Thank you for your interest in Geneva English School. Founded in 1961, GES is a thriving, academically successful all-through school situated in the canton of Geneva, just outside the heart of the city and conveniently near public transport links. We have two campuses - one in Genthod (Primary) and one in Versoix (Secondary) - and offer a vibrant and engaged international community.

The Pre-school and Primary school are housed in an elegant, mid-nineteenth century estate and accompanying buildings by the Lac Léman. The campus includes five acres of outside space, 22 classrooms, an indoor gym, library, and spacious, specialist classrooms for art, music and drama. Our newer Secondary school is located just 3km away (5 minutes by car), in bright, modern, build-for-purpose premises, including outdoor space for staff and students to enjoy.

Our school delivers the English National Curriculum to children from age 3 to 18. We are passionate about high quality teaching and learning and want our staff to strive for excellence in all they do. Our students and their families deserve and expect nothing less.

We are English in name, but our school community is as diverse as the Geneva area we serve, with over 60 nationalities represented amongst our students. We are deliberately a small school, currently welcoming 340 students, and focused on ensuring that every young person in our care is challenged and supported through their childhood and teenage years. Parents choose GES not only for the outstanding education their children receive, but because of the strong pastoral care we provide and the fact that our size allows us to know each child, individually.

The GES approach is open, encouraging and outward-looking, and our results place us in the top 5% of British schools worldwide. We want our students to go on to attend the best universities, and to be confident and resilient as they forge a path for themselves across the world. Our academic outcomes and pastoral care are graded outstanding by the Independent Schools Inspectorate and we are the only school in Switzerland accredited as a British Schools Overseas by the UK government’s Department for Education.

The Director of Operations and Head of Data Systems role is a key appointment for the school and this is an exciting time to join GES.

The successful candidate for this role should, ideally, start working with us on 1st April 2025.

This role is made up of three distinct areas of responsibility:

1. Ownership of school-wide data systems. You should have significant working knowledge of a school MIS such as iSams or SIMS, understand how to collect, analyse and share school data from Early Years to A Level, be Google Educator trained and have experience managing school networks.

2. School-side IT. You will be responsible for the full IT infrastructure of the school, managing and maintaining devices, and fixing day-to-day issues on site, allowing staff and students to make the most of learning technology. You will be able to demonstrate your understanding of the interlinked nature of school back-office systems and how they can help a school run more effectively and efficiently.

3. Management of the site caretaking team and school bus drivers on both school campuses.

JOB PURPOSE

• Responsibility for the smooth running of iSAMS, the school VLE, Google for Education and supporting all staff and students with all their IT issues, and being the lead contact with MSC IT - the school’s third line network support management company;
• Managing and running the site maintenance and bus driving team;
• Working with the Director General to ensure that the school is fully GDPR compliant.

RESPONSIBLE TO

• Director General

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead, run and maintain iSAMS, Google, Papercut, Realsmart, JAMF and all back-office IT systems, such as GIT;
• Create and maintain the student and staff databases with the Heads of Admissions and the CFO;
• Ensure that all students and staff have correct access to school systems and are issued the appropriate Apple device;
• Work with MSC IT on strategic purchasing of devices for school and setting them up;
• Be the first point of support for IT issues in the school;
• Maintain and expand the iSAMS academic reporting and tracking systems through Gradebooks and Tracking Manager;
• Advocate for system improvements and efficiencies through the use of the systems you manage;
• Pro-actively line manage and mentor the school’s site and bus driving team, including work scheduling and ticket management;
• Actively manage the site contracts and contractors, together with overseeing the site’s annual budget;
• Undertake other tasks as reasonably requested by the Director General.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We realise that prospective candidates may not have all of the requested experience and knowledge and, in interviews, we will look for the right fit. Our priority is to find someone who can effectively manage the day-to-day data, IT and site requirements of the school from Day One.

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE

• Working knowledge and experience of school integrated systems and how to ensure they work well together to facilitate school efficiency. For example, Hubspot feeding into iSAMS. ISAMS talking to My School Portal, and Realsmart populating Google;
• Experience of working with UK assessment systems and reporting, including target-setting, termly reporting and related systems;
• Familiarity with CAT4 and PTE, PTM and PTS products;
• Experience of setting up an MIS for reporting and creating class data sheets;
• Knowledge and use of Wonde;
• Experience and relevant qualifications in GDPR and experience of ensuring GDPR compliance;
• Willingness to work evenings, weekends and holidays, when required, to ensure that students have excellent opportunities and that the school can continue to develop;
• The ability to communicate effectively with students, parents and colleagues and to work as part of a collaborative team;
• Flexibility, a sense of humour and a willingness to contribute to all aspects of school life including trips, projects, special events and clubs;
• Written and verbal fluency in English and the ability to communicate in French, and to learn French quickly if not already at an intermediate level;
• Significant IT skills including Google Educator training or equivalent, line management or:
• Technical experience of iSAMS or SIMS, advanced Excel work, clear understanding and manipulation of SQL databases. This should have been obtained in a UK school or a UK curriculum international school;
• Line management of staff;
• Experience of supervising students as part of normal school duties;
• Ability to run after school clubs.

PAY AND BENEFITS

This is a senior post with a salary commensurate with its level of responsibility and the cost of living in Switzerland. Details of the compensation package will be discussed during the recruitment process.