Head of Academy Player Care & Shadow Scholar Mentor

Organisation: Barnet FC
Salary: £20 per hour (17.5 hours per week - the role has potential to be linked with sessional coaching within the Academy)
Location: London (North-West)
Contract type: (Part time)
Closing date: 27 March 2026
Job Description: Barnet FC and Canons High School is seeking a dynamic and passionate Head of Academy Player Care & Shadow Scholar Mentor to lead and develop our Player Care and Life Skills Programme across all U18 age groups.

This is a key leadership role within our Academy and school, as you will be responsible for ensuring that every young person in our Academy receives outstanding care, support and guidance throughout their journey.

Key Responsibilities (Academy Player Care):
- Delivering a high-quality player care provision, liaising with academy and Canons staff to address player needs and ensuring welfare needs are met at all times
- Developing and coordinating effective communication and engagement with players and parents to provide tailored support
- Responsible for the management and delivery of the Personal Development and Life Skills Programme for Academy, including booking facilitators and managing session logistics
- Responsibility for overseeing the Academy Induction and Transition Strategy, including aftercare for released players
- Devise a Mental and Emotional Wellbeing Action Plan, to include details of support available and a referral process for concerns, and be responsible for the continuous improvement of this
- Be the nominated Academy Safeguarding officer and liaise with the Club’s Head of Safeguarding to promote best practices and maintain a safe and inclusive environment across the academy
- Serve as a central point of contact for reporting and recording welfare and safeguarding concerns, ensuring all incidents are logged appropriately on the club and school systems where relevant.
- Lead on stakeholder feedback initiatives (Player Voice, Parent Voice, end-of-season surveys etc.), collating data to inform action plans and feeding back to academy staff
- Management and co-ordination of the academy’s Community Programme in line with the club’s foundation
- Building strong, supportive relationships with academy players and monitoring their welfare throughout their development

Key Responsibilities (Shadow Scholar Mentor):
- To identify using the available data, in association with the DoSF and other staff, students from the Barnet Shadow Scholarship Programme at risk of underachievement (students at all ability levels)
- To develop strategies for supporting identified students
- To develop and offer mentoring support on a one-to-one or small group basis to students
- To help students identify why they are underperforming and identify strategies to improve their performance (both academic and professional)
- To draw up action plans with identified students, providing clear outcomes and success measures
- To work flexibly and sensitively with staff, families and students to support student attendance and student attainment
- To work in partnership with other agency support for Year 12 and Year 13 students as appropriate
- To support the development of the students from a football perspective, including the use of player profiles and improvement plans
- To attend key Sixth Form team meetings and events i.e. Open Evening etc

Essential Requirements
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the confidence and skills to establish rapport with young people
- Must successfully complete an FA Enhanced DBS check.
- Current FA Safeguarding Children qualification.
- Commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Desirable
- Experience working within a professional football or sporting environment.
How to apply: To apply send your CV and a brief cover letter to James O'Dowd – jodowd@barnetfcacademy.com, no later than 5 pm on 27th March 2026. If you don’t hear from us within 7 days of your application submission, please consider that your application was unsuccessful