Assistant Principal Special Education

Illaroo Road Public School, North Nowra, is a South Coast school situated on the northern side of the Shoalhaven River in Dharawhal Country. We have an enrolment of 444 students, of which 70 identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students and 9% come from a language background other than English. The school has 21 classes, including 16 mainstream, 2 opportunity classes and 3 autism classes. In 2026, we are excited to open our fourth autism support class. Our community sits predominantly in the middle two quartiles of socio-economic advantage.

When teachers and parents/carers have high expectations for all students there is a positive effect on student achievement. This is the core value that underpins our ongoing improvement plan. Through our situational analysis, we have identified the need to explicitly link strong and visible expectations of student learning, achievement and behaviour to clear, engaging and challenging learning tasks based on syllabus standards.

Our work will focus on individualised and whole-staff professional learning with literacy and numeracy experts working alongside classroom teachers, learning and support teachers and executive staff. Collaborative data analysis, evaluation and planning that develops teaching and learning programs across the school will be a strong focus. We will build on the strong foundations in the early years that have been a focus of our previous improvement cycle, ensuring we continually challenge staff and students to improve.

Collaborative and strategic evaluation and planning between staff, students and the school community underpins our continuous improvement efforts. The school has high expectations for the development and delivery of explicit and evidence-based teaching practices to support and develop all students in an inclusive and dynamic learning environment.

• In addition to the general selection criteria, approval to teach special education and/or experience teaching students with a disability.
• Demonstrated experience working collaboratively with teachers, support staff, communities, and external agencies to lead, develop, and implement inclusive education.
• Expertise in analysing student performance data and using research-based, impactful professional learning to inform teaching practices, student plans, and school-wide special education initiatives.
• Strong skills in communicating with students, parents, staff, and the wider school community to promote a whole-school culture that advocates for the needs of students with disabilities.

1. Successful teaching experience with capacity to initiate improvement in teaching, learning and classroom practice
2. Knowledge of curriculum, assessment and student welfare with the ability to lead and design quality, inclusive teaching and learning programs
3. Educational leadership skills to build the capacity and manage the performance of individuals and teams
4. Well developed communication and interpersonal skills with the capacity to build relationships and engage students, staff and parents
5. Ability to plan and manage resources effectively and equitably to support teaching and learning
6. 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.

All Department of Education employees working in an SSP are required to be vaccinated as outlined at Vaccination requirements for school sites ). The successful candidate for this position will be required to confirm vaccination status prior to the department finalising their appointment and entry on duty. Find the department's latest advice on COVID-19 (coronavirus) at

Applicants are to include details of their WWCC clearance number as part of this application.

About the NSW Department of Education

The 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 all ages and genders, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, refugees and people with disability. If we can make some adjustments to our recruitment/interview process to better enable you to shine, please contact the Diversity and Inclusion Team ) or visit NSW Department of Education Diversity and Inclusion

New merit selection application guidelines for classroom teachers, executives and principals have been introduced to provide greater clarity to applicants and selection panels. The guidelines are located here. To ensure that your application complies with the guideline page limits, your attachments must be in PDF format.