Job Opportunities in Australia

LEADER - LIFE DESIGN & STUDENT GROWTH
This role attracts a 3 point paid allowance with a mix of teaching, coaching and release.

We seek a person who is a mentor, talent spotter, passion pusher, purpose driver, learning facilitator, pastoral carer, coach.

The School

Established in 2017 with just 86 students spanning Kindergarten to Year 6, St Luke’s at Marsden Park has a reputation for being a pioneering educational community within Catholic Schools, Parramatta Diocese (CSPD). As a ‘next generation Catholic Learning Community,’ we are at the forefront of creating the ‘new normal’ for learning from preschool through post-school. Our environment is defined by a flexible curriculum that nurtures faith-filled, curious children, empowering them to become creative contributors and innovative problem solvers in an ever-changing world.

By 2024, St Luke’s has experienced remarkable growth, now enrolling over 1,800 students from Kindergarten to Year 12. In addition, our long day center accommodates 59 children daily, and our specialized high-needs center, Arrunga, supports 40 students with moderate intellectual disabilities. The school is broken into three interconnected schools each with its own identity and purpose, but with a connection to the St Luke’s College Community. The learning pathway is documented in the below image:

This learning pathway seamlessly connects the Schools of Learning—Foundations, Leadership, and Entrepreneurs—through a curriculum initially rooted in literacy and numeracy building towards independence and autonomy. By explicitly teaching inquiry, alongside essential social and enterprise skills, we prepare students for a rapidly changing world. These critical skills are embodied in our core pillars: witnessing in the way of Christ, managing self, relating to others, inquiring, thinking, and creating. Throughout their journey at St Luke’s, students also experience ongoing faith formation, which is intricately woven into every aspect of their education.

Role Summary
At St Luke’s, ‘Life Design’ is intentionally timetabled as a subject in years 7-10, maximizing its impact through a strategic use of time. This approach nurtures, empowers, and enables students to develop a deeper understanding of who they are, what they are capable of, and the challenges they want to address in a rapidly changing world.

Led by the Leader of Life Design, this program supports holistic growth through specialized content, collaborative team projects, personalized learning pathways, and self-directed opportunities like community service, school service, micro-credentials, and internships. With a focus on creativity and innovation, the program ensures students are well-prepared for the evolving post-school landscape.

Our award-winning Life Design program empowers students to maximise their potential by equipping them with the skills to better understand themselves, become confident, creative contributors, and develop into innovative problem-solvers in a rapidly changing world. The journey begins with students exploring their strengths, interests, and motivations to build a deep self-awareness. By the end of Year 8, they present a draft life purpose statement, reflecting their intended impact.

In Stage 5, students advance to life planning, focusing on essential skills like financial and digital literacy, problem-solving, and work skills while planning their post school pathways and engaging in early entry HSC units. This early self-awareness fosters a clear sense of personal impact, helping students identify where they can make a difference and accelerating their pathway toward future goals. Supported by a Post-School Pathways Coordinator (non teaching) and Student Futures Leader (2 point) and a team of Life Design Teachers they are encouraged to actively engage in their post-school pathways plan, setting the stage for real-world readiness and meaningful contributions

The Person
We seek a person who is a mentor, talent spotter, passion pusher, purpose driver, learning facilitator, pastoral carer, coach. With a creative approach and innovative mindset, the Leader - Life Design oversees a team of teachers and co-ordinators who enable the development of the whole person through specialised life design content, collaborative team based projects, individualised self paced learning and other self directed options including community service, school service, micro credentials and internships so all students are well prepared for a changing, post school world. As such, we require a:

• Strategic Thinker to evaluate and grow the Life Design from Years 7-10 with the imagination and design thinking skills consistent with the cutting edge learning elements of the role.
  
• Relationship Builder to create a foundation of trust within a risk taking environment to build on the talents and get the best out of others, both students and staff.
  
• Influencer who positively takes the lead and collaboratively works with others in order to support the intention of St Luke’s intention to establish a ‘new normal’ for preschool to post school education.
  

The person will have demonstrated organisational ability to work to deadlines and improve what already is getting done, consistent with the managerial, process or administrative requirements of high level leadership in a school setting.

With a strong interest and/or background in learning and with capability in strengths-based coaching, the Leader - Life Design leads staff to support students design personalised experiences which are tested and trialed through passion projects, local community projects and global partnerships which complement core curriculum and lead to post school success. This will see students develop the social skills and enterprise skills to iteratively develop individual pathway plans which enable students to become creative contributors and innovative problem solvers for a changing world.

• Demonstrates a strategic approach to evaluate and enhance the Life Design curriculum from Years 7-10.
  
• Takes proactive leadership in shaping a ‘new normal’ for holistic education from preschool to post-school.
  
• collaboratively leads, mentors and coaches teachers to design flexible curriculum and contemporary pedagogies;
  
• Possesses experience and knowledge in education, with a strong interest in personalised, strengths-based coaching and student success.
  
• Leads the development of personalised learning experiences through individual pathways, passion projects, community service, micro-credentials, and internships.
  
• Ensures the explicit teaching, programming and assessing of our 6 pillars of learning which enhance the social skills and enterprise skills required for a changing world; and,
  
• builds teacher capacity to:
  
  • provide relevant and authentic student centred learning;
    
  • improve student learning through focussed, in-situ teacher professional learning;
    
  • effectively use data to facilitate learning which meets each student at their point of challenge; and,
    
  • ensure alignment with the School Vision.
    
• Lead, mentor and coach teachers, both ‘in situ’ and during professional learning meetings to provide experiential inquiry learning experiences where students exercise choice to demonstrate knowledge and understanding.
  

This role requires a dynamic individual who can creatively shape the Life Design program to maximize student outcomes and prepare them for future success.