Head of Football More info

at  Magdalen College School

THE SCHOOL

Magdalen College School, founded in 1480 by William of Waynflete, is one of the country’s leading independent day schools. It is situated in an enviable location at the heart of Oxford beside the River Cherwell. Shaped by its Christian Collegiate foundation and links with the university city of which it is part, it aims to inspire in all its pupils a desire to learn, flourish and to serve.
The school will celebrate its 550th anniversary in 2030. The current generation of MCS staff and pupils wish to ensure that we shape a School that is able to flourish for at least another half millennium, and hopefully many more beyond. There are around 980 pupils, boys 7-18 and Sixth Form Girls, and 200 staff who learn and work on the school’s central Oxford site.

THE CANDIDATE

We are looking for an outstanding sports teacher to lead, manage and administrate football in the Senior School. The successful candidate will:

• Take a keen interest in the welfare of pupils and show clear commitment to safeguarding children;
• Be a well-qualified sports teacher or football coach who is looking to lead and develop a successful football programme and work within an outstanding Sports Department at a leading independent school;
• Have experience of either playing or coaching at a high level;
• Be prepared to take a share of the teaching of PE and Games at all levels and, above all, they will be enthusiastic about sport, and football especially;
• Be able to coach to A Team level in football and at least one of the other focus sports – Cricket, Hockey, Netball, Rugby and Tennis – and this will include midweek and weekend fixtures across several sports;
• Display a high level of organisation and show clear enthusiasm for excellence in sport and widening participation;
• Have the ability to lead and support colleagues from the Sports Department and the rest of the school;
• Communicate effectively with pupils, parents, staff and the local community;
• Plan and teach lessons in an engaging manner with evident enthusiasm for sport;
• Set clear expectations for pupil behaviour;
• Show clear enthusiasm for sport and display an understanding of sport as part of a thriving extra-curricular provision;
• Display a positive, cheerful and caring attitude, a supportive approach to working with colleagues taking sports teams, and a willingness to be involved in all aspects of school life;
• Demonstrate strong organisational skills in an encouraging environment;
• Act as the pastoral tutor to a senior school houseroom
• Ideally, owing to the nature of the role, have a full, clean driving license with the ability and willingness to drive minibuses;
• Have excellent written and spoken communication skills with pupils, parents and staff;
• Have sound IT skills;
• Have the ability to work collaboratively and effectively as part of a wider team;
• Display a high level of attention to detail;
• Work hard to support pupil progress;
• Be willing to take part in continuing professional development;
• Respond positively to feedback;

The Head of Football will be responsible to the Director of Sport, and ultimately to the Master, for the proper discharge of his or her duties.

THE SPORTS DEPARTMENT

The Sports Department is the largest in the school and oversees the provision of all sport across the Junior and Senior School. Heads of Sport manage their own programmes in a way that allows pupils to flourish in a number of sports. They are ably supported by highly qualified Sports Professionals and experienced PE & Games teachers. We are fortunate to have a number of Level 3 and 4 qualified coaches, many of whom have played sport to the highest level. The introduction of greater departmental INSET has proved invaluable in sharing technical knowledge across all sports. Sports staff act as mentors to pupils who are aiming to progress through performance pathways, but also have a focus on increasing the numbers of pupils representing the school at all levels. Sport at MCS has seen sustained improvement and success over the last 10 years: sports teams across focus sports are habitual county champions and teams regularly advance far in national competitions. There are currently 4 pupils representing England or GB at junior level and several students in regional academies across all sports. Four former pupils are currently playing first class cricket (two of them with England Lions).
The successful candidate will have the opportunity to continue to develop the love of the sport within MCS. Enthusiasm for football is growing at the school where we are looking to field A-D at U12 – U13, A-B at U14, A at U16 and 1st, 2nd and 3rd XI’s at senior level. The U16 and Senior teams compete in the Central Independent School League – the U16s were league winners in 2024. Across all of our focus sports we tour regularly both internationally and more locally and run pre-season trips and training dates. These not only allow us to prepare and compete to a high level, but also give us an opportunity to help develop sport across all of the year groups at the school. Football is entering an exciting phase within the development of sport at the school and we are looking for a passionate and well organised individual to lead this programme forward.
Please see the Information Pack for more information.

The school is seeking to appoint a full-time Head of Football from 1st September 2024 or 1st January 2025 to lead and develop the School’s football programme and teach PE and Games to talented, bright and enthusiastic pupils from Year 7 to Year 13 (and potentially from Year 3 in the Junior School as well). This is an exciting time for football at MCS: from September football will be offered as a sports option to all pupils in Years 7-9, and in Year 10 the year after, in addition to the Fifth and Sixth Forms where football is currently offered. The role would be suitable for an experienced teacher, or an experienced coach who is an Early Career Teacher (ECT) or interested in gaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) through the School’s Waynflete Teaching Certificate.