Helen Mumford

I am very proud to be starting my role as Deputy Head of Secondary at GCS after serving as Assistant Headteacher for the last two years. I am delighted that our whole school review was graded as Very Good in November 2022 and our first ever A-Level and GCSE results 2023 were Outstanding.

I am internationally minded and this has supported my 25 years of teaching and leadership across multicultural communities and diverse UK curriculum schools, where I have led on a variety of whole school improvements. My aims as a leader and teacher have always been to include, enthuse and inspire students and instill a love of learning. I want to ensure that each child reaches their full potential and then excels in their chosen field.

I graduated university with a degree in Fine Art in 1996 and completed my PGCE qualification in 1998 after taking a year out to work on community art projects within my local area. I have been teaching the British Curriculum for over 25 years, working in a range of schools as an Art and Design teacher, subject leader, pastoral leader and achievement leader. I gained my NPQ in Senior Leadership in 2017 and I am currently completing my NPQ in Headship.

For the last 16 years I have held Senior Leadership positions in Secondary schools. Before moving to Dubai, I was Assistant Principal for 7 years in a large and culturally diverse Secondary school in the UK. I was responsible for developing and leading the school curriculum, examinations, assessment and developing middle leaders. I worked closely with subject leaders and teachers to develop a strong curriculum that was personalised, allowing students to find their passion and become lifelong learners.

Prior to this post I was Assistant Headteacher at a school in Dorset, UK for 5 years. There I worked as pastoral lead and developed a whole school attitude to learning system that challenged a culture of coasting learners and was recognised for its positive impact in their OFSTED report. As an experienced leader I am adaptable to focus on strategic areas of school improvement. In order to ensure our school motto ‘Through Values we succeed’ was lived in every classroom I developed the GCS Values reward system with heads of year. This now underpins our very high expectations for all learners in the school.

I enjoy working with all stakeholders at GCS to ensure that our school becomes a leader in teaching and learning, innovation, academic outcomes and is an inspiring and happy place to study.

I believe in team work and I am looking forward to playing my part in ensuring that our school is outstanding in all areas.