Head of Sports Science

Starting January or April 2026

POSITION:  Head of Sport Science                  

DEPARTMENT: Sport Science       

REPORTING TO: Deputy Head (Academic)

The College:

Founded in 1843, Marlborough College is the UK’s largest co-educational full boarding school, educating just over 1,000 pupils, aged 13 to 18 years, from the UK and overseas. Whilst we are proud of our Anglican heritage, ours is an inclusive ethos, welcoming pupils of all faiths and none. We have six girls’ houses, six boys’ houses and four mixed houses of 13- to 16-year-old boys with Sixth Form girls and boys. The pastoral care delivered through our 16 boarding houses is unrivalled, ensuring each child is known and cared for individually. The Futures Department provides guidance to ensure further education and careers after school are fully explored and carefully planned.

Pupils form friendships for life and develop the social and leadership skills needed to flourish as adults. They are encouraged to be outward facing and to aspire to change things for the better – ultimately, we would like to be judged by the contributions made by past, present and future Marlburians to the health of wider society throughout the course of their lives.

It is testament to our outstanding academic education and world-class co-curricular activities that our pupils are invariably ambitious, aspirational and high achieving. More than 80% gain places at Russell Group universities or Oxbridge, our sports teams regularly reach the latter stages of national competitions, our Symphony Orchestra plays in partnership with the Sinfonia Smith Square and our artists exhibit in the Mount House Gallery.

Located in beautiful Wiltshire, in one of the most attractive market towns in the country, the College benefits from a 286-acre site, stunning period buildings including a Gothic Revival chapel and the neoclassical Memorial Hall, which is also a world-class concert hall, and university-quality sporting facilities. The campus is centred around the magical Marlborough Mound, a 4,000-year-old Neolithic mound, reputedly the burial place of Merlin. The College enjoys the advantages of being within easy reach of Heathrow, London and, indeed, many other parts of the country.

Further details about Marlborough College can be found online at www.marlboroughcollege.org.

Marlborough College Mission

To deliver the best independent, co-educational, full boarding education in the UK and to be recognised for this globally.

Key purpose of the role

Marlborough College seeks to appoint a talented teacher to join as ‘Head’ of its popular and academically successful Exercise and Sport Science Department.  The successful candidate will be an outstanding classroom practitioner with the vision to be creative, the passion to motivate, and the subject knowledge to challenge and inspire.  They will be an inspiring individual, driven to ensure the quality of learning and teaching across Exercise and Sport Science at Marlborough is second to none, demonstrating an ability to successfully and collaboratively create and implement strategy to achieve this ambitious aim.

The successful candidate will be expected to become involved in College life beyond the classroom, and to contribute to the pastoral and co-curricular provision that lies at the heart of a busy boarding school. 

Overall Teaching Responsibilities

To deliver exceptional and inspiring teaching to our students in accordance with our curriculum, teachers’ standards and College values.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to the design and delivery of an ambitious and innovative curriculum
• Play a role in delivering key College-wide initiatives
• Be alert to the opportunities to extend and enrich pupils’ experience, through talks, trips and other appropriate events and their own expertise
• Be committed to a high level of pedagogical and professional development.
• To implement and deliver the curriculum, adapting practice according to age and

educational need

• To set stretching and realistic targets for pupils that encourage collective and

individual aspirations

• To monitor and assess pupil work and prepare feedback
• To research new topic areas and maintain up-to-date subject knowledge
• To assess, monitor and report pupil attainment
• To design collective and individual interventions where appropriate
• To prepare pupils for exams and external assessment
• To direct teaching assistants and trainee teachers in the classroom
• To liaise with parents, carers and other academic stakeholders about progress and pupil
•  

Additional Duties:

• Play a full part in the life of the College community, to support its mission and

ethos and to encourage its staff and pupils to follow this example

• Take part in marketing and liaison activities such as open days and evenings
• Take part, as may be required, in the review, development and management of

activities relating to the curriculum, organisation and pastoral functions of the College

• Carry out duties in accordance with the requirements for Co-Curricular and Pastoral duties
• Promote actively the College’s policies and values
• Comply with the College’s Health & Safety, Safeguarding and Data Protection policies and undertake risk assessments as appropriate

Head of Department (HoD) responsibilities

The responsibilities of the ‘Head of Department’ are in addition to being an inspiring and outstanding classroom practitioner, and include but are not limited to the below:

Leadership

• The creation and implementation of a vision for the Department, in line with the College’s strategic plan
• Be responsible for designing, implementing and monitoring the delivery of an ambitious curriculum
• Be alert to the opportunities to extend and enrich pupils experience of the subject through for example, talks, trips and other appropriate events
• Be able to work collaboratively with all Exercise and Sport Science colleagues and other allied academic departments
• Be committed to a high level of professional and pedagogical development and to ensuring the highest standards of teaching in the department
• Holding regular meetings to maintain and evaluate this shared vision and direction for the Department, as well as for dealing with more day-to-day matters
• Leading curriculum development and the creation of effective and exciting schemes of work
• Support and induction of new teachers; regard for, and interest in, the continuing professional development of all teachers in the Department
• Delegation of departmental initiatives and responsibilities to groups and individual colleagues in the spirit of teamwork and professional development
• Attendance at and contribution to HoDs meetings and other whole-school committee meetings as appropriate

Administration:

• Planning and monitoring the departmental budget
• Producing and updating teaching set lists
• Preparation of paperwork for internal and public exams
• Purchase of library books and audio-visual material; updating and development of resources and IT
• Preparation of departmental strategic plan, annual report, results analyses, budget requests and annual review of schemes of work
• Producing analyses of public exam results, and, based on that, an annual strategic review for the Deputy Head (Academic) and the Master

Person Specification