Dean of Pastoral Care

What if your next leadership role wasn't simply about supporting students, but shaping the culture and systems that help an entire school community flourish?

Carey Baptist College, Forrestdale, is seeking an experienced and deeply relational educational leader to become our Dean of Pastoral Care, commencing 1 January 2027.

This is a significant leadership opportunity for someone who believes student wellbeing, belonging, behaviour, learning and character aren't separate conversations. They are all connected.

As Dean of Pastoral Care, you'll help shape the environment in which our Secondary students grow. You'll lead the College's approach to pastoral care, develop the people responsible for delivering it, and work alongside school leaders, teachers, families and specialist professionals to create a culture where students are both supported and challenged to become increasingly responsible for themselves and others.

You’ll join the College Leadership Team and have the opportunity to influence not simply how we respond when students struggle, but how we intentionally build a school culture that helps young people thrive.

Great pastoral care doesn't begin with a policy or a behaviour incident. It begins much earlier.

It lives in the quality of relationships between students and adults, in whether expectations are clear, in whether teachers feel equipped to respond when something isn't right, in whether students experience belonging, and in whether our systems help us notice the young person who might otherwise quietly disappear into the crowd.

As Dean, you'll have the opportunity to bring those pieces together. You'll lead Year Managers and work closely with Counselling, Inclusive Education, Chaplaincy, teaching staff and College leadership to strengthen a coherent approach to student care. You'll also help our staff grow their own pastoral capability, because sustainable student wellbeing can't sit with one person or one department. It has to become part of how a community works.

• Providing strategic leadership for pastoral care across the Secondary School.
• Developing and continually strengthening Carey's pastoral care framework, programs, practices and systems.
• Leading and developing Year Managers and other members of the pastoral and wellbeing team.
• Building staff capability through coaching, professional learning and practical support.
• Helping create consistent, relational approaches to student behaviour, attendance, engagement and wellbeing.
• Working alongside Counselling, Inclusive Education and other specialists to coordinate support around students with more complex needs.
• Supporting staff to understand what's happening beneath student behaviour while maintaining appropriate expectations and accountability.
• Partnering with families when students experience significant learning, wellbeing or behavioural challenges.
• Using student information, patterns and emerging issues to identify where preventative support may be needed.
• Creating meaningful opportunities for student voice, leadership, service and responsibility.
• Contributing to College leadership discussions and helping ensure student wellbeing remains connected to teaching, learning and the broader strategic direction of the school.
• Leading year-group experiences, parent engagement and significant pastoral initiatives across the Secondary School.

• This is an opportunity to move beyond managing individual student matters and influence how an entire Secondary School thinks about pastoral care.
• You’ll have the scope to develop people, strengthen systems and shape culture. You'll work alongside senior educational leaders and multidisciplinary professionals, gaining…