High School Dean of Student Life

Singapore American School; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Singapore American School seeks a Dean of Student Life to lead student life, climate, and wellbeing across the campus. The role focuses on building strong relationships, upholding school policies with restorative approaches, and guiding advisory programs that foster student dignity and success.

The Dean will partner with counselors and staff to design orientation, advisory, and peer-mentoring curricula, monitor climate data, and drive continuous improvement in school life policies and practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in education, school counseling, educational leadership, or related field.
• At least 3 years of full-time experience supporting adolescent behavior, well-being, or student life in a school setting.
• Proven ability to build trusting relationships, resolve conflict, and balance student care with accountability.
• Strong communication, organizational, technology, and interdisciplinary collaboration skills.
• Strong commitment to safeguarding, equity, inclusion, and student dignity.

Responsibilities

• Lead student life through relationships, clear expectations, and continuous improvement.
• Foster climate, belonging, and student voice with advisory and peer-mentoring curricula.
• Administer equitable discipline and restorative interventions in line with policies.
• Co-lead MTSS: coordinate Tier 2 & 3 behavioral supports and progress monitoring.
• Oversee student governance, clubs, and campus life events.
• Deliver professional development on de-escalation, restorative practices, and classroom culture.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Collaboration

Safeguarding

Equity & inclusion

Conflict resolution

Education

Bachelor's degree in education or related field

Master's degree in educational leadership or related field (preferred)

Job description

Position Responsibilities

The Dean leads student life through strong relationships, clear expectations, and continuous improvement to ensure student dignity and success.

Culture, Belonging & Student Voice

• Maintain visibility and community presence: Conduct regular informal walkthroughs and high-traffic supervisory presence (hallways, cafeteria, arrival/dismissal) to foster student rapport and safety.
• Drive climate initiatives: Partner with counselors and advisory leads to design and implement orientation, advisory, and peer-mentoring curricula; evaluate impact using recurring climate survey data and ongoing student focus groups.
• Promote student agency: Facilitate periodic student advisory forums to gather feedback, identify needs, and co-design solutions for school-life policies.

Student Conduct & Restorative Accountability

• Implement equitable discipline: Administer student behavior policies, ensuring disciplinary referrals are logged, investigated, and communicated to families promptly and consistently.
• Lead restorative interventions: Facilitate restorative conferences, harm-repair agreements, and re-entry plans to decrease repeat infractions and recidivism rates.
• Enforce safeguarding and policy compliance: Investigate and document all incidents involving bullying, harassment, identity-based harm and other misconduct in accordance with school policies and procedures, and institutional child safeguarding standards.
• Coach instructional staff: Provide proactive behavioral support and de-escalation strategies to faculty, to reduce classroom discipline referrals.

Attendance & Tiered Student Support (MTSS)

• Manage attendance systems: Monitor attendance and tardiness data; identify students exhibiting chronic absenteeism and implement targeted interventions in a timely manner.
• Coordinate Tier 2 & 3 behavioral supports: Co-lead the MTSS behavioral team; establish individualized support plans with clear goals and outcomes, assigned case managers, and routine progress-monitoring checkpoints.
• Facilitate cross-functional reviews: Convene recurring case-management meetings with counselors, learning specialists, and administrators to evaluate intervention data and adjust student support plans accordingly.

Student Leadership, Co-Curriculars & Equity

• Oversee student governance and clubs: Manage the student council and chartered student organizations; establish transparent election guidelines, leadership training modules, and operational budgets.
• Expand equitable participation: Track co-curricular demographic participation rates on an ongoing basis to identify engagement gaps and remove barriers.
• Coordinate campus life events: Direct logistics, staffing, and risk mitigation for schoolwide assemblies, spirit weeks, and major extracurricular events.

Professional Learning & Community Partnerships

• Deliver staff professional development: Facilitate scheduled professional development sessions on de-escalation, restorative practices, and classroom culture management.
• Resolve complex stakeholder concerns: Serve as primary liaison for escalated family concerns regarding behavior and social-emotional dynamics, resolving inquiries with timely, documented follow-up.
• Ensure compliance and reporting: Manage mandatory reporting, safeguarding procedures, and inter-agency documentation in strict alignment with legal and institutional confidentiality protocols.

Operations & Continuous Improvement

• Audit behavior and climate data: Periodically analyze incident, detention, and suspension metrics disaggregated by demographic subgroups to eliminate disproportionate disciplinary outcomes.
• Maintain policy documentation: Conduct ongoing review and revision of the Student Handbook, behavior rubrics, and incident-response flowcharts.
• Execute leadership and operational duties: Oversee delegated student life operational budgets, coordinate duty rosters, participate in the Leadership Team on-call rotation, and fulfill tasks assigned by the High School Principal.

Position Requirements & Qualifications

The successful candidate will demonstrate the experience and leadership capacity to foster a safe, inclusive, and high-performing school community.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in education, school counseling, educational leadership, or a related field.
• At least 3 years of full-time experience supporting adolescent behavior, well-being, or student life in a school setting.
• Proven ability to build trusting relationships, resolve conflict, and balance student care with accountability.
• Strong communication, organizational, technology, and interdisciplinary collaboration skills.
• Strong commitment to safeguarding, equity, inclusion, and student dignity.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or relevant credential in educational leadership or school counseling.
• Experience in student life leadership, MTSS, positive behavior interventions, and restorative practices.
• Experience with attendance interventions, student activities, adult learning facilitation, and international school settings.

Working Requirements

• Some evening and weekend commitments to support school events and activities
• Active engagement in the curricular and co-curricular life of the school
• Participation in school trips and student events as assigned
• Regular movement throughout the campus and presence in classrooms, meetings, events, and student spaces
• Flexibility to respond to urgent student, family, safeguarding, or operational needs
• Completion of required safeguarding training and professional learning