2019–20
Head of Science · CBIS Bilingual International School
My first department leadership role: leading six science teachers, standardising IB Diploma science and developing newly qualified colleagues.
Leading a department showed me that consistency is a form of fairness: students deserve the same quality of planning and assessment whichever teacher they have. I built shared unit plans and assessment routines with the team rather than for them.
Reflection. My self-assessment against the Danielson Framework showed my strengths in planning and content knowledge. It also highlighted differentiation for language learners as an area to develop. I would return to that focus in later years.
Goals for the year
- Standardise IB Diploma science delivery across the department
- Raise outcomes through consistent assessment
- Support the growth of new and untrained science teachers
What I did
- Wrote IB DP Biology unit plans for Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Ecology, Evolution and Plant Biology
- Introduced shared assessment protocols, predicted-grade processes and individual student analyses
- Led professional development for newly qualified and untrained teachers
- Completed a structured self-assessment against the Danielson Framework for Teaching
Impact
- Student outcomes improved by 15% after consistent assessment protocols were introduced
- 100% staff retention across the science team
Professional learning
- IBDP Theory of Knowledge, Category 3 (International Baccalaureate, 2019)
- Appointed as an IB examiner