Head of Boarding

JOB DESCRIPTION – Head of Boarding
Candidates are expected to spend time looking at the College website www.stclares.ac.uk which provides information about
St Clare’s and the courses we offer.
JOB SPECIFICATION

Title of Post

Head of Boarding

Purpose of Role

The Head of Boarding is responsible for the management and development of all aspects
of boarding and pastoral care of students on the IB and IC courses, including the
management of the pastoral staff teams.

The Head of Boarding also has significant responsibility for the promotion and
safeguarding of the welfare of students within the St Clare’s IB World School and for the
Under 18 International College students.

The Head of Boarding will be appointed as a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL)

Reporting Structure

•  Reports to the Vice Principal Pastoral
•

Line management responsibility for the Boarding team

Key Responsibilities

Chief Responsibilities
•  Act as a champion and spokesperson for boarding across the college and in the wider

community

•  Coordinate and lead on all aspects of the day-to-day operations of boarding, including

staffing

•  Ensure excellent pastoral care and safeguarding practice in boarding
•  Ensure the boarding provision remains compliant with all statutory requirements and

guidance such as NMS, KCSIE, fire and safety regulations etc.

•  Act as Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, with particular responsibility for

safeguarding boarders during evenings and weekends

Boarding
•  Represent the boarding community in IB management meetings as a member of the IB

Management Group

•  Ensure excellent health provision in boarding, liaising with the nurse and other

professionals as needed

•  Liaise with colleagues in the International College and the Summer and Short Courses
team to ensure fair and collaborative use of boarding resources (e.g. bed spaces,
staffing)

•  Oversee the allocation of boarding rooms for IB students and manage any requests for

changes

•  Maintain and regularly review the boarding staff handbook and the boarding student

handbook and related policies

•  Liaise with colleagues across the college to ensure boarding is appropriately

represented and considered. These colleagues will include the following (although this
list is not exhaustive): Nurse, Counsellor, Head of Activities, Estates Manager, HR and
Bursary teams, administrative staff

•  Oversee the regular publication of high-quality news and information from the

boarding houses and from boarding as a whole, sharing with the marketing team as
appropriate

•  Proactively engage boarding parents, ensuring they are kept up to date the news from

St Clare’s boarding communities

•  Be a supportive presence in each house, including working a duty shift in each house at

least once per fortnight

•  Engage proactively with industry professional bodies (e.g. BSA) to ensure ongoing and

up-to-date awareness of best practice

•  Oversee the utilisation of rewards and sanctions in boarding, liaising with pastoral

colleagues as appropriate

•  Organise high-quality events and trips for the boarding community and advertise these

widely across the College

•  Devise the annual calendar of events for boarding and promote key dates widely across

the College

•  Organise and quality assure active, inclusive and effective activities and tutoring

programmes for the boarding houses, in liaison with academic colleagues

•  Work with Admissions to ensure that all boarders are compliant with UKVI visa

regulations

•  Manage and coordinate boarding staffing including house parents, graduate assistants,

and relief wardens.   This will include:

o  Managing the boarding payroll and house budgets/credit cards, liaising with the

Bursary department as appropriate

o  Coordinating staff training, ensuring the boarding team receive appropriate and
frequent training and development for their roles and that this is recorded
accurately

o  Overseeing, maintaining and ensuring quality assurance of up-to-date duty rotas

across the boarding houses

o  Working closely with Senior House Parents to ensure boarding staff in each

‘cluster’ are appropriately supported and key information is disseminated and
shared within each ‘cluster’

o  Line managing the Senior House Parents to ensure that all policies are adhered to

and that all duties are carried out in a timely and efficient manner

o  Chairing regular meetings of the boarding team every half term to share news,

best practice and any other necessary information

o  Assisting and advising senior staff to ensure that staff deployment within the

boarding team maximises its efficacy

o  Creating timetables for the graduate assistants and line managing them

accordingly

o  Organising and conducting, where appropriate, annual performance reviews for

the boarding team.

Pastoral
•  Advise boarding staff on best practice in the care of boarding students
•  Support boarding staff in going about their daily duties and be a supportive, positive

presence in the community

•  Support the students’ welfare and development, ensuring information is shared

effectively between boarding colleagues and the wider community

•  Oversee creation and utilisation of pastoral support plans, risk assessments, or any

other documentation required to ensure excellent pastoral provision for each student

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Health and Safety
•  Work closely with the Head of Estates and the Vice Principal Pastoral to ensure

boarding premises are well maintained, safe and comfortable

•  Manage boarding fire drills and ensure that accurate records of drills and incidents are

maintained

•  Liaise with support teams to ensure that the college is compliant with National

Minimum Standards for boarding, ensuring that security, medical provision and health
and safety standards are met securely

Safeguarding and Compliance
•  Ensure that the boarding houses are compliant with the latest standards in respect of

safeguarding and that the boarding houses and practices meet or exceed the UK
National Minimum Standards (NMS)

•  Act as a college-wide Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead for the boarding houses

and ensure that full DSL training is maintained

•  Hold fortnightly student review meetings with each house parent
•  Contribute to regular safeguarding audits
•  Ensure that all boarding houses are fully compliant with the College’s policies on

safeguarding and other areas of professional practice

Operations, Facilities and Finance
•  Oversee the use of all resources across the houses, including staffing and room

allocation, maximising their potential across the IBWS, International College, and
Summer and Short Courses

•  Work with the operations team to coordinate transportation arrangements across the

houses to ensure the most effective use of time and resources

Communication
•  Ensure transparent and clear communication to all stakeholders (staff, students and

parents) in relation to boarding matters and practices

•  Maintain good relationships and communication between the boarding team and key

pastoral and academic members of the wider staff body

•  Ensure that communication with parents is timely and appropriate
•  Take the lead on key parent communications where necessary

While every effort has been made to describe the main duties and responsibilities of the
post, each individual task necessary for the successful performance of the role may not be
specifically identified. The Head of Boarding may therefore be required to undertake
other tasks and duties that are commensurate with the grade and nature of the role
and/or in the reasonable discretion of the College.

PERSON SPECIFICATION
The successful candidate will have demonstrated the following essential (E) or desirable (D) skills and experience:
•  An honours degree or equivalent professional experience (E)
•  A recognised teaching qualification (D)

Education and
qualifications

Knowledge, skills and
experience

•  Recent and consistent involvement in boarding life (E)
•  Thorough understanding of child protection and safeguarding procedures and

practice (E)

•  Up-to-date awareness of compliance considerations in boarding (D)
•  Strong organisation writing and IT skills (E)
•  Direct experience working in a diverse international environment (E)
•  Experience working with students aged 15 and over (E)

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Personal skills and
attributes

•  Experience of regulatory inspection processes, e.g. ISI (D)
•  Experience of appraising colleagues (D)
•  Experience working in a residential school (E)
•  Working knowledge of the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools (E)
•  A commitment to equal opportunities and inclusion (E)
•  A high level of professionalism and dedication to safeguarding children and young

adults (E)

•  Resilient, with an ability to manage challenge and prioritise decision making

effectively (E)

•  Selflessness and a willingness to put the needs of others first (E)
•  A positive and solution-focused attitude to work (E)
•  Able to work effectively and harmoniously as part of an energetic and hard-working

team (E)

•  Respect for all members of the school community (E)
•  Able to establish a positive and respectful rapport with students, staff and parents (E)
•  Experience of dealing with confidential information (E)

References and Pre-employment Checks
St Clare’s is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers
to share this commitment.  All offers of employment and contracts are issued subject to satisfactory references and
outcomes on all necessary pre-employment checks including DBS records and establishing the right to work in the
UK.  Some or all of these checks may have been undertaken before an offer is made.

Under the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools, we are required to follow the guidance in Keeping
Children Safe in Education and undertake additional checks on employees.

References

Identity, right to
work and
qualifications

Police checks/DBS

Full written references and phone references on quoted references may be obtained
before or after interview.  One referee must be your current or most recent employer.
References must also include the last place of employment where you worked with
children or vulnerable adults.  References from friends or relatives will not be accepted.
Please ensure referees know they will be contacted and will respond promptly.

Original documents confirming proof of identity, right to work in the UK and relevant
qualifications will be required.

Police checks/Disclosure and Barring Service checks will also be undertaken for which
employees/prospective employees are required to provide information and consent.

Candidates who have lived and worked abroad in the last five years will be required to
seek good conduct references, or the equivalent, from the countries in which they
worked, as a pre-requisite of employment.

Health questionnaire

Satisfactory completion of a health questionnaire.

Prohibition order
checks

Prohibition order checks will be carried out for all teaching positions and for senior
management positions as appropriate.

Terms of
Employment

Full time, permanent contract working during term-time plus up to two weeks before the
Autumn term begins (for student orientation), and the day after term ends (while
students are leaving to go home).

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Place of Work

139 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7AL

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Hours of Work

An average of 45 hours per week, which will include some evening and weekend work.

Emergency on call hours, to respond to safeguarding concerns within boarding will also be
required from time to time.

A teaching commitment of up to 10 hours per week or a significant contribution to the
activities programme will be included in the hours outlined above.

The academic year for IB teaching is 35 weeks, from late August until mid-June, with
breaks at the end of term and mid-term in October and February.

Probationary Period

Three months

Notice Period

After successful completion of the probationary period, one full term’s notice must be
received in writing prior to the start of a term.

Salary/Pay

Competitive salary depending on skills and experience

Salaries are reviewed annually with any increases taking effect in September.

Holidays

The holiday year is 1st September to 31st August.

Holiday entitlement is calculated with reference to the statutory minimum holiday
entitlement and is deemed to be taken during college holiday periods and outside of the
working weeks specified above.  You will not normally be required to work during college
holiday periods.

Contract for Teachers

Please note that public/bank holidays that occur during college terms will be working
days.

Pension

A contributory defined contribution (DC) pension scheme is offered following a 3-month
deferment period.  St Clare’s will pay a sum equivalent to 20% of salary subject to the
employee making contributions of at least 5%.

Accommodation

It is a requirement of the role that the Head of Boarding will occupy College
accommodation as the Principal deems to be suitable. The terms of occupation will be set
out in a Service Occupancy Agreement.

Other Benefits

•  Meals will be provided in the College dining hall on days during Terms, Semesters or
other periods of teaching and major summer courses if the Employee is working and
meals are being served to students.

•  Season ticket loan
•  Cycle to Work scheme
•  Fee reduction of day fees for children of staff who study at the College
•
•  Subsidised gym membership
•  Employee Assistance Programme

Life Assurance

Applications

Applications must be made using the College’s standard application form which can be
found on the College website at www.stclares.ac.uk/recruitment.

HOW TO APPLY

CVs will only be accepted if accompanied by a St Clare’s application form.

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Email

Post

Applications should be submitted by email to recruitment@stclares.ac.uk

Alternatively, send to:
Recruitment, HR Department, St Clare’s, Oxford, 139 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7AL

Contact us

Email: recruitment@stclares.ac.uk                              Tel:     01865 552031

Deadline for
applications

This role will close at 9am on Friday 27th February 2026

Earlier applications are welcomed, and the College reserves the right to shortlist when a
suitable field is available.

Selection process

Interviews will take place soon after the closing date.

Where appropriate, applicants will also be asked to prepare and teach a lesson on an
agreed topic.   There will be an opportunity to look around the College and meet other
colleagues on the day of the interview.

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