Head of Lower School
for section headings (e.g. About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule). Use - for any list of duties/requirements/benefits, and
for prose. Do NOT repeat the job title as a heading. Do NOT put Job ID / requisition numbers as headings — fold minor metadata into a short
or drop it. Preserve ALL substantive information; do NOT invent or summarize away detail. Remove cookie/navigation/legal/EEO/equal-opportunity/scam-warning boilerplate, duplicated lines, and application instructions. IMPORTANT: include a section ONLY when the posting has real, specific content for it — never emit a heading followed by filler/placeholder text (e.g. "commensurate with experience", "not specified", "N/A", "varies", "TBD") and never create Pay/Schedule/Benefits sections unless the posting actually states them. Prefer a few substantive sections over many thin ones.
We need to decide which sections to include. The posting includes Overview (description of school), Position Summary (role description), Opportunities and Challenges (list of priorities), Qualifications And Personal Attributes (list of qualifications), Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (statement), Compensation And Benefits (salary range and benefits). Also maybe "Application Details" should be removed as application instructions. So we should drop that.
We need to map to allowed headings: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. We can use headings that match content. For Overview maybe "About the role". Position Summary could be "Responsibilities". Opportunities and Challenges maybe also responsibilities or could be part of responsibilities. Qualifications And Personal Attributes could be "Qualifications" and maybe "Skills". Diversity statement maybe could be part of "About the role" or separate? But we should not create thin sections. Perhaps combine Diversity statement into About the role or Qualifications? But it's substantive. Could create a section "Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging" but that's not in allowed headings list. The instruction says use
for section headings (e.g. About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule). It says e.g., implying those are examples but not exclusive? It says "use for section headings (e.g. About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule)." Likely they expect only those headings. So we should map content to those headings. We can have About the role (overview + mission + diversity?), Responsibilities (position summary + opportunities/challenges), Qualifications (qualifications + personal attributes), Benefits (benefits), Pay (salary). Possibly Skills could be omitted if not distinct. Schedule not present.
We must not create empty sections. So include About the role, Responsibilities, Qualifications, Benefits, Pay. Use for each.
Inside each section, we need to use
for prose, and
- for any list of duties/requirements/benefits.
We need to preserve all substantive information. Let's extract.
Overview: long paragraph about school mission, history, values, etc. We'll put in About the role as prose (maybe multiple paragraphs). Could split into multiple
but okay.
Position Summary: description of Lower School, role purpose, etc. That's responsibilities.
Opportunities and Challenges: list of bullet points (starting with "Serving as an inspirational and creative leader..." etc). Those are duties/responsibilities. We'll put under Responsibilities as a
- .
Qualifications And Personal Attributes: list of qualifications (Professional Qualifications, Leadership Style and Personal Qualities). We'll put under Qualifications as a
- maybe separate sublists? Could keep as one list.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging: statement about DEI. Could be part of About the role or Qualifications? Probably About the role (school culture). We'll incorporate into About the role as a paragraph.
Compensation And Benefits: salary range and benefits list. We'll have Pay section for salary range, Benefits section for benefits list.
Application Details: remove.
Now craft HTML.
We need to ensure no extra text outside HTML fragment. No markdown fences.
Let's write:
About the role
Founded more than a century ago, Holton-Arms School encourages young women in grades 3-12 to approach the world with a thirst for challenge, unflinching curiosity, and a sense of responsibility to use what they learn for the greatest good. A nationally recognized school that prioritizes purposeful connections, Holton is a vibrant place where both students and faculty are deeply engaged in the process of learning and bring tremendous spirit and passion to their work. With a 125-year legacy of excellence in educating girls, Holton provides students with time-tested and future-forward programming, preparing them not only to step into the future but to shape it. The mission of the Holton-Arms School is to cultivate the unique potential of young women through the "education not only of the mind, but of the soul and spirit." Founded in 1901 by two visionary women, the School’s aspirations and current program are rooted in Mrs. Holton’s founding vision, which continues to serve as Holton’s North Star: “My high hope is that they who enter through the ‘Open Door’ of Holton-Arms remember they felt, in the friendliness of a home, the urge to learn and the joy of overcoming obstacles as the way to happiness and the fullest life.” In this vibrant community committed to academic excellence, discovery, creativity, and joy, students are scholars, artists, and athletes who find their voices, take risks, learn from mistakes, pursue opportunities for leadership, and build lifelong friendships. The School motto, Inveniam viam aut faciam (I will find a way or make one), exemplifies this spirit of agency and empowerment. Holton-Arms cherishes the uniqueness of each of our members including current and former students, faculty, and staff. We seek to create an inclusive environment that sees, values, and supports diverse identities and experiences, cultivates engaging discourse, and empowers our students to be thriving members of the global community. At Holton-Arms, each of us is responsible for fostering an equitable, respectful, and just community.
Responsibilities
The Lower School is where Holton‑Arms’ Portrait of a Graduate first takes intentional shape. Guided by the School’s core values of integrity, community, courage, creativity and kindness, the Lower School experience cultivates girls who are creators, grapplers, learners, and thinkers; ethical and grounded; and leaders in their communities. These aspirations serve as both a common vision and a practical lens for the work of the division, informing curriculum and pedagogy, relationships and community life, student support, and the ways adults model learning and leadership. The Lower School also prioritizes establishing an early mindset wherein the youngest girls see themselves as belonging to something greater than themselves and responsible for carrying on that sense of community. The combination of care of self and others is understood within the division and School as a core ethos to the Holton‑Arms legacy. Holton‑Arms lives out its mission through a comprehensive and multi‑dimensional approach to supporting each student and ensuring that all students thrive in school and in life, growing into leaders who will make the world a better place. Inspired by accomplished alumnae, caring faculty and staff, and each other, Holton students step up to challenges, try often, fail gracefully, and succeed proudly. The School’s commitment to belonging is grounded in the mission to cultivate the unique potential of young women through an education of mind, soul, and spirit and strengthened by Holton’s values of integrity, community, courage, creativity, and kindness. The Lower School serves as the foundational experience for Holton students to begin their journey. Supported by a sense of safety, deep connection to their teachers, and respectful friendships with classmates, Lower School girls spend their days in an environment of joyful learning, in which agency is cultivated and self‑actualization is evident. The culture of encouraging girls to try new things and take risks leads to both early wins and a few stumbles and builds the students’ resilience and confidence in navigating learning throughout their lives. To continue to lead the way, Holton‑Arms School seeks a Head of Lower School to oversee a division serving students in Grades 3‑6. The next leader will provide strong leadership in support of Holton’s academic program, pedagogical philosophy, and strategic vision, using the School’s core values and Portrait of a Graduate as a shared compass for the division. Ideal candidates will demonstrate deep knowledge of the developmental needs of children in this age group, the needs of their caregivers, and familiarity with evolving best practices in elementary pedagogy. The Lower School Head reports to the Associate Head of School, Barbara Eghan, and works closely with Holton’s Head of School, Penny Evins, as well as the Middle and Upper School Heads, ensuring that there is a “one school” mindset even as the divisions maintain age‑appropriate approaches to implementing the School mission. While recognizing that “more is not necessarily better,” the Lower School Head will bring creative and strategic ideas that are aligned with the academic and programmatic excellence of the Lower School and will serve as an integral member of the senior administrative team, whose members partner collaboratively, joyfully, and productively.
- Serving as an inspirational and creative leader who cultivates habits of excellence among faculty and encourages thoughtful and effective educational innovation and collaborative change;
- In partnership with the senior administrative team, shepherding the Lower School dimensions of the recently‑published Strategic Plan, with priorities that include investing in and supporting the growth of faculty and staff; tending to the daily pace and support structures that support student thriving; developing deep and durable learning spaces in support of academic excellence; and leveraging the extraordinary network of alumnae and parents who are excited to open the doors of opportunity;
- Serving as a lead partner with the admissions office in its strategic enrollment work;
- Building upon the Lower School's strong foundation and joyful culture while further empowering faculty and staff, fostering trust, integrity, accountability, professional growth, purposeful collaboration, and shared leadership;
- Deftly managing the pace of change, fully exploring and communicating the purpose and ripple effects of changes;
- Partnering effectively and compassionately with parents and caregivers, including through parent education and transparent communication, building shared understanding of Holton‑Arms’ educational philosophy and the qualities of intellect, character, agency, and purpose the School seeks to cultivate in girls;
- Collaborating closely with leadership of the Brown House, which provides on‑site early childhood care for the children of faculty at five area schools, to offer best‑in‑class care that is fully consistent with the Holton‑Arms mission and philosophy; and
- Building community, connection, kindness, and a spirit of joy between and among students, faculty, and parents, both within the Lower School and across divisions.
Qualifications
- An experienced educator and visionary leader with teaching and leadership experience in a Lower School setting, along with a deep understanding of child development and appreciation for the opportunities of a multi‑division school for girls;
- A demonstrated ability to translate mission and educational vision into the daily life of a school, using shared values and student outcomes to guide program, pedagogy, culture, decision‑making, and adult practice;
- Knowledge of current and evolving best practices and innovation in Lower School curriculum, pedagogy (including
for prose. Do NOT repeat the job title as a heading. Do NOT put Job ID / requisition numbers as headings — fold minor metadata into a short
or drop it. Preserve ALL substantive information; do NOT invent or summarize away detail. Remove cookie/navigation/legal/EEO/equal-opportunity/scam-warning boilerplate, duplicated lines, and application instructions. IMPORTANT: include a section ONLY when the posting has real, specific content for it — never emit a heading followed by filler/placeholder text (e.g. "commensurate with experience", "not specified", "N/A", "varies", "TBD") and never create Pay/Schedule/Benefits sections unless the posting actually states them. Prefer a few substantive sections over many thin ones. We need to decide which sections to include. The posting includes Overview (description of school), Position Summary (role description), Opportunities and Challenges (list of priorities), Qualifications And Personal Attributes (list of qualifications), Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (statement), Compensation And Benefits (salary range and benefits). Also maybe "Application Details" should be removed as application instructions. So we should drop that. We need to map to allowed headings: About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule. We can use headings that match content. For Overview maybe "About the role". Position Summary could be "Responsibilities". Opportunities and Challenges maybe also responsibilities or could be part of responsibilities. Qualifications And Personal Attributes could be "Qualifications" and maybe "Skills". Diversity statement maybe could be part of "About the role" or separate? But we should not create thin sections. Perhaps combine Diversity statement into About the role or Qualifications? But it's substantive. Could create a section "Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging" but that's not in allowed headings list. The instruction says use
for section headings (e.g. About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule). It says e.g., implying those are examples but not exclusive? It says "use for section headings (e.g. About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule)." Likely they expect only those headings. So we should map content to those headings. We can have About the role (overview + mission + diversity?), Responsibilities (position summary + opportunities/challenges), Qualifications (qualifications + personal attributes), Benefits (benefits), Pay (salary). Possibly Skills could be omitted if not distinct. Schedule not present.
We must not create empty sections. So include About the role, Responsibilities, Qualifications, Benefits, Pay. Use for each.
Inside each section, we need to use
for each. Inside each section, we need to use
for prose, and
- for any list of duties/requirements/benefits.
We need to preserve all substantive information. Let's extract.
Overview: long paragraph about school mission, history, values, etc. We'll put in About the role as prose (maybe multiple paragraphs). Could split into multiple
but okay. Position Summary: description of Lower School, role purpose, etc. That's responsibilities. Opportunities and Challenges: list of bullet points (starting with "Serving as an inspirational and creative leader..." etc). Those are duties/responsibilities. We'll put under Responsibilities as a
- .
Qualifications And Personal Attributes: list of qualifications (Professional Qualifications, Leadership Style and Personal Qualities). We'll put under Qualifications as a
- maybe separate sublists? Could keep as one list.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging: statement about DEI. Could be part of About the role or Qualifications? Probably About the role (school culture). We'll incorporate into About the role as a paragraph.
Compensation And Benefits: salary range and benefits list. We'll have Pay section for salary range, Benefits section for benefits list.
Application Details: remove.
Now craft HTML.
We need to ensure no extra text outside HTML fragment. No markdown fences.
Let's write:
About the role
Founded more than a century ago, Holton-Arms School encourages young women in grades 3-12 to approach the world with a thirst for challenge, unflinching curiosity, and a sense of responsibility to use what they learn for the greatest good. A nationally recognized school that prioritizes purposeful connections, Holton is a vibrant place where both students and faculty are deeply engaged in the process of learning and bring tremendous spirit and passion to their work. With a 125-year legacy of excellence in educating girls, Holton provides students with time-tested and future-forward programming, preparing them not only to step into the future but to shape it. The mission of the Holton-Arms School is to cultivate the unique potential of young women through the "education not only of the mind, but of the soul and spirit." Founded in 1901 by two visionary women, the School’s aspirations and current program are rooted in Mrs. Holton’s founding vision, which continues to serve as Holton’s North Star: “My high hope is that they who enter through the ‘Open Door’ of Holton-Arms remember they felt, in the friendliness of a home, the urge to learn and the joy of overcoming obstacles as the way to happiness and the fullest life.” In this vibrant community committed to academic excellence, discovery, creativity, and joy, students are scholars, artists, and athletes who find their voices, take risks, learn from mistakes, pursue opportunities for leadership, and build lifelong friendships. The School motto, Inveniam viam aut faciam (I will find a way or make one), exemplifies this spirit of agency and empowerment. Holton-Arms cherishes the uniqueness of each of our members including current and former students, faculty, and staff. We seek to create an inclusive environment that sees, values, and supports diverse identities and experiences, cultivates engaging discourse, and empowers our students to be thriving members of the global community. At Holton-Arms, each of us is responsible for fostering an equitable, respectful, and just community.
Responsibilities
The Lower School is where Holton‑Arms’ Portrait of a Graduate first takes intentional shape. Guided by the School’s core values of integrity, community, courage, creativity and kindness, the Lower School experience cultivates girls who are creators, grapplers, learners, and thinkers; ethical and grounded; and leaders in their communities. These aspirations serve as both a common vision and a practical lens for the work of the division, informing curriculum and pedagogy, relationships and community life, student support, and the ways adults model learning and leadership. The Lower School also prioritizes establishing an early mindset wherein the youngest girls see themselves as belonging to something greater than themselves and responsible for carrying on that sense of community. The combination of care of self and others is understood within the division and School as a core ethos to the Holton‑Arms legacy. Holton‑Arms lives out its mission through a comprehensive and multi‑dimensional approach to supporting each student and ensuring that all students thrive in school and in life, growing into leaders who will make the world a better place. Inspired by accomplished alumnae, caring faculty and staff, and each other, Holton students step up to challenges, try often, fail gracefully, and succeed proudly. The School’s commitment to belonging is grounded in the mission to cultivate the unique potential of young women through an education of mind, soul, and spirit and strengthened by Holton’s values of integrity, community, courage, creativity, and kindness. The Lower School serves as the foundational experience for Holton students to begin their journey. Supported by a sense of safety, deep connection to their teachers, and respectful friendships with classmates, Lower School girls spend their days in an environment of joyful learning, in which agency is cultivated and self‑actualization is evident. The culture of encouraging girls to try new things and take risks leads to both early wins and a few stumbles and builds the students’ resilience and confidence in navigating learning throughout their lives. To continue to lead the way, Holton‑Arms School seeks a Head of Lower School to oversee a division serving students in Grades 3‑6. The next leader will provide strong leadership in support of Holton’s academic program, pedagogical philosophy, and strategic vision, using the School’s core values and Portrait of a Graduate as a shared compass for the division. Ideal candidates will demonstrate deep knowledge of the developmental needs of children in this age group, the needs of their caregivers, and familiarity with evolving best practices in elementary pedagogy. The Lower School Head reports to the Associate Head of School, Barbara Eghan, and works closely with Holton’s Head of School, Penny Evins, as well as the Middle and Upper School Heads, ensuring that there is a “one school” mindset even as the divisions maintain age‑appropriate approaches to implementing the School mission. While recognizing that “more is not necessarily better,” the Lower School Head will bring creative and strategic ideas that are aligned with the academic and programmatic excellence of the Lower School and will serve as an integral member of the senior administrative team, whose members partner collaboratively, joyfully, and productively.
- Serving as an inspirational and creative leader who cultivates habits of excellence among faculty and encourages thoughtful and effective educational innovation and collaborative change;
- In partnership with the senior administrative team, shepherding the Lower School dimensions of the recently‑published Strategic Plan, with priorities that include investing in and supporting the growth of faculty and staff; tending to the daily pace and support structures that support student thriving; developing deep and durable learning spaces in support of academic excellence; and leveraging the extraordinary network of alumnae and parents who are excited to open the doors of opportunity;
- Serving as a lead partner with the admissions office in its strategic enrollment work;
- Building upon the Lower School's strong foundation and joyful culture while further empowering faculty and staff, fostering trust, integrity, accountability, professional growth, purposeful collaboration, and shared leadership;
- Deftly managing the pace of change, fully exploring and communicating the purpose and ripple effects of changes;
- Partnering effectively and compassionately with parents and caregivers, including through parent education and transparent communication, building shared understanding of Holton‑Arms’ educational philosophy and the qualities of intellect, character, agency, and purpose the School seeks to cultivate in girls;
- Collaborating closely with leadership of the Brown House, which provides on‑site early childhood care for the children of faculty at five area schools, to offer best‑in‑class care that is fully consistent with the Holton‑Arms mission and philosophy; and
- Building community, connection, kindness, and a spirit of joy between and among students, faculty, and parents, both within the Lower School and across divisions.
Qualifications
- An experienced educator and visionary leader with teaching and leadership experience in a Lower School setting, along with a deep understanding of child development and appreciation for the opportunities of a multi‑division school for girls;
- A demonstrated ability to translate mission and educational vision into the daily life of a school, using shared values and student outcomes to guide program, pedagogy, culture, decision‑making, and adult practice;
- Knowledge of current and evolving best practices and innovation in Lower School curriculum, pedagogy (including
- maybe separate sublists? Could keep as one list.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging: statement about DEI. Could be part of About the role or Qualifications? Probably About the role (school culture). We'll incorporate into About the role as a paragraph.
Compensation And Benefits: salary range and benefits list. We'll have Pay section for salary range, Benefits section for benefits list.
Application Details: remove.
Now craft HTML.
We need to ensure no extra text outside HTML fragment. No markdown fences.
Let's write:
- .
Qualifications And Personal Attributes: list of qualifications (Professional Qualifications, Leadership Style and Personal Qualities). We'll put under Qualifications as a