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The British International School Riyadh (BISR) is a prestigious institution renowned for its commitment to academic excellence and holistic development. Offering a dynamic, globally-minded education rooted in the British curriculum, BISR fosters a vibrant and inclusive learning environment where students thrive academically and personally. With state-of-the-art facilities and a dedicated team of educators, the school provides an enriching experience that nurtures creativity, critical thinking, and leadership skills, preparing students for success in an ever-evolving world.
BISR is a highly respected, not-for-profit educational institution with seven campuses across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Serving nearly 3000 students aged 3-18 from over 90 nationalities, BISR is supported by more than 538 dedicated staff.
BISR leverages Saudi Arabia’s rich cultural heritage. It encourages its diverse community and partnerships with service learning to inspire students to engage with complex global issues and develop as responsible global citizens.
Since 1979, the school has delivered high-quality education to the expatriate community. It is accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) and as a British School Overseas (BSO), with affiliations to leading educational organisations and exam boards.
BISR focuses on three core pillars: learning, well-being and enrichment, giving equal importance to each. Research indicates that happy students are more effective learners. Moreover, active participation in the broader school community—such as through extracurricular activities, service, leadership roles, and trips—offers significant benefits. These benefits include enhanced academic performance, increased self-esteem and confidence, a broader perspective, improved social skills, and leadership and life skills development.
BISR believes in providing all students with personalised, challenging and enjoyable learning experiences. Each campus emphasises holistic education, offering various enrichment programmes and high-quality learning. Students can access diverse opportunities through residential trips, house events, and an extensive extracurricular selection. Coupled with strong pastoral care, this environment ensures that students both thrive and flourish within a supportive community.
For younger learners, all primary schools follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and an adapted version of the English National Curriculum for Years 1 through 6, enriched to reflect the school’s local and international context. Assessment and reporting procedures are standardised across campuses for consistency.
In secondary schools, students study a broad range of subjects through GCSE examinations and a more focused selection of A-Levels. At the DQ campus, BISR also offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme for 16-18-year-old students and has recently introduced vocational pathways, including Btecs. BISR graduates often continue their education at prestigious universities worldwide.
The Board of Governors is seeking to appoint a visionary, inspirational and highly experienced leader as Director of Schools to commence in August 2025. This key role will be responsible for the overall effective leadership of the school and delivery of outstanding education across all its campuses within Saudi Arabia.


Key Dates
Closing date: 11 October 2024
Longlist interviews: 23, 24 October 2024 (Virtual interviews)
Shortlist interviews: 5, 6 November 2024 (in person, organised in Riyadh)

The British International School Riyadh (BISR) is a prestigious institution renowned for its commitment to academic excellence and holistic development. Offering a dynamic, globally-minded education rooted in the British curriculum, BISR fosters a vibrant and inclusive learning environment where students thrive academically and personally. With state-of-the-art facilities and a dedicated team of educators, the school provides an enriching experience that nurtures creativity, critical thinking, and leadership skills, preparing students for success in an ever-evolving world.
A highly respected, not-for-profit educational institution with seven campuses across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, BISR serves nearly 3000 students aged 3-18 from over 90 nationalities, and is supported by 538 dedicated staff.
BISR leverages Saudi Arabia's rich cultural heritage. It encourages its diverse community and partnerships with service learning to inspire students to engage with complex global issues and develop as responsible global citizens.
Since 1979, the school has delivered high-quality education to the expatriate community. It is accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) and as a British School Overseas (BSO), with affiliations to leading educational organisations and exam boards.
BISR focuses on three core pillars: learning, well-being and enrichment, giving equal importance to each. Research indicates that happy students are more effective learners. Moreover, active participation in the broader school community—such as through extracurricular activities, service, leadership roles, and trips—offers significant benefits. These benefits include enhanced academic performance, increased self-esteem and confidence, a broader perspective, improved social skills, and leadership and life skills development.
What do we think makes our school special?

• A British education is respected world-wide

• We are academically successful with proven examination success at IGCSE and A-level

• The behaviour of our students is excellent – a feature regularly commented on by visitors

• We enjoy high levels of parent satisfaction

• Individual student and staff successes are recognised, rewarded and celebrated

• We offer a broad co-curricular programme, encompassing extra-curricular activities, student leadership, service learning and residential trips

• Student well-being is a key focus, where we support the holistic development of each child within our Intercultural context

• Our students develop as life-long learners

• Traditional values and good manners are reinforced

• BISR students feel proud of themselves and their school

• We have an international mix of students from more than 50 Countries

• We invest in our staff, supporting their professional development by providing a broad range of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities. Our staff retention is very good

• We are reflective, leveraging from our British School Overseas (BSO) and Council of International Schools (CIS) inspection and accreditation processes to drive self-improvement. The most recent reports can be found here

• There is an excellent sense of community, with a very active and support PTA who both run and contribute to a range of events throughout the academic year.

Teaching at BISR
Ideally, we would like to appoint teachers with UK and/or international experience and an understanding of the place of British schools in the international context, but do not be prevented from applying if you do not necessarily have international or British curriculum experience.
We have a wonderful community here at BISR. Our students are highly motivated and a pleasure to interact with every day. Our staff are committed and know how to have fun. However, although the package is generally regarded as generous, we are not interested in people who only want to join us because of the money.
We want passionate educators, who wish to work extremely hard to make BISR the best British-style school in the region, and a genuine contender for the status of flagship British School worldwide. We expect all teachers to offer an extra-curricular activity and also to contribute to the House programme.
Our sponsorship packages cater for single status teachers without families, or married teachers with their spouse and children, or married teaching couples with their children. The package covers up to a maximum of 2 dependent children; however, families with more than 2 children may still apply but all costs (including schooling) for the 3rd child and onward will need to be borne by the staff member. Our sponsorship packages only apply to candidates who will not be under their spouses sponsorship. The visa process to enable sponsorship can take a couple of months to progress, so it is advisable that candidates seek advice from the BISR HR Team on the timings for taking their children out of their current school.
The Curriculum at BISR
For younger learners, all primary schools follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and an adapted version of the English National Curriculum for Years 1 through 6, enriched to reflect the school’s local and international context. Assessment and reporting procedures are standardised across campuses for consistency,
In secondary schools, students study a broad range of subjects through GCSE examinations and a more focused selection of A-Levels. At the DQ campus, BISR also offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme for 16-18-year-old students and has recently introduced vocational pathways, including Btecs. BISR graduates often continue their education at prestigious universities worldwide.
BISR is well prepared to cater to the academic and social needs of internationally mobile students and encourages all students to challenge themselves constantly. Our teachers nurture intellectually curious, creative, respectful, caring, and discerning young adults who are conscious of their responsibility to the community and their environment. Parents are encouraged to work in partnership with the school and support its drive towards excellence.