Development and Alumni Events and Communications Coordinator

  • Job title: Development and Alumni Events and Communications Coordinator
  • Job Type: Permanent, Full time
  • Salary: £30,000
  • Department: Development and Alumni Engagement Office
  • Reporting to: Head of Alumni Relations
  • Location: Highgate, London
  • Start: January 2024
  • Closing Date: 3 December 2023 at 12:00 am
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This is an exciting new post that sits across the Development and Alumni Relations with responsibility for coordinating a diverse programme of events and communications. You will play a key role in engaging our Alumni network and inspiring our community of supporters and volunteers, reporting to the Head of Alumni Relations and supporting colleagues across the team.
By the end of your first year you will have:

Played a key role by administering and helping to deliver a dynamic programme of events at venues across London and at Highgate.

Contributed to the creation, writing and production of a range of cross-channel multi-media communications.

Built meaningful relationships with Alumni and volunteers across our network.

Had opportunities to develop professionally in the areas of Development and Alumni Relations.

Become an integral part of the Development and Alumni Office, contributing your ideas and supporting the delivery of our goals as required by the Director of Development and Head of Alumni Relations.


The Department

The Development Office works to create mutually beneficial relationships with Alumni and supporters to create a dynamic culture of involvement, engagement and philanthropic giving. This is an exciting time to join the team and be a part in this. We recently introduced bursaries for Junior School pupils and we have ambitious plans to expand the percentage of Highgate pupils receiving means-tested bursaries over the coming years, making our classrooms more representative of the communities we serve. The Development Office plays a key role in this by securing individual donations and running community participation campaigns and communications activities and events.

Job Description

Events

• Planning, administering and ensuring the smooth-running of an impactful and diverse Alumni events programme with oversight and input from the Head of Alumni Relations (Alumni events).
• Contributing to Development events by working with members of the fundraising team and providing administrative support.
• Working with the Head of Alumni Relations and Highgate’s Careers Specialist to provide administrative support and engage Alumni volunteers in Highgate and LAE Tottenham’s annual programme of careers and employability initiatives, including events, reaching out to and engaging Alumni volunteers.
• Coordinating guest lists by segmenting Alumni records on the Raisers Edge, our departmental database, ensuring we can send relevant and targeted communications to our Alumni.

Communications

• Working with the Head of Alumni Relations to design engaging Alumni communications and evaluating their success and impact.
• Scheduling, planning, and implementing alumni communications, such as our regular e-newsletter, as well as bespoke communications to targeted groups of Alumni.
• Increase awareness of our alumni community among key stakeholders (pupils, staff and families) through relevant communications channels.
• Creative input and responsibility for uploading and maintaining the content of the alumni webpages, ensuring this is kept up-to-date, engaging, and useful to alumni and other stake holders.
• Creating content for and managing alumni social media and networking platforms.

Other Responsibilities

• Providing ad hoc data support to our Development Manager – Operations and Campaigns as required.
• Ensuring alumni records are kept up to date in the Raiser’s Edge, e.g. by importing new alumni data annually and updating records.
• Being the first port-of-call for alumni, e.g. managing by the alumni inbox and receiving calls.
• Participating in all-team events and activities, such as our sector leading Giving Day.
• Administrative support as required by the Development Director, e.g., with planning and administration for major donor visits and diary support.
• To carry out any other duties as may reasonably be requested by the Development Director, Head or Bursar.

 

Also needs to be willing to travel and work some evenings for events. Hybrid working is optional and there is the potential for flexibility in the school holidays for the right candidate.

 

 

 

Person Specification
  • Criteria
  • How will these be tested or verified?
  • Qualifications
  • Essential
    • Educated to graduate level or equivalent.
    • Proven experience of working in a busy office environment.
  • Experience
  • Essential
    • Transferable experience, gained in sectors such as project management, marketing, the charitable or voluntary sector, a start-up, or education;
    • Proven knowledge and experience of using current Microsoft packages and LinkedIn.
    • Event coordination experience in an organisational setting.
    • Experiencing in coordinating meetings (in person, remote or hybrid) and preparing and circulating necessary paperwork.

     

    Desirable
    • Working in an educational institution (e.g. a university or a School).
    • Knowledge of database systems commonly used in fundraising management e.g. Raiser’s Edge.
  • Ability / Skills
  • Essential
    • Excellent written and spoken English;
    • Able to communicate effectively with a wide variety of audiences
    • Confident in handling financial data;
    • Ability to build a good working relationship with all stakeholders.
    • Organised with an ability to prioritise workloads and work to deadlines.
    • Flexible with a ‘can-do’ approach, and the ability to work independently and as a part of a team,.
    • Self starter, comfortable with taking the initiative;
    • Work calmly under pressure and manage a diverse workload within tight deadlines.

     

    Desirable
    • Awareness and understanding of safeguarding and welfare of children
  • Personal Attributes
  • Essential
    • High levels of personal integrity
    • A willingness to travel in the UK, and to work outside normal office hours;
    • Diplomacy, tact and a good sense of humour;

     

    Desirable
    • A willingness to be involved in the wider life of the School.

Benefits

Location | Highgate Village, adjacent to Hampstead Heath, with quaint shops and easy connections across London.

Pension | AVIVA workplace pension scheme offered with a generous 21% employer contribution.

Leisure facilities | Free access, at stipulated times, to our sports facilities, including a fitness suite and swimming pool (recently refurbished).

Holidays | Generous holiday allowance of 33 days (including bank holidays) for full-time staff. Most holidays will be taken during school holiday periods.

Lunch | A complimentary lunch.

Help with sustainable travel  | Access to the Cycle to Work Scheme and a Season Ticket Loan scheme for public transport.

Family-friendly policies | Highgate appreciates that employees sometimes have family commitments so we try to be as supportive as possible, for example with enhanced maternity pay (8 weeks’ full pay, then 10 weeks’ half pay) and paid dependant leave.


Working at Highgate

A culture of community, kindness and belonging

Highgate is a caring, open-minded community, where we promote kindness, empathy and friendship. Everyone who works and studies with us deserves to feel they are part of a welcoming environment that enables them to be themselves and to thrive as individuals.

Our community extends beyond the school, through partnerships, charity work and our commitment to equality, inclusion and sustainability. All members of our school community are encouraged to look outwards and play an active role.

In a recent ISI inspection (Dec 2021), it was noted that “Pupils show exceptional respect for, and appreciate diversity within the school and wider community, and their own and other cultures, demonstrating sensitivity and tolerance to those from different backgrounds and traditions.”

Staff wellbeing

Highgate is committed to staff wellbeing, which we promote by encouraging a strong work-life balance; trying our best to support flexible working requests; providing a nutritious complimentary lunch in the dining hall; and offering access to sporting facilities including our recently renovated swimming pool.

The Staff Wellbeing Committee, with representatives across the School, meets regularly to drive forward initiatives, and a selection of staff have been trained as Mental-Health First Aiders.

We encourage an open culture throughout our school, with regular staff surveys, action committees and opportunities to feedback. We strive for continual learning and improvement, and staff training and development is paramount. There are opportunities to participate in the wider life of our school, such as taking part in trips or societies and getting involved in partnership projects.

More details about working at Highgate can be found here:

Work with us    Aims + Ethos


Charitable work and sustainability

As an independent school, we want to use our position as a charity effectively: to make high-quality education accessible to as many children as possible – through our bursary programme at Highgate and through our work with local state schools. We have partnerships with over 60 state schools across 7 London boroughs, and we are the principal educational sponsor for London Academy of Excellence, Tottenham – an academically-selective state sixth form in a community where such opportunities are lacking.

Alongside this, our staff and pupils undertake charitable activities throughout the year. These range from staff giving up their time to neighbourhood schools and charitable organisations, focused fundraising campaigns, to pupils undertaking community work in the local area or further afield.

As a school, we have a central role to play in educating our pupils, staff and parents about the importance of environmental sustainability. We are taking positive action to adapt our operational performance to tackle the negative effects of climate change. We encourage all our staff to reflect upon their personal and professional practices, to support our environmental agenda and to make positive changes wherever possible.

Application procedure

  • Closing Date: 3rd December 2023
  • Timing of interviews: w/c 4th December

Contact: The Recruitment Team is happy to answer any questions about this post.

Early Application: Applications will be considered ‘as and when’ received and we may close the vacancy if we appoint before the closing date.

Apply here

Inclusion

We know that more diverse teams are stronger teams, and that the more inclusive we are, the more our staff and pupils will feel a sense of belonging and will thrive. To enable us to make reasonable adjustments, please let us know of any disabilities (including neuro-divergence) when you submit your application.

Safeguarding

As this role will have regular unsupervised contact with children you must, if appointed, comply with Highgate’s Safeguarding Policy and Staff Code of Conduct. If in the course of carrying out the duties of the post the post holder becomes aware of any actual or potential risks to the safety and welfare of our pupils, these concerns must be reported immediately in accordance with the Safeguarding Policy.  If whilst in the post, Highgate becomes aware of any safeguarding concerns to staff, pupils or the community; these will need to be followed up in line with the safeguarding policy and code of conduct which is underpinned by KCSE and other legislation. These concerns may need to be shared with other agencies.  A copy of these policies will accompany all offers of employment. Training will also be provided to all staff to support Safeguarding practice.

Please read before you apply

Highgate is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of children and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to this post, including checks with past employers, the Disclosure and Barring Service and overseas police check if necessary. Candidates from overseas must provide information about their past conduct, for example, by providing documents issued by overseas teaching authorities. DBS Privacy Policies

Please note that this role is ‘exempt’ from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore, you are required to declare any convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings that are not ‘protected’ (i.e. filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013). Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide details of all unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered, prior to the date of the interview. DBS Code of Practice

In accordance with the latest guidance from KCSIE, we shall be conducting online searches on any candidates who are shortlisted.

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