Office Assistant

The Unicorn School is seeking to appoint an enthusiastic, friendly Office Assistant to support the office team. The successful applicant will be engaged with a variety of responsibilities which include general reception and administrative duties, assisting with organising pupil transportation and school events, supporting the Head Teacher and Bursar/HR Department as required and acting as a first aider.

The ideal candidate will have had some relevant experience and have strong inter-personal skills. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• an excellent telephone manner and experience working in reception
• the ability to work in a busy office environment and willingness to adapt to change
• good administrative and IT skills and a willingness to embrace new technologies
• experience of working with a Management Information Systems (MIS)
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft Office Excel, Word & Teams
• The ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• First Aid certification (or willing to attend a course)
• An awareness and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare of children and a clear commitment to delivering best practice in safeguarding

Please note, we have a therapy dog who is based in the office on some mornings.

Key Responsibilities:

• Receiving and directing incoming calls via telephone switchboard, answering routine enquiries, forwarding on queries & taking messages
• Monitoring the office email account, answering general queries and redirecting where necessary
• Meeting, greeting, and signing in visitors.
• Making tea and coffee for visitors, preparing for meeting lunches as required
• Receiving and signing for deliveries, opening & directing incoming post – processing outgoing post
• Ordering of goods & services for admin & academic staff and key events, purchasing weekly staff refreshments (eg Tesco delivery)
• Scanning, printing & copying documents
• Keeping the office stationery cupboard stocked and tidy, ensuring sufficient paper & replacement toner cartridges in stock.
• Assisting the HR department with staff induction and training records
• Ensuring reception is kept tidy.
• Supporting with set up of current parent open/coffee mornings
• Arranging repairs for office equipment (photocopiers etc)
• Assisting in the management of the school MIS ensuring the school MIS is kept updated with parent/child information and relevant documents uploaded/support parents with user access passwords/queries
• Liaising between parents & staff regarding child absences & ensuring the MIS am/pm register completed accurately by staff in a timely manner to be able to create the fire list & provide attendance reporting to Head, SMT, parents and local authorities
• Ensuring the Microsoft shared calendar is kept updated with key events
• Updating staff/parents regarding breakfast/after school club attendance
• Support staff regarding school trips & events e.g. coach booking, communications, using Microsoft Forms to gather parent information for a trip
• Supporting the Unicorn minibus driver with any queries relating to children to be transported & handling parent queries/communications relating to The Unicorn minibus service
• Liaising with and supporting generally the am/pm Joint Bus Service escorts and pm taxi escorts to update on pupil absences/queries daily – maintaining an up-to-date pupil list.
• Acting as first aider to pupils, staff and visitors where required, liaising with staff & parents when a child is unwell
• Fire warden duties
• Ad hoc tasks as directed by the Office Manager or Head
• Assist with school events as required