School Business Manager

Location: Wakefield

Contract Type: Permanent, full-time, full year

Hours: 40 hours per week

Salary: £34,000 - £38,000 per annum, depending on experience

Closing Date: 4th March 2024

Proposed Interview Date: 7th March 2024

Aurora Ivy Lane School

We’re an expanding specialist school providing education for young people aged 11 to 19 with complex care needs including behaviours that challenge and learning disabilities, often in association with autism spectrum conditions. We work hard to ensure students have a holistic and supportive environment, enabling them to flourish and develop in all aspects of life. 

Based in Wakefield; we are currently looking to recruit a School Business Manager to lead the school’s support functions to deliver a smooth, efficient, and effective school.

The Role:

The School Business Manager is part of the Senior Leadership Team with responsibility for the leadership, management supervision and development of the support teams to ensure an efficient, safe, healthy, clean, and comfortable environment is provided to support and deliver the aims and objectives of the school within budget.

There is an expectation that the post holder will act with a high degree of autonomy including responsibility and accountability for managing delegated budgets and resources. This role will require strong relationships with the group’s central functions.

The role also involves creating, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating school development plans aimed at bringing about continual improvement in areas of responsibility.

Key Duties:

• Ensure the smooth, efficient, effective, and economical running of each of the support departments, to include Finance, Administration, HR, Facilities and Site Maintenance, Health and Safety, Housekeeping and Catering.
• Ensure all support services meet the needs of the individual children and young adults by enabling the environment to be used as a means of support and social learning.
• Effectively lead financial management including analysing, managing and monitoring budgets, financial performance and activities.
• Effectively lead all aspects of on-site HR, liaising with central HR and supporting managers to undertake day to day HR processes as required.
• Effectively lead all administrative functions required for the service.
• Provide professional leadership and management of the support teams to enhance their effectiveness and performance to achieve excellent standards.
• Promote the highest standards of business ethos and compliance.
• Carry out and/or facilitate audit processes to monitor service delivery standards.

Duties will vary, you must expect to diversify and lend a hand wherever is required.

For a full job description please contact Kirsty in the Recruitment Team at kirsty.wilkinson@the-aurora-group.com 

Skills and Qualifications

Successful candidates are likely to demonstrate:  

• A management or professional qualification in a related area to role e.g., Management Diploma or Finance qualification is desirable.
• Knowledge of current inspection frameworks used by regulatory and statutory bodies.
• Knowledge and understanding of relevant regulations and standards for education.
• Safeguarding and legislative procedures when working with children and young people
• Management and knowledge of EBITDA, financial systems, processes, and budget preparation Excellent communication skills with a range of internal and external people, verbally and in writing
• Ability to form & promote positive relationships with and between young people, employees, parents, and representatives of outside agencies
• Ability to define high, appropriate, and attainable standards, and achieve them
• Effective team leadership and management
• Ability to assess situations accurately, resolve problems effectively and take decisions 

Benefits and Additional Information

What’s on offer? 

• Training and Development

Within Aurora, we strongly believe that learning and development should not be limited to just the children and young people we support. We offer wide range of programmes and opportunities to all our employees to improve your skills and further your career. 

• Save money on your bills!!

With the cost of living rising we have a fantastic benefit through Perkbox to help with cutting costs and help make your money go further. Perkbox is a free app for you to use on the go wherever you are. You can get deals and discounts to save money on things like your weekly food bill, phone plans, internet, eating out, gym memberships, insurance and more. You can also use Perkbox for our cycle to work scheme and car scheme. 

• Competitive Pay and Reward

Every year we compare the market rates of pay and rewards to insure they are comparable or better to other similar organisations. We also offer Enhanced Annual Leave, Company Sick Pay, Pension and Life Assurance.

• UK Health Cash Plan

This plan can help cover your day to day healthcare expenditure such as optician and dental bills. You and your children are covered on this plan and you can also choose to upgrade and add a partner to enjoy the benefits with you.

• Employee Assistance Programme

Your health and wellbeing is very important to us and we have support available on a wide variety of issues, helping you with online tools, information and via a freephone counselling service available 24/7. 

• Refer a friend for £1,000

We’ll reward you for recommending friends and family to come and join the company (*terms apply)

How to apply?

Please complete an online application form in full, remembering to include all employment and education details. If you need any assistance or would like any more information, please contact Kirsty in the Recruitment Team at kirsty.wilkinson@the-aurora-group.com 

Successful applicants will be subject to pre-employment safeguarding checks including an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check.

The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Aurora Group is therefore permitted to ask job applicants to declare all convictions and cautions (including those which are "spent" unless they are "protected" under the DBS filtering rules) in order to assess their suitability to work with children. 

The Aurora Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children and young adults in our care and is a disability confident and equal opportunities employer.

This advert could be taken down at any point in time without prior notice if the position is filled. 

Please note that candidates that are shortlisted might be subject to an online search.