The Leader of the Arts provides leadership, coordination and operational management of Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) programs within a designated CAPA school. This school-based non-teaching executive role supports high-quality teaching, learning and performance opportunities for students across music, dance, drama and visual arts, and contributes to the school’s strategic priorities and community engagement.
Applicants must satisfy the teacher training and academic qualification requirements for this position. In addition to the general selection criteria
1. Demonstrated capacity to provide strategic and operational leadership across Creative and Performing Arts programs, including the development, coordination, and evaluation of ensembles, curation, productions, co-curricular programs, and large-scale arts events.
2. Proven ability to lead collaboratively with CAPA teams, whole school staff, tutors, specialist practitioners, professional associations, and state networks, while mentoring and supporting all staff to strengthen professional practice and program delivery.
3. High-level organisational, communication, and collaborative project management skills, with the capacity to design and manage whole school systems for the application process/auditions and workshops, events, logistics, budgets, compliance, and resource management.
4. Demonstrated capacity to build and sustain partnerships with arts organisations, tertiary institutions, and industry professionals, while promoting equity, inclusion, cultural responsiveness, and student wellbeing within arts programs.
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Successful teaching experience with capacity to initiate improvement in teaching, learning and classroom practice,
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Knowledge of curriculum, assessment, and student welfare with the ability to lead and design quality, inclusive teaching and learning programs,
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Education leadership skills to build capacity and manage the performance of individuals and teams,
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Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills with the capacity to build relationships and engage students, staff and parents,
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Ability to plan and manage resources effectively and equitably to support teaching and learning,
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Knowledge of and commitment to the department’s Aboriginal education policy.
An unconditional full approval to teach is a requirement. If you do not hold a full approval to teach with the NSW Department of Education, you are required to commence the application process at the same time as you apply for this teaching opportunity.
The NSW Department of Education is the largest provider of public education in Australia with responsibility for delivering high-quality public education to two-thirds of the NSW student population. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, including but not limited to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, people of any age or gender, people from culturally and linguistically diverse groups and/or from the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, refugees, people with disability, people with sensory differences, and neurodiverse people. If we can make some adjustments to our recruitment/interview process to better help you shine, please reach out to the contact person for this recruitment, details listed above.
For more information, visit the NSW Department of Education’s Diversity, equity and inclusion webpage.
Additional Information
Campbelltown Performing Arts High School is a specialist performing arts high school with an enrolment of approximately 970 students serving a diverse area of South West Sydney. 27.6% of our student enrolments come from a non-English speaking background and 113 students are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Our school draws 60% of its enrolments from local schools and 40% through open audition in the areas of Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Arts and Circus. Our focus is to improve student learning outcomes through the consistent application of quality teaching practices underpinned by whole-school, and targeted, teacher professional learning. The school is committed to continually improving effective classroom practices with high impact professional learning supporting a culture of continuous improvement. The school's staffing entitlement in 2026 is 73 teaching staff and 13 non-teaching staff. The school also employs an additional ACIP DP plus, HT positions including Pathways, Learning Support, as well as a Business Manager, Technology Support Officer and 4 School Learning Support Officers from school funds. Our executive staff is stable with the majority being here for more than five years. Approximately 40% of our staff are in their early career as teachers, and the school enjoys the rich diversity created through the performing arts community with students performing at local, regional and state levels in the areas of Dance, Music, Drama, Circus and Visual Arts. We have fostered strong partnerships with universities, cultural institutions, businesses and community groups to support students through our various programs in addition to supporting student transitions to post school pathways and school-based apprenticeships and traineeships. A significant portion of the school's equity funding is used to support initiatives developed in the 2023-2026 School Excellence Plan, where the school was assessed as excelling in 13 out of the 14 elements of the School Excellence Framework, through external validation. The school will be working to improve literacy and numeracy levels and HSC attainment through personalised learning approaches and data-informed practices across the school, with a core focus on developing our students as successful learners through high-quality teaching practice. Students develop their understanding of themselves as young people and as learners through a wellbeing curriculum, partnerships with parents and community, and the development of teacher capacity at all levels.
How to Apply
To support a consistent and transparent merit selection process, Merit Selection Process Application Guidelines are available for classroom teachers, executives and principals, providing practical advice for applicants and selection panels.
To meet the page limits outlined in the guidelines, all application attachments must be submitted in PDF format. Please note that late applications will not be accepted.
For technical support please contact School Recruitment Support at 1300 863 694.
