School Secretary

An exciting opportunity join a busy and friendly front office in a thriving co-educational preparatory school in Hampstead. This is a full time role with  20 days annual leave (plus Christmas closing and bank holidays). 

The annual leave allowance can be negotiable. 

The hours are 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Thursday, and 8am to 5pm on Fridays, with reduced hours outside of term time (at the discretion of the Head).

To apply for the post, please click the 'Apply Now' button below. 

Closing date for completed applications; Sunday 12th December with interviews taking place on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th December 2021.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (Full Job Description attached below)

School Secretary (starting from January 2022 or soon after)

Requirements:  

• To have a warm personality and a welcoming demeanour. 
• To  have excellent command of spoken and written English, a clear speaking      voice and an excellent telephone manner  
• To have confidence in new technology and good ICT skills, including      word-processing and data inputting. 
• To be efficient, accurate, systematic and able to manage own time and to pay      attention to detail 
• To be flexible, a team player, and able to undertake other roles within the      school offices when required.

A school is a busy place especially at the start and end of each day. All office staff need to be available to answer telephones, take messages, see parents and chase children to classes. At about 8.45 the school settles into its daily routine At the end of the day 3.30 - 5.30 can also be busy, but less so as the term unfolds.  

1. To be responsible to and report to the Human Resources Manager and the Headmistress. 
2. To maintain the Reception area to present a welcoming and efficient ambience. 
3. To greet visitors and deal with any queries, particularly from existing parents. 
4. To answer telephone calls in a welcoming and efficient manner, passing on messages and following up queries by telephone or email as necessary.  
5. To liaise with the School Nurse and parents regarding pupils feeling unwell and/or needing medical attention or first aid. 
6. To liaise with the catering and cleaning staff and other sub-contractors as necessary. 
7. To have due regard to Health and Safety and to follow the School’s policies. 
8. To ensure that agreed security procedures are implemented for pupils, staff and visitors entering and leaving school premises.  
9. To handle parental queries on day to day matters and to refer more serious parental queries to the relevant person. 
10. To liaise with teaching staff over pupil paperwork. 
11. To support three Deputy Heads with correspondence, filing, and other various matters.  
12. To monitor pupil absence and lateness via the class registers (shared between office personnel). 
13. To receive incoming mail, sort and distribute to relevant staff; dispatch outgoing mail.  
14. Accepting and recording deliveries and arranging for transfer to the appropriate department/person.  
15. To assist Teaching Staff with various matters as required. 
16. To assist with Pupil filing (shared between all office personnel), including the archiving of leavers files. 
17. To assist another secretary with the Speech Day preparations and prizes. 
18. To assist with the annual School Production advertising.  
19. To liaise with the Parents’ Fundraising Committee for the annual Harvest Festival. 
20. To coordinate the annual data collection sheets from parents.  
21. To liaise effectively with other members of the administrative team to provide continuity throughout the school day. 
22. To liaise effectively with other members of the administrative team to provide continuity throughout the school day and provide support and cover for colleagues during lunch breaks and absences.  
23. Organising the Extra Subjects lists for the whole school, liaising with peripatetic teachers re: parent and pupil issues and facilitating waiting lists and notice letters. 
24. Proof-reading reports from peripatetic teachers, sending them to Deputy Head Academic and Head of Music for approval, printing and distributing to class teachers in a timely manner. 
25. Assisting the Head of Music when necessary, for example working on events, hiring and repair of musical equipment and passing on instructions to peripatetic teachers 
26. Assisting the Head of Music with Extra Subject examinations and events, as necessary.

This is only an outline and it anticipated that the new appointee will carve out their own niche in the school.
 

To apply for the post, please click the 'Apply Now' button below. 

Devonshire House Preparatory School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service. Devonshire House Preparatory School is an equal opportunities employer. If the candidate has lived in a country other than the UK for a period of 3 months or more since the age of 18, a foreign criminal policy check will be required irrespective of whether they worked in those countries.