THE ROLE

The main purpose of this role will be to provide an effective administrative service and to support the School Secretary in a range of duties.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

The office environment and resources

• Help to provide an orderly, friendly and calm environment for parents, staff, children and visitors under the direction of the School Secretary.
• Undertake door duties in accordance with the School’s safety procedures.
• Welcome parents and visitors approaching the school in person and via the telephone and assist with any queries. Communicate any messages between parents and class teachers (including changes to child collection arrangements).
• Provide cover for the School Secretary over lunchtimes and at other times when required.
• Deal with admission queries, explain the various deadline dates.
• Compile the relevant information for distribution of prospectuses.
• Take responsibility for ensuring adequate supplies of stationery and resources in the staff room and common areas and fill photocopier paper drawers.
• Print the attendance sheets for the afternoon session.
• Photocopy, collate, bind and laminate (where appropriate) newsletters, handbooks, notices and any other materials required for use in school and by prospective or current parents and distribute relevant information to the classrooms.
• Ensure the spare uniform box is checked regularly and restock when necessary.
• Ensure all medical supplies are checked regularly and restock when necessary.
• Label all pigeon holes are correctly labelled and updated when necessary.
• Word process various forms and notices.
• Assist with mailings, envelope stuffing and other related tasks.
• Mount and label photos and notices.
• Assist with accident logs as required
• General filing.
• Check supplies of refreshments in the staffroom and work area including the water cooler and reorder or refill as necessary.
• Update noticeboards and remove out of date materials.
• Collect money for small items and count money collected for charity.
• Sort the lost property box.
• Monitor and sort the spare uniform box
• Monitor and maintain the attendance book for children arriving or leaving out of normal hours
• Support with children moving to and between waiters and afternoon clubs
• Monitor the office inbox
• Update and distribute pick-up information on teacher collection sheets

Assisting the Classroom Assistants

• Help the Classroom Assistants to:
• Support with photocopying and mounting as required;
• Monitor and maintain displays.

Care of the children in the School

• Take care of children in the school building; comfort them when they are sick and distressed; clean them when necessary.

Team work

• Provide reliable support for the School Secretary at all times; keep her informed of all matters that affect the School; be willing to work with teachers, children and other staff.
• If required, undertake to help within the broader context of the school, carrying out other reasonable duties to support its smooth and efficient organisation, including supporting with lunch duties

These duties and responsibilities are intended as a guide. They are not exhaustive: the Administrative Assistant will be expected to undertake any reasonable task or responsibility as required by the School Secretary or their representative.

• Criteria
• How will these be tested or verified?
• Knowledge/Experience

• Essential

  • Experience of secretarial and administrative duties.
  • A high level of computer literacy i.e. Intermediate level skills in Microsoft Word and Excel to enable the preparation of reports, mail-merges, spread sheets and databases, and Outlook for email and diary booking.
  • Attention to detail

  Desirable

  • Knowledge of working in the education sector.
  • Knowledge of child protection and safeguarding policies.
  • Intermediate skills in Microsoft PowerPoint
• Skills

• Essential

  • Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively with pupils, parents and staff and the wider school community.  This requires an open, friendly approach together with a good telephone manner.
  • Problem solving skills and an ability to apply tact and diplomacy when appropriate.
  • The ability to prioritise tasks and to be able to show initiative in dealing with day-to-day situations.
  • The ability to maintain in strictest confidence any information received concerning School matters.
  • Ability to work calmly under pressure, multi-task and manage a diverse workload within tight deadlines. The ability to reschedule and reprioritise.
  • An excellent standard of written and spoken English, with the ability to draft own correspondence.
• Personal Attributes

• Essential

  • Confident and personable with a positive ‘can-do’ attitude and a sense of humour.
  • High degree of personal drive and motivation.
  • Ability to work well as a member of a team.
  • A willingness to undertake training in order to acquire a mastery of the SIMS database and associated software.