Winchester College has an exciting opportunity to appoint a Facilities Assistant from April 2025. This role is term-time, 30 hours a week, working across several Boarding Houses. As required, the 30 hours position will also complete the house (compliance) checks. There is an element of work during the easter and summer holidays on reduced hours built into your contractual hours.
The Facilities Assistant will work across a number of Boarding Houses and as part of the Facilities team, and will work unsupervised in upkeeping the cleanliness and maintenance of areas and buildings allocated to them.
The Central Cleaning/Facilities team are responsible for the day-to-day cleanliness of all school buildings, and work alongside teams of Domestics within the Boarding Houses. This role will report directly to the Facilities Manager. The College also has a well-qualified Works Department that is responsible for minor and major works or repairs that may affect the safety of staff or pupils e.g. most electrical work or repairs. The Facilities Assistant will work together with a small team of Maintenance Operatives who report directly to the Works Department.
The areas of responsibility allocated to the postholder will vary from time to time and according to the requirements of the Boarding Houses. You will need to be flexible in order of necessity and be able to prioritise. You will be expected to be organised and have attention to detail in everything that you do, and be capable of meeting the physical requirements of the post.
The main responsibilities are as follows:
It is essential that the successful applicant has/is:
It is desirable that the successful applicant has:
As soon as possible.
This is term-time only positions, 30 hours per week. You will work across Monday to Friday, 08.00-14.30. The postholder will also be expected to work on Wykeham Day (a Saturday in the summer term), with overtime paid for the hours worked.
During Easter and Summer holidays, you will work reduced hours to cover the compliance of the boarding houses, providing coverage for Residential Lets and supporting holiday periods for a spread-over period of up to 10 weeks during school holidays.
You will be paid to work for 38.8 weeks excluding holiday pay.
The salary for this position is £15,926.72 (gross). Salary is paid monthly, in arrears, to a nominated back account in 12 equal payments. Salary levels are reviewed on 1 September annually and this appointment will be next reviewed in September 2025.
The College leave year runs from 1 September to 31 August. This position will be entitled to the statutory holiday requirements. These are presently 28 days (including Bank Holidays). Any Public Bank Holiday occurring during term time is deemed to be a normal working day. All leave must be taken by prior arrangement with the postholder’s line-manager and must be taken outside of the school’s term times.
The first four working months of employment will be a probationary period. During this time, conduct and performance will be reviewed. The College may extend the probationary period if it is deemed to be required. During the probationary period the notice required to terminate employment will be one week (by either the employee or employer). Once employment is confirmed, the notice period will increase to one month.
The school is fully committed to the induction, training and development of all our staff, with staff supported to grow and reach their full potential.
We deliver a range of training, run by both our own staff and external providers, varying from highly practical First Aid courses to seminars and learning lunches, as well as access to Udemy, an online learning platform.
There is an annual cycle of appraisal offering the opportunity to reflect on professional practice and development opportunities.
The school also offers a wide range of apprenticeships supporting staff development and progression.
On employment, employees will be auto-enrolled into the College’s pension scheme according to legislative thresholds. Those who are not eligible for auto-enrolment may still elect to join the College’s pension scheme.
Initially, when joining the College’s pension scheme, employees will become a member of the College’s Group Personal Pension Plan (GPP). For this Plan, known as Tier 1, the employee contributes 5% and the employer 3%.
After 9 month’s membership of the Tier 1 plan, employees may opt to join Tier 2, which is also a GPP, where the employee contributes 5% and the employer 9%.
Employees in Tier 1 automatically qualify for a Life Cover of 2 times salary. On entry to Tier 2, Life Cover changes to 4 times salary.
As Winchester College is an educational establishment, a condition of employment will be that the successful candidate must consent to the school obtaining an Enhanced Level Disclosure Check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). This will reveal all spent and unspent convictions, warnings, cautions and bind-overs. A policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders is available on the school’s website.
Safeguarding is one of the primary responsibilities of this role. The jobholder is responsible for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young persons for whom they are responsible, or with whom they come into contact with, and will need to adhere to and ensure compliance with the school’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy at all times. A Head of PRS should be conversant with the responsibilities and procedures detailed in this policy and with the Department for Education’s Keeping Children Safe in Education. If, in the course of carrying out the duties of the post, the Head of PRS becomes aware of any actual or potential risks to the safety or welfare of children in the school, they must report any concerns to the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead or in their absence the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
The appointment will be dependent upon the receipt of a successful medical check and satisfactory references. The College will usually seek references from shortlisted candidates before interview and may approach previous employers for information to verify particular experience or qualifications. At least one referee must be the current or most recent employer. Where applicants are not currently working with children but have done so in the past, one referee must be the person by whom they were most recently employed when working with children.
Only applications completed on the school website will be accepted.
Closing date for applications: 11:59pm Sunday 30th March 2025
Please note that applications will be dealt with as they arrive. Winchester College reserves the right to appoint prior to the closing date.
Those wishing for an informal conversation about this role are invited to contact Mark Eves, Facilities Manager, M_Eves@wincoll.ac.uk
If you have any questions about this vacancy or the recruitment process, please email recruitment@wincoll.ac.uk.
Further information about the school can be found at www.winchestercollege.org.
Winchester College collects and processes relevant personal data as part of its everyday operations and is obliged to process it in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. The school is the Data Controller of this data under the Act and is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office; its registration number is Z5751669.
Any queries about this policy or how personal data is processed by the school should be referred to the Data Protection Liaison Officer.
In February 2021, Winchester announced a bold new vision and a significant programme of change. ‘Winchester College in the 21st Century’ describes the School’s ambitions for its future and heralds the start of an exciting new phase in Winchester’s development.
Winchester was a pioneering institution when it was founded in 1382 and this new vision will ensure the School continues to be a leader and influencer of great education on the modern global stage. The commitment to provide an intellectual education of exceptional quality and breadth remains unaltered, as do the values which have underpinned Winchester since its foundation. ‘Winchester College in the 21st Century’ will build on these strengths and bring multiple benefits to current and future generations of Wykehamists.
Winchester currently has over 700 pupils. In September 2022, the College welcomed 40 day pupils, including 17 girls, into the Sixth Form and will continue to do so, over time expanding the entry each year to include girl boarders in due course.
Academically, Winchester is among the very best schools in the country and is sought after for its combination of superb teaching, pastoral care, sports and activities.
At all levels Winchester encourages pupils to look beyond the curriculum. Div is our unique programme of general cultural studies and offers an excellent preparation for university study. In these lessons, pupils engage with a wide range of subjects, from English Literature to Ancient History to the History of Science.
Pupils in the Sixth Form study linear A-level courses and will ordinarily study three A-level subjects and an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) alongside Div. Linear A-levels are complemented by the flexibility of the EPQ where pupils are able to more deeply explore their cross-curricular research interests. The EPQ encourages pupils to develop first-class research skills, to synthesise information from a variety of differing sources, and to become accustomed to the demands of independent study.
Music has been central to life at Winchester ever since its foundation, and the school is unique in having maintained its Choral Foundation to the present day. The Music Department is now one of the leading departments in the country, and offers outstanding opportunities to all.
Sport is a major part of Winchester life. There are many fixtures against other schools, and in 2024 the redevelopment of the sports facilities will see a state-of-the-art complex open that will allow all pupils to enjoy and participate in a variety of sports, whilst simultaneously enabling the most talented and driven pupils to train and compete at the highest level.
Much energy is also invested in the Combined Cadet Force, the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, Community Service, and in links with local primary and secondary maintained schools. This commitment provides pupils with many opportunities to work for the benefit of others, inside and outside the classroom, developing the knowledge and skills, and the rights and responsibilities, which will enable them to grow into valuable and productive members of society.
Pupils eat all meals in their boarding houses, talking with their Housemaster/mistress, and interacting with friends, visitors and teachers. We believe that conversational ability, developed both inside and outside the community, equips pupils to talk to anyone, about anything, in practically any situation.
This unparalleled combination attracts pupils from across the world, making Winchester a truly international and diverse community which celebrates every pupil’s individuality, passions and potential.
Winchester College is committed to maintaining the founder’s original intention of offering an outstanding education to any pupil who would benefit from it, regardless of their financial circumstances, and many of the pupils in the College are being helped financially through the school with substantial bursaries.
Full details about the school may be found at www.winchestercollege.org.