PART I: ABOUT THE WORKS DEPARTMENT
The College has a considerable building stock comprising a number of the original medieval buildings together with subsequent additions as the College has expanded through its 600 years of existence. The department operates out of a new purpose-built facility in Norman Road.
The Works Department is a valued and respected support service at the very heart of the school with a reputation for excellent quality and friendly staff. In order to meet increasing demands, the College is currently seeking to modernise this department. The overall Works Department budget is circa £5m, which includes reactive and planned maintenance. External contractors are used for individual capital projects normally under the direction of the Estate Bursar and appointed consultants.
The current Works Department workforce is approaching 30 staff and comprises mixed teams of various trades. High quality is expected of all staff in terms of workmanship, behaviour, organisational skills and productivity.
PART II: ROLE AND RESPONSIBLITIES
Main Purpose
The Office Manager will be responsible for providing the administrative support to the operational teams in the department and to the Works Manager to ensure the department functions effectively. The Office Manager will therefore be required to implement and maintain office procedures and systems of work to enable the teams to deliver their committed projects each year.
Key Responsibilities
The following summary of duties is intended to assist the successful applicant in their respective responsibilities.
PART III: PERSON SPECIFICATION AND KEY QUALITIES
Essential qualities
The successful candidate will have previous experience in running the office administration functions in a busy environment. They will be self-motivated, organised and have experience of implementing and maintaining office procedures.
Ideally, the successful candidate will have a Business and Administration qualification, however consideration will be given to candidates that have extensive experience within a similar role.
In addition, applicants should have:
PART IV: BENEFITS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS, AND APPLICATION
Start date
This position will start as soon as possible.
Hours of Work
Monday - Friday: 40 hours per week, 08.00-17.00, with an hour for lunch.
Salary
The salary for this position is £33,000-£34,000 (gross) per annum, depending on qualifications and experience. 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 2024.
Holidays
The College leave year runs from 1 September to 31 August. This role will be entitled to the statutory holiday requirement which is presently 28 days. Any Public Bank Holiday occurring during term time is deemed a normal working day. All leave must be taken by prior arrangement with the Works Manager. Generally, staff are discouraged from taking holidays during school holidays as the major workload within the Works Department is when the College properties are empty, although some exceptions will be made to accommodate individual requests.
Subject to the discretion of the school’s Bursar, a gift may also be given of extra time off during the Christmas period.
Probation and Notice Periods
The first six 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.
Induction and Continuous Training and Development
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 offering 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.
Pension and Life Cover
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.
Wider Benefits
Enhanced Disclosure Check
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. The postholder 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 postholder 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 Leads.
References and Other Pre-employment Checks
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.
How to Apply
Only applications completed on the school website will be accepted.
Closing date for applications: 9am on Friday 6th October 2023.
Please note that applications will be dealt with as they arrive. Winchester College reserves the right to appoint prior to the closing date.
Data Protection
Winchester College collects and processes relevant personal data as part of its everyday operations and is obliged to process it in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and Data 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.
If you have any queries or comments about this policy or how personal data is processed by the school, please contact the Bursar and his team by emailing: dataprotection@wincoll.ac.uk or by writing to: Data Protection, The Bursary, Winchester College, College Street, Winchester, SO23 9NA.
