Head of Year interview – 40 Possible Questions

Below are 40 possible questions you could be asked at a head of year interview. It is not possible to memorise answers for all of these questions, instead try and develop themes within your answers/thoughts before the interview that you can draw upon regardless of the question.

I have split the questions into some suggested themes. Often with a head of year role, like other middle leadership roles you will be presented with a number of tasks, including a data task and a student panel. I have also heard of head of year interviews including role plays based on case studies.

Head of year interview questions:

The role of a pastoral middle leader

1. If you were to get the job, what would be the first three things you would do?
2. Why do you want to lead a year group rather than leading a subject?
3. Being a Head of Year is a job that demands good organisational skills. How do you manage to keep on top of your work?
4. What do you think are the most important functions in a Head of Year role? How would you prioritise them?
5. How would you create a sense of year group cohesion?
6. What do you think is important for student development?
7. How important is the role of the form tutor?
8. What will take priority in your pastoral curriculum? What are the key issues you see as affecting students currently?
9. How will you support students to improve their attendance?
10. What can you do to support the well-being of your students?
11. How would you support a new student struggling to fit into a year group?
12. How would you deal with poor student behaviour?
13. A child has been excluded from school, how will you reintegrate them back into school and prevent any future exclusions?
14. How could you manage the transition of students between each school year?
15. How would you track attendance effectively?
16. How would you promote resilience within your year group?
17. Do you think assemblies are an important part of being a head of year?
18. How will you reward students in your year group & what will they be rewarded for?
19. What can you do to improve the mental health of your year group?

Progress

1. How would you ensure that your year group meets the needs and abilities of all pupils? What would you do if it wasn’t meeting these?
2. How would you use assessment to effectively support progress in your year group?
3. How will you work with other middle leaders to improve the progress of your year group?
4. How do you monitor progress?
5. What will you do to support the progress of pupil premium students?
6. How does the work of a head of year impact on progress across subjects?
7. How might you use date like; CAT, SAT and internal assessment to help raise achievement?

Stakeholder engagement

1. Who are the two most important groups of people that you would work with? How would you ensure they are informed and consulted?
2. A parent feels that the school is not providing effective support for her child. Talk us through what you would do to resolve this. Who would you involve and how would you communicate with the parent?
3. How would you respond to a parent who contacts you to express concern about the teaching of an experienced member of teaching staff?
4. How would you encourage parents to engage with the school?
5. How would you deal with an angry parent/carer?

Leadership & management

1. If successful, you would be line managing a team of form tutors. What excites you about this work, and what do you see as the main challenges?
2. The senior leadership team (SLT) wants to introduce a new change that you have concerns about. How would you handle this situation?
3. This role will involve managing a budget for your year group. What would you prioritise spending your budget on?
4. How would you deal with a form tutor who is failing to meet your expectations?
5. How would you make use of a pastoral manager?

Safeguarding

1. How would you handle a child disclosing something to you?
   Follow-up question: While maintaining the anonymity of those involved, can you give us an example of a child protection issue you have dealt with? What did you learn from it?
2. The Head of Year role often leads to parents sharing their difficulties with you. How will you support a parent who is experiencing the loss of their job?
3. The police have reported to school that a student has been involved in anti-social behaviour outside of school. What should you do?
4. What experiences do you have of working with external agencies in supporting students and their families?

Good luck with your Head of Year interview! Once you secure your new role you might want to take a look at my ‘top tips for succeeding as a head of year‘.