Head of Boarding in Oxford

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).

KEY 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.
• 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.
• 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 with 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.
• Manage the boarding payroll and house budgets/credit cards, liaising with the Bursary department as appropriate.
• Coordinate staff training, ensuring the boarding team receive appropriate and frequent training and development for their roles and that this is recorded accurately.
• Oversee, maintain and ensure quality assurance of up-to-date duty rotas across the boarding houses.
• Work 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’.
• Line manage 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.
• Chair regular meetings of the boarding team every half term to share news, best practice and any other necessary information.
• Assist and advise senior staff to ensure that staff deployment within the boarding team maximises its efficacy.
• Create timetables for the graduate assistants and line manage them accordingly.
• Organise and conduct, where appropriate, annual performance reviews for the boarding team.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

HOW TO APPLY

Full details of the role, salary, benefits and information on how to apply can be found on our website: must be made using the College’s application form. CVs will only be accepted if accompanied by a St Clare’s application form. Applications should be submitted by email to by 9am Friday 27 February 2026.