Personal Assistant

About the Schools

Colchester Prep and High School Over the past 140 years Colchester Prep & High School has built a reputation for providing an excellent all-round education whilst preparing pupils to be confident, balanced individuals, ready for a rapidly changing world. Today that reputation still stands.

Oxford House is a Montessori Nursery and Preparatory school for girls and boys aged 2.5-11 years. Founded in 1959, this intimate and exclusive school offers every child a complete education that puts a high emphasis on traditional values and the child-centred learning of the Montessori Method.

St Margarets Preparatory is a co-educational independent school in Gosfield, Essex, for children aged 2-11 years Offering an all-round education, St Margaret’s is a modern school with traditional values, installing a lifelong love of learning throughout a child’s education and beyond. We expect every child to leave our school with maturity, confidence and a sense of independence.

About Cognita

Launched in 2004, Cognita is an extraordinary community of diverse yet connected schools, spanning seventeen different countries. We share one common purpose: to deliver an outstanding holistic education that will enable our students to thrive in a rapidly evolving world. With over 100 schools in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the United States, we employ 18,000 teaching and support staff in the care and education of more than 90,000 students.

Our schools provide a truly holistic education based on rich and varied experiences that focus on social, emotional, physical and cognitive learning. This results in excellent academic outcomes for our students, who are also equipped with the agency, adaptability and positive attitudes to set them up for success in our fast changing world.

We are looking for a Personal Assistant to support our 3 schools in Essex.

About the role

The role of PA is responsible for confidential secretarial, administration and clerical duties relating to all aspects of the Headteacher’s work, including management of diary, correspondence, record keeping, minute taking and organising school events.

Key Responsibilities will include, (but not limited to):

• Carry out all confidential secretarial, administration and clerical duties relating to all aspects of the Headteacher’s work.
• Management of Headteacher’s diary including making travel arrangements as required and all paperwork/documentation/presentations are well prepared for meetings.
• Be responsible for all the Headteacher’s administrative filing including confidential personnel files.
• Support the Operations Manager in keeping an updated Training Log for all staff and manage Cognita People to update staff profiles.
• Manage the Single Central Register (SCR) and Safer Recruitment process in line with Cognita Policy
• Work in the school office to support the Operations Manager, Administrator and Receptionist.
• To attend school open days and school events as required.
• o support the wider administration teams in the school as directed by the Operations Manager
• To act as the SCR Champion for all Schools in the cluster

Who we are looking for

To be considered for this role you will have experience working as a Personal Assistant at senior management level and experience of delivering to multiple deadlines. We would also expect;

• Experience of taking minutes
• Able to deal with children and adults with tact and sensitivity
• Able to communicate effectively 
• Able to build and develop positive relationships with all staff
• Ability to work on own initiative.
• Excellent attention to detail,

Benefits at Cognita

• Competitive Salary
• Pension
• School Fee Discount
• Private Healthcare

Apply now

Please send a cover letter and completed application form to: Kelly Ainsworth at Recruitment@cognita.com. Please note we do not accept CVs without a fully completed application form.

EARLY APPLICATIONS ARE ENCOURAGED, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO INTERVIEW AND APPOINT PRIOR TO CLOSING DATE FOR THE RIGHT APPLICANT.

Applicants who have not heard from us by the closing date must assume that, on this occasion, their application has been unsuccessful.

Cognita Schools are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff, volunteers and other third parties to share this commitment. Safer recruitment practice and pre-employment background checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed.

We believe having a diverse workforce makes us better, smarter and happier and so welcome applicants from all backgrounds, genders, and races. We have an unwavering commitment to being fair and equitable in our recruitment process.