Office Administrator

The School is seeking to appoint to the new full-time role of Office Administrator from November 2024.

The Operations department at St John’s comprises a number of roles in different but related disciplines (e.g. Reception, Timetabling, Events and Logistics, Scheduling, Information Systems, HR, Facilities and Catering, etc.) which provide support to pupils, parents and staff, with the overall aim of upholding the School’s Aims and Ethos and help each child to become their best self. 

 The Office Administrator will provide essential support across the Operations department as required. The role will suit candidates with high calibre organisational and administrative skills, who have excellent attention to detail, good communication skills, are fast learners, adaptable and flexible to work on multiple tasks, accurate in recording information, are comfortable multi-tasking and are as equally at home doing data entry as undertaking more complex planning and scheduling tasks or communicating with parents.

The Office Administrator is primarily a back-office role, supporting various departments within the organisation to ensure smooth and efficient operations, though at times it may be necessary to cover for absent colleagues in a front-of-house role (e.g. reception cover).

JOB DESCRIPTION

 The Office Administrator reports to the Information Systems Team Leader and works closely with the Director of Operations, Administration Manager, Co-curricular Lead, Registrar, HR Officer, other support staff and the wider staff also. The successful candidate will be open to adjusting their duties according to the needs of the School and happy to be deployed to whichever section of the School requires support. Below are examples of some of the duties which may be included:

•  Information Systems: Assisting the Information Systems Team Leader in the maintenance of a range of information systems, e.g. setting up markbooks for academic progress tracking, administering the termly reporting cycle, data entry in the School’s MIS and related systems, assisting in the annual year-end rollover process, administering user accounts and content updates on the School’s website ‘Portal’, etc.
• Website Administration: Monitoring the calendar of events to schedule the publishing of school notices and regular reminders to parents; Liaising with staff to gather content for entries; Uploading content to the Portal; Administering the document management system for publishing policies, forms and other documents on the Portal; Administering the filtering system to allocate content to the correct families; Monitoring reply forms and sending information to the event organiser; Setting up and sending of official school emails by mail merge; Administering the system for sending SMS alerts
• After School Care and Activities: Administrative support for co-curricular clubs and activities both in the initial sign-up process for pupils and parents and processing the changes to membership during the term; Auditing termly charges for clubs; assisting the Facilities Manager in the maintenance of minibus transport lists, etc.
• Scheduling and Logistics: Support to the Administration Manager in setting up for events, setting up and tracking reply forms;
• Admissions: Support to the Admissions department including data entry, data validation for new starters, assisting in the setup for tours and open mornings;
• HR: Support to the HR Officer with e.g. data entry for recruitment checks and updating the training log, sending reference requests, filing policy updates, setting up hardcopy recruitment files, etc.
• General School Administration: This will include a wide variety of tasks such as the allocation of lockers to pupils at the start of each academic year, the termly production and printing of pupil timetables, setting up ad-hoc future schooling report templates, etc.

This job description is not exhaustive and the post holder may be required to undertake any reasonable related task as directed.

TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT

 Hours

 The Office Administrator works approximately 34 weeks per year (term time), plus an additional 8 weeks outside of term time, according to the needs of the School and as directed by the Director of Operations.

The School is open Monday to Friday from 8:00am until 6:00pm. The normal working hours for the Office Administrator will be 8:30am-4:30pm Monday to Friday, though they may be called on to cover for absent colleagues outside of these times, e.g. staffing the reception desk between 4:30-6:00pm. There will be a daily 30-minute unpaid lunch break, totalling a working week of 37.5 hours. As with all staff, there might be an occasional need for Saturday morning working, e.g. when entry tests occur, or evening working for e.g. parents’ evening, plays or concerts.

Salary

The salary range for full time, 52 weeks will be in the range between £26,000-28,000. The actual salary for this role will be based on 37.5 hours worked per week for 47.1 weeks per year (34 weeks term-time work, 8 weeks non-term-time work and 5.1 weeks paid holiday), which is equivalent to 90.58% of full time. The actual salary range will therefore be £23,550-25,362, dependent on skills and competency. Salaries are paid in arrears in 12 equal monthly instalments.

Applications

A handwritten letter of application should be sent with a fully completed application form (see ‘Application and Recruitment Process Explanatory Notes’) to Mrs Lucy Hargreaves, Information Systems Team Leader, St John's College School, 75 Grange Road, Cambridge CB3 9AB (recruitment@sjcs.co.uk).

Long-list candidates will be invited to attend a first-round interview. Those who are successful after the long-list stage will be invited to complete a skills assessment to inform the short-listing decision. References will be taken up on short-listed candidates who will be invited to return a second-round interview, including a tour of the school and the final interview itself which will include questions relating to safeguarding children.

All reasonable interview expenses will be reimbursed by the School.

St John’s College School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

All appointments are subject to a criminal background check and proof of qualifications in accordance with the requirements of the Children Act.