Job Description

ABOUT US:
Since 2008, African Leadership Academy (ALA) has sought to identify, develop and connect the most promising young leaders on the African continent, organising them into a powerful community of ethical and effective collaborative action. More than 17 years into the journey, the organisation has built a powerful track record of impact. Our campus community serves 250+ young leaders from across the continent each year. Our pan-African programs in entrepreneurship and impactful careers serve hundreds more. Through these young leaders, we are already impacting thousands of Africans as we pursue a vision of lasting peace and shared prosperity.
POSITION OVERVIEW:
The Head of Student Wellbeing is responsible for promoting the overall health and wellness of our diverse community of students through improved health and wellness programmes and activities. The Head of Student Wellbeing leads the psycho-emotional and psycho-social programs at the Academy. This entails setting the direction for students' psycho-emotional and psycho-social health and wellness, leading initiatives to support and enhance student wellbeing, communicating those initiatives to the leadership team and the community and ensuring the success of these programmes and activities through well-defined measurement criteria. The Head of Student Wellbeing also acts as a safeguarding coordinator, which includes educating students and adults on the Academy's Child Protection Policy.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Leadership and Managerial Responsibilities

• Implement the department's strategies for achieving the mission and strategic goals of the Academy and set departmental objectives and evaluation activities. (Continuously evaluate the performance of each team member in the department through formal and informal goal setting, professional development and evaluation activities, culminating in mid-year and annual performance reviews.)
• Articulate and implement department policies and protocols in cooperation with the members of the department.
• Collaborate with the Deputy Dean to set and manage the budget and expenditures of the department.
• Coordinate the submission, each April, of a complete list of resources needed for the following school year, supporting annual budgeting activities.
• Produce an annual department report each June, which includes a summary of the year's activities, priorities for the coming year, and a complete inventory of department resources.
• Communicate department's trends and caseloads to the Dean's office, monthly, through statistics in cooperation with the department.
• Lead the search for candidates to fill vacancies within the department, conduct interviews and make recommendations to the Human Resources department.
• Collaborate with members of the Student Success Leadership Team on issues pertaining to and contributing to student well-being.

Wellness Responsibilities

• Manage the school counsellors, educational psychologist, and other external practitioners as needed.
• Set total health management strategy for the Academy- in collaboration with the Head Nurse (Head of Student Wellbeing and Head Nurse to meet monthly to collaborate on health and wellness strategies.
• Design and ensure the delivery of a Wellness Curriculum, and teach two classes
• Hold regularly scheduled department meetings, maintain records of such meetings, and provide minutes of the meetings to the Dean's Office.
• Ensure best practices with the department services (counselling) and proper communication with students and parents
• Consults with other departments/functions in the organisation to align efforts and reinforce a culture of wellness for our students (head nurse, year heads, Director of Pastoral Care, sports, Deans Team, parents, etc.)
• Stay on top of any changes to health and safety regulations with government and international agencies
• Ensure that wellness cases are properly and expediently triaged to appropriate external services when necessary
• Manage student and community wellness (psychological) crises, ensuring that parents are engaged meaningfully with the support of the Deans.
• Set up effective responses for community-related wellbeing challenges, design community-related interventions and manage the teams responsible for implementation.
• Identify and develop processes, protocols and policies that are essential for the smooth functioning of the department as well as relationship management with different stakeholders (parents, service providers, interdepartmental).
• Provide a monthly report to the Deans on all Health and Wellness cases, issues and resolutions.

Child Protection Coordinator Responsibilities

• Develop training resources, raise awareness and deliver safeguarding training, ensuring everyone receives the appropriate training (at a level commensurate with their role) and understands the applicable safeguarding policies and procedures
• Coordinate and collaborate with the Responsible Officer to develop and review safeguarding policies and associated procedures in accordance with best practice, and current legislation, reflecting African Leadership's ethos, values and culture
• Contribute to the recording of reported cases on the Child Protection Policy register, every term. The register should include leadership decisions related to safeguarding and records of any legal or professional advice obtained.
• Identify potential risks, ensure that suitable control measures are in place and monitored to manage and mitigate such risks.
• Keep abreast of legislation, regulatory requirements and codes of practice on safeguarding.
• Assist the leadership team in encouraging and upholding organisational cultural attributes that embed and integrate safeguarding at the core of the Academy.
• Prepare and provide content for the Safeguarding Register, in which guidance, processes, best practices, and training notes are consistently documented and made accessible internally.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS AND SELECTION CRITERIA
Required Education and Experience:

• Honours Degree in Arts or Social Sciences, or related field required.
• Master's degree in clinical or counselling psychology preferred.
• Minimum 4-6 years counselling experience, preferably in a school environment.
• 2-3 years of experience managing a team.

COMPETENCIES:
Technical competencies:

• Must be SACE accredited and HPCSA or SACSSP registered
• Proven track record in pastoral care, wellness, or school culture leadership.
• Safeguarding, child protection, and compliance experience.
• Experience with running wellness programmes.
• Working with 16-19-year-olds in a school setting is preferred.
• Understanding of trends and best practices in managing students' psycho-social well-being in a boarding school.
• Understanding of relevant national and international regulations that will enable proper delivery of psycho-social services to our students.

Generic Competencies

• Good organisational and time management skills to communicate clearly and effectively with audiences at all levels in the organisation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Good computer skills and an ability to learn new computer programs easily.
• Strong solution-oriented and collaborative skills.
• Ability to prioritise and work independently.
• Logical and rational decision-making approach
• Attention to detail

Attributes

• Consistently demonstrates the courage to do what is right for the student and the Academy.
• Consistently guides, focuses, and energises the wellness team to accomplish the Academy's objectives even under stressful or ambiguous situations.
• Originates actions to influence events and to achieve goals; sees opportunities and acts on them.
• Displays the highest standards of personal and professional conduct.
• Supports organisational ethical standards and values.
• Must be able to recommend policies that support the continued promotion of wellness in the organisation.

Report to: Deputy Dean
Job Location: ALA Campus, Honeydew, Johannesburg
Start date: 01 January 2026

Skills Required