Business Manager

Main Purpose

The business manager will support the Head Teacher/Principal and work alongside the Anthem Central Services Team (ACST) to deliver operational effectiveness across various areas such as Estates, Finance, HR, and Administration.

Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership and Strategy

• Support the Head Teacher/Principal to work alongside the Anthem Central Services Team (ACST) to deliver operational effectiveness to the school across areas including, but not limited to Estates, Finance, HR and Administration.
• Provide outstanding operational management for all school/academy administrative and support colleagues as well as additional school/academy business services, including cleaning and catering.
• Support the Head of Property and Estates and Regional Estates Manager to ensure Health and Safety and Site Compliance is monitored and effective.
• Collaborate and share best practice with other Anthem schools, attending Anthem and Academy training, meetings and events as required.

Financial Management & Control

• Budgets: Work with colleagues from the ACST and your school finance colleagues to prepare the annual budget and 3-year forecasts for the Academy.
• Ensure value for money is achieved and central to all decision making within the school, offering professional challenge to all stakeholders as required.
• Financial Monitoring: Support the Head Teacher/Principal with management of the academy’s finances, meet regularly with the ACST Finance leads. Meet regularly with cost centre managers to discuss the current financial position and future spend to inform meetings with wider school and trust leaders.
• Transactional Processing: Work with the School/Academy Finance Officer to ensure all financial transactions are processed accurately and in a timely manner.
• Financial Control: Work with ACST colleagues to ensure that the Academy complies with the Anthem Financial Handbook.
• Payroll: Ensure that accurate timely information is provided to the payroll provider and pension schemes. Support the Principal with approval of the monthly payroll.
• Audit and Year End: Provide all schedules and information required for year-end and audit purposes to ACST colleagues.
• Income Generation: Support grant applications, fundraising, and diversification opportunities. Ensure any grants are properly recorded and information provided to funders.

Facilities & Estates Management

• Work with the school/academy and ACST facilities team leaders to maintain the School/Academy Asset Management plan.
• Work with ACST Estates and Property leaders to ensure the school/academy facilities teams provide effective site maintenance and security throughout the school/academy estate.
• Work with the ACST Head of Property and Estates to deliver capital works and other large maintenance issues.
• Ensure ancillary services e.g. cleaning and catering are monitored and managed effectively.
• Ensure Anthem’s arrangements for insurance are effectively managed within the school/academy.
• Support the ACST and school Facilities Team to ensure systems are in place for effective monitoring, measuring and reporting of health and safety issues to the Senior Leadership Team and Anthem, in line with the property handbook.
• Work with the Anthem Head of IT to ensure that the IT and technical services provided can meet the needs of the academy.
• Facilitate the efficient planning, set-up and delivery of on-site events.

Human Resource Management

• Working with ACST colleagues, ensure that staff records are complete, and contracts issued in a timely manner.
• Manage the recruitment, appraisal, and development of all operational support staff.
• Working with the HR Business Partner, implement the Academy’s HR policies and procedures, embedding them across the Academy.
• Ensure people have a clear understanding of the policies and procedures, and the importance of putting them into practice.
• Monitor the way policies and procedures are actioned and provide support where necessary.
• Work with the ACST HR Team on all HR-related issues, keeping them informed of any restructuring, disciplinary, capability, or significant absence cases.
• Ensure compliance with responsibilities as laid out in the Academy’s Equal Opportunity Policy and take an active role in promoting equality and diversity.

Procurement

• Ensure that procurement processes follow Trust procurement policy and guidelines.
• Ensure contracts are recorded on the contracts register and copies of contracts maintained.
• Proactively manage contracts ensuring the Academy is obtaining value for money and any issues are dealt with in a timely manner.
• Support Anthem in any trust-wide procurement initiatives.

Administration

• Maintain the school website, ensuring timely compliance with ASCT audits.
• Be the nominated Educational Visits Coordinator for the Academy ensuring all trips and visits comply with regulations and include appropriate risk assessments.
• Act as the Data Protection Lead for the Academy reporting to the Anthem Data Protection Officer.
• Ensure Academy holds required licences e.g. radio operator licence; D10 permit etc.
• Be aware of and comply with policies and procedures relating to child protection, health and safety and security, confidentiality and data protection, reporting all concerns to the Principal.
• Promote the Academy’s policies on behaviour management.
• Undertake such other duties as reasonably correspond to the post (e.g. supporting lunch and break duties, lesson change over, arrival and dismissals times).

Community

• Ensure effective and efficient administration of the Academy’s lettings.
• Ensure the provision of support to the Principal in publicising the Academy and its facilities to parents and members of the local community.
• Support the promotion and marketing of the Academy in the local community.
• Ensure that effective lines of communication are maintained between the Academy and families/local residents through letters and events.
• Report to the Anthem Community Council on matters of Academy business.

These duties and responsibilities should be regarded as neither exhaustive nor exclusive as the post holder may be required to undertake other reasonably determined duties and responsibilities commensurate with the grading of the post. Please note that we reserve the right to close the recruitment campaign earlier that this date subject to the volume of applications received.  We therefore encourage candidates to submit applications as early as possible.

It is an offence for an individual who has been disqualified from working with children to knowingly apply for, offer to do, accept, or do any work in a ‘regulated activity’. The position advertised is a ‘regulated activity’.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and require all staff and volunteers to share and demonstrate this commitment. The successful candidate will have to meet the requirements of the person specification and will be subject to the relevant pre-employment checks which will, where applicable, include a health check, an enhanced DBS check, the Children’s Barred List check and satisfactory references.