Upper Canada College Looking for Assistant Director, Upper School Boarding & Admissions at Greater Toronto Area, Canada Full Time

Start Date: September/October 2023

Position Overview

The primary role of the Admission Office is to recruit, assess, enroll, and retain mission-appropriate students and families who will thrive as part of the UCC community. Reporting to the Director, Upper School and Boarding Admission, the Assistant Director, Upper School and Boarding Admission supports all aspects of the Upper School (Years 8-12) Day and Boarding student recruitment and admission process, contributing to a positive applicant experience and sound decision-making. This role acts as an important ambassador for UCC, locally, nationally, and globally.

Duties And Responsibilities

Recruitment, Event Management, Outreach and Marketing

• Supports the organization of, and attends, recruitment events (in person and online) in the Greater Toronto Area, at other locations in Ontario and Canada, and internationally. This includes on and off campus fairs, school visits, associate/alumni events, among others.
• Supports organization, planning, and delivery of on-campus events including Open Houses, Information Sessions, New to Blue and summer tours with logistical leadership from the Admission Assistant.
• Assists in the development and maintenance of admission print and electronic material (including the website) by proactively identifying and communicating needed updates to the Director and the Marketing and Communications department.
• Delivers campus tours with a focus on the Upper School, as needed.
• Oversee and arrange all tours to the Upper School and the overnight boarding stays.
• Creates and drives communications with Upper School and Boarding candidates through maintenance and consistent messaging of candidate interest lists using the OnBoard database and other marketing platforms.
• With the support of the Director, Upper School and Boarding Admission, plans boarding events and tours at sending schools.
• With support of the Director of Admission, Upper School and Boarding, proactively cultivates leads with boarding families, boarding agents and sending schools.
• Represents, as required, the College at school fairs, visits and association/alumni events.

Admission Process

• Supports the end-to-end admission process (cultivation, assessment, decision, feedback, and transition) for Upper School (Years 8-12) Day and Boarding applicants, at the direction of the Director, Upper School and Boarding Admission.
• Coordinates and administers standardized testing, conducts candidate and parent interviews, and evaluates report cards and references in collaboration with the Admission Team and the University Counselling Office and Registrar.
• Participates in the admission database set-up and organization, and uses the admission database effectively to ensure clean, usable data is available to support decision-making and an optimal user experience.
• Maintains candidate files to ensure they are complete and ready for student interviews and next steps.
• Oversees the timely progression of applicants through the funnel to ensure prompt file completion.
• Coordinates and schedules all Upper School Day and Boarding interviews.
• Completes file review process and participates in Admission Decision Committee meetings.

New Student and Family Onboarding

• Counsels incoming families, as well as the UCC extended admission team, around grade placement (working with registrar, WWCFL and UCO).
• Ensures an effective and collaborative relationship with the Program Team, WWCFL, Dean of Students, Language and Math Chairs, Director of Residential Life and others, to allow for a smooth transitioning and placement of new students.
• Coordinates and invigilates math and second language assessments.
• Ensures supportive new student transition by resource boards, visa documentation and handling all manner of new family requests with support from the Director, Upper School and Boarding Admission.
• Prepares reports including new student profiles, credit equivalencies summaries, ELL candidate lists and demographic information as required for the Academic Dean, University Counsellors or Director of Residential Life.
• Serves as a main point of contact for new Upper School and Boarding families, in collaboration with the Director, Upper School and Boarding Admission.

Retention

• Supports the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management and the Directors, of Preparatory School and Upper School and Boarding Admission to enhance the approach to student retention through data gathering, analysis, and action planning.

Customer Service

• Delivers outstanding customer service, ensuring that all prospective applicant families feel welcome and supported in their interactions with UCC.
• Advances UCC’s value of pluralism by supporting a fair, equitable, and unbiased process and engaging in innovative community outreach.
• Maintains the highest level of professional integrity.
• Supports post-offer transitions and conversations for all families with empathy and with an emphasis on relationship development.
• Maintains membership and professional involvement in organizations related to admission or supportive to its goals.

Teamwork

• Builds community through team trust and shared purpose.
• Offers and receives feedback to continuously improve the process and team culture.
• Maintains effective and collaborative relationships with other roles and departments, including the Wernham West Centre for Learning, International Baccalaureate Coordinators, the Director of Residential Life, and the Head and Assistant Heads of the Upper School.
• Builds and maintains strong partnership with the Marketing and Communications Team to continuously refine and update materials.
• Acts as a mentor for an IB continuum project (PYP Exhibition, MYP Personal Project, or DP Extended Essay).
• Undertakes general administrative office duties to support the Admission Team in day-to-day operation, as needed.
• Takes on other duties as needed to support the Director, Prep School Admission and the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management, as needed.

Vision, Mission, Values Alignment

• Actively advances and upholds the vision, mission, and values of the College in all aspects of the work.
• Enables and participates in brave conversations about identity, marginalization, bias, power, privilege, and barriers in service to students and families, while maintaining productive working relationships.
• Stimulates open discussion of problems and encourages differences of opinion, while maintaining an inclusive climate of appreciation and trust for those who come from different backgrounds or think differently.
• Understands the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices.

Knowledge, Competencies And Experience

• University degree preferred;
• At least three years of relevant work experience, preferably in independent school admission or related function(s);
• At least three years of candidate interview experience, preferably in an independent school admission context;
• Knowledge of adolescent development and IB and high school and Boarding education preferred;
• Familiarity with the independent school environment in Toronto and boarding school environment in Canada;
• Adjusts own attitudes and beliefs because of working within and learning from the diversity of communities and cultures. Promotes others’ engagement with diversity;
• Seeks to understand issues relating to implicit bias, stereotype threat and institutionalized prejudice;
• Seeks to understand the influence of one’s own assumptions, judgments and/or biases during interactions with one’s own culture and the culture of others;
• Event planning and coordination experience and knowledge;
• Understanding of various cultures and identities, particularly with respect to anti-bias efforts in education and assessment;
• Experience and knowledge of effective use of Blackbaud OnBoard platform or other similar admission database;
• Experience with Google suite of tools;
• Teaching experience is an asset;
• Marketing and communications experience and knowledge is an asset.

If you have the majority of the qualifications we’re looking for, we encourage you to express your interest by submitting your application.

What We Offer

• Opportunities for professional development to support life-long learning of skills and knowledge;
• Floating holidays that recognizes our employees diverse religious and cultural practices; offers three paid floating holidays per year instead of three statutory public holidays of their choosing.
• Excellent mental health, medical and dental benefit plans (including Health Care and Lifestyle Spending Accounts, Employee Assistance programme and onsite wellbeing programming;
• Paid volunteer time off to become involved in you’re communities, lending voluntary support to programs
• Ongoing community events and employee social events throughout the academic year;
• Fabulous collaborative team members and colleagues;
• Generous pension / retirement plan and paid time off plans: vacation / holidays, personal emergency leave, personal leave, parental leave top-up and flexible self-funded leaves;
• Free on campus parking;
• Opportunity for casual dress days.

UCC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values diversity, encouraging applications from all qualified individuals and welcoming applications from women, visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQ persons. UCC embraces pluralism – celebrating differences, cherishing similarities, and giving voice to multiple perspectives. If you are contacted regarding a UCC opportunity, please advise if you require any accommodations.