Head of Social Services

• Christel House South Africa is seeking a Head of Social Services to lead its multidisciplinary student-support function. Reporting to the Chief Academic Officer, the role leads Admissions, Social Services , Counselling , Psychology and Nursing . The successful candidate will connect Health & Social Services to academic and behavioural outcomes, oversee serious or high-risk matters, and demonstrate what changed for students and families, not merely what services were delivered.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and hold accountable the multidisciplinary Health & Social Services team, aligning professional disciplines around shared student outcomes and reducing silos.
• Strengthen CHSA's approach to character, agency, resilience, socio-emotional development and life skills across grades and programmes.
• Ensure fair and defensible admissions, backfill and socioeconomic verification, including home visits and documented decisions.
• Own the quality of safeguarding, child protection, case management, referral, escalation and intensive-support systems.
• Partner with Principals to strengthen attendance, punctuality, retention, behaviour support and reintegration after serious disruption.
• Oversee student health and mental-health services, nutrition, high-risk conditions, referrals and serious school-accident response.
• Strengthen parent and caregiver partnership, community intelligence, targeted family support and external referral pathways.
• Use reliable HSS data to identify risk, assess impact, improve prevention and resource allocation, and report candidly.
• Lead HSS strategy, budget, professional standards, compliance, partnerships and continuous improvement.

REQUIREMENTS & SKILLS

• A recognised professional degree or equivalent qualification relevant to child, adolescent and psychosocial development.
• Current registration and good standing with the relevant professional body where the candidate's profession requires registration.
• Relevant experience with children, adolescents and families affected by poverty and social adversity, including at least two years of leadership or supervision of a team .
• Experience in safeguarding and child protection, case management or referral systems, family engagement and complex student-support matters.
• The ability to lead people and systems, use data responsibly, manage priorities and resources, and report accurately.
• Working knowledge of applicable South African child-protection, education, health, privacy and professional requirements.
• A relevant master's degree or advanced postgraduate qualification, and experience leading an established multidisciplinary team, will be advantageous. 

Please send your CV, a cover letter and evidence of your credentials to The Chief Academic Officer at recruit@sa.christelhouse.org .Ensure the subject linereads “HEAD OF SOCIAL SERVICES ”.