Governor Services Officer

We are looking for an outstanding individual to join us as Governor Services Officer, ensuring the seamless operation of all aspects of academy governance administration within the Governor Services team.

About Us

The founder and sponsor of the Harris Federation, Lord Harris of Peckham, opened our first school in 1990. We have, over the past thirty years, implemented ideas and initiatives that have transformed the opportunities of pupils from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Harris academies are widely recognised as a force for social mobility. We are immensely proud of the role that our alumni are now beginning to play in the world and of what we believe our current generation of pupils will go on to achieve.

We now have over 50 schools educating more than 40,000 young people across London and Essex, and employ over 5,000 staff across our academies and head office. With the majority of our academies located in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, a high-quality education is key to the futures of the pupils we serve.

The Governor Services team delivers exceptional advice, guidance, and expertise to over more than 350+ governors across our academies, fostering a thriving educational environment.

The team empowers Principals, Clerks, and other staff members with the support, advice, and training they need in key areas such as governance, admissions, exclusions, and complaints, driving excellence in educational leadership.

To discover more about our culture, ethos and what it is like to work here, visit the Why Work For Us page.

Main Areas of Responsibility

You will play a key role in ensuring effective administration for all aspects of Governor Services. This will include:

• Acting as a focal point for all administration management for 350+ governors, including onboarding and induction, training and attendance at meetings
• Supporting the annual collection of governor declarations of interest
• Maintaining the Governor Database
• Monitoring academy website compliance and SharePoint sites for all governance related matters
• Liaising with academies to maintain a central calendar of dates for all Governor meetings
• Managing the Governor Services email inbox
• Maintaining information about academy admission arrangements
• Providing administrative support, information and guidance to academies about Exclusion Committees and Complaints Panels
• Assisting in the planning and coordination of the Governor Conference and other events
• Providing clerking services to nominated Governing Bodies
• Supporting the provision of information and advice, and the delivery of termly training, to Federation Clerks.
• Maintaining the Federation's Clerks Hub site

For a full job description, please download the Job Pack.

Qualifications & Experience

We would like to hear from you if you have:

• Qualifications to ‘A' Level or above.
• NGA Development for Clerks programme (desirable but not essential)
• Robust experience in a busy administrative role
• Experience within a clerking or governance role (desirable)
• A keen interest in governance
• The ability to be proactive, use initiative and take ownership for all aspects of the role
• Exhibit high standards of ethical conduct at all times, with a clear understanding of the impact on others
• The ability to adapt to changing situations
• The ability to anticipate and identify the needs of internal and external customers in a friendly, prompt and professional manner, delivering high quality service at all times

For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.

Next Steps

If you have any questions about this opportunity, please send us an email, or call to arrange a conversation.

Before applying, please download the Job Pack for full details on the job responsibilities and person specification. This will be helpful for you when completing your application, and throughout the recruitment process.

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible as we may interview and offer to a candidate before the closing date. Please note that we only accept applications submitted before the closing date via our careers website.

Professional Development & Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.

In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan, electric car scheme, 26 days' annual leave (plus bank holidays) for staff who work across the full year, and many other benefits.

We offer lifestyle friendly working arrangements including flexible start and end times, and hybrid working with 2 days from home and 3 days either with the team at our office in East Croydon or visiting one of our academies.

Learn more about our benefits on our website.

Safeguarding Notice

The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.

Equal Opportunities

The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.

We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment.