St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis, Tennessee seeks a dynamic and innovative Head of Lower School at one of the nation’s finest college preparatory girls schools. St. Mary’s offers an exceptional program that combines the best of tradition and innovation. The Head of Lower School is responsible for the management and overall effectiveness of the Lower School, which serves grades one through five. Reporting directly to the Head of School, he or she also serves as a member of the administrative team.
The Head of Lower School will ensure the care and quality of education for lower school students and teachers; guide students, parents, faculty, and staff; and oversee the development of the lower school curriculum. He or she will spearhead all internal and external communications and meetings for LS students, parents, and faculty and participate in a variety of school-wide community functions. Critical to a St. Mary’s education is the Lower School Head’s ability to keep our girls in health of mind and soul and body through our exceptional character development program in an academically challenging environment.
Opportunities for the next Head of Lower School:
Serving as a senior-level administrator on a talented leadership team that plans strategically for the entire school.
Leading a talented Lower School faculty that functions collaboratively through a team structure that is student-focused.
Serving as a leader in a community that encourages wellness and creativity.
Continuing to build upon a strong foundation of academic excellence and best teaching practices with innovative new
programs while balancing demands and expectations of resources and time for faculty and students.
Reviewing staffing, evaluations, and responsibilities of Lower School faculty.
Supporting and leading the school in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative
The Ideal Candidate will be:
- Knowledgeable about curriculum, best teaching practices, and innovative trends in elementary education.
- Experienced in the classroom at the elementary level, 7+ years teaching experience preferred.
- Experienced in recruiting, hiring, mentoring, supervising, and evaluating talented faculty
- Trained in social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children and able to apply that understanding in the creation and oversight of curriculum and programs.
- Experienced in the education of both parents and children.
- Approachable, warm, joyful.
- A highly visible communicator who can articulate the school’s mission and program with passion and enthusiasm in large groups and one-on-one.
- A partner with the admissions team.
- Evidence of a growth mindset with samples of original programming and community involvement.
- Capable of balancing innovation and tradition.
Lower School Curriculum
Ours is a language-based curriculum based on Core Knowledge Language Arts where skills and content are cross-curricular. We place a great emphasis on the development of all areas of literacy: written language, spoken language, and listening. Focusing on writing and reading readiness skills, we introduce our girls to a wealth of literature and give them opportunities to engage in the creative process of telling their own stories.
In keeping with our Episcopal identity, St. Mary’s supports a culturally responsive campus where we believe that the students who learn in our classrooms enrich the community with their cultures and backgrounds. Our faculty and staff are committed to knowing our students well, integrating diverse work and study practices, understanding student learning needs and styles, and empowering students to share their stories.
Math In Focus is the math curriculum for grades 1-5. Math In Focus provides an authentic Singapore math curriculum, highlighting problem-solving as the focus of mathematical learning. This complete program teaches concepts using a concrete-pictorial-abstract learning progression to anchor learning in real-world and hands-on experiences.
Technology is integrated into and supports every aspect of our program in a meaningful and appropriate way. Our program is enhanced by special subject areas that include Spanish, Physical Education, Creative Movement, Music, Art, Science, Robotics, Religion, and Library.
Mission
The mission of St. Mary’s Episcopal School is to provide a superior educational experience for girls which will encourage and enable each student to reach her individual potential.
The School
St. Mary's Episcopal School in Memphis, Tennessee, is an independent college-preparatory school for girls two-years-old
through grade 12. At St. Mary's, we prepare our students in a vibrant learning community that balances core knowledge and transformative innovation. St. Mary's equips each girl to be collaborative, creative, and courageous so that she will seize the opportunities in the changing world and thrive in her generation. St. Mary's is committed to academic excellence, offering a classic liberal arts curriculum in conjunction with strong science and math programs. Students also enjoy a thriving performing and fine arts program, work with the latest technology, and participate in a multitude of extracurricular activities and community service. For more than 170 years, St. Mary's has been helping girls develop their minds, character, and spirit.
St. Mary's is an independent Episcopal School; although not governed by the Church of the Holy Communion or the Diocese of West Tennessee, we benefit from a close partnership. St. Mary's board-approved statement on Episcopal identity guides the school and board in policy-setting and decision-making. The policy of need-blind admissions, provisions of financial aid to students in need, and a commitment to diversity exist in all aspects of the school.
Our Episcopal Identity
St. Mary's seeks to express the Christian faith in the Episcopal tradition, providing a uniquely expansive environment in which Christians and non-Christians can affirm together God, who transcends all creeds and religions. Being strong and comfortable in one's faith, while being knowledgeable and respectful of the faith of others, may be more important today than ever.
St. Mary's helps students to delve more deeply into the Christian faith in a way that simultaneously deepens one's knowledge
and love of Jesus while expanding one's appreciation of the ways in which God finds expression in the faith traditions of non-Christians. In such an environment, Christians and non-Christians are encouraged to find God at work in each other
and to find truth in places they might otherwise not have looked.
The Middle and Upper School community gathers daily in the Church of the Holy Communion for worship according to the Book of Common Prayer, while the younger students attend regular chapel services that are age-appropriate. St. Mary's seeks to be an Episcopal School where love and respect for others are demonstrated through respectful behavior and service-learning. In such a community, acts of kindness are encouraged and community service is expected.
Such depth of personal commitment and expansiveness of spirit cannot be learned from books alone. Instead, these are things one learns from living, working, and worshiping in a community of faith and service. At its best, this is the kind of community St. Mary's seeks to be.
As a school located in the heart of Memphis, we value our differences as much as our similarities. We honor the individual that lives inside each girl and help her learn how to recognize and develop her own unique abilities.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
St. Mary’s Episcopal School is committed to creating, maintaining, and nurturing a diverse and inclusive educational environment. Students, families, alumnae, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences collaborate in the often challenging and courageous work of understanding and respecting each other. Our diverse school community not only furthers the goals of an excellent education, but it creates an environment essential to the development of respect, responsibility, empathy, and unity.
To ensure that we pursue this goal, the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force of the Board of Trustees was created in 2018. Task Force members include Board members, faculty, parents, and administrators. The group facilitates conversations and initiatives around the areas of community, curriculum, and faculty recruitment and retention.
Send letter of interest, resume, and educational philosophy to:
Hilary Robinson
Assistant Head of School
41 N. Perkins
Memphis, TN 38117
