I’ve got an administrator assistant interview in a school. What questions will they ask?

[strongmamaxo]

I’ve got a 20 minute interview in a school for an administration assistant. Does anyone work in a school who could give me advice and tips ? Thankyou :)

It helps to know how to notice differences in a list with two kids with very similar names (date of birth, year group, tiny differences in spelling), know how to sort a list of names on Excel and how to send an email - knowing that 's is for somebody's possessions and not for somebodys possession's is really useful.

Other than that, you'll have a question about safeguarding - whatever the scenario is, what you do is 'never promise to keep secrets, don't put words in their mouth and report it straight away' - and one question about how to set priorities, something like 'you've got a parent on the phone complaining, emails to send out and a child comes in to say somebody has fallen off the climbing frame and has bumped her head/isn't moving - what do you do?'.

What they need is somebody who is pretty unflappable, able to deal with priorities instantly changing and prepared/able to learn new things on the spot (like IT systems, databases, online portals, etc, etc).

Whatever the question. Safeguarding is the top priority

Be familiar with school acronyms like SLT,OFSTED,PPA, SEMH, EHCP, FSM.

Be absolutely clear on safeguarding policy, Prevent, LADO role, GDPR.

Yes I agree they will be really hot on safeguarding, so I’d get ready for that, potentially questions such as what would you do if a child disclosed something to you

Have you worked with data management like BromCom, SISRA, whichever system they use for communications with students and parents? Have a look at the kind of thing the school uses ready for an in tray sorting task.

Sound keen if they want you to go on school trips occasionally or hold first aid and administering medicine certificates!

A few ideas - What would you do if there was a safeguarding issue? Do you have experience of resolving difficult situations? What do you need to be aware of when dealing with confidential data? What would you do if a child was crying? What would you do if a parent was demanding to see the head teacher?
Good luck with your interview!

My friend applied for and got this job. One thing they had to do was create the school newsletter in the correct formatting, and another was to create and sort a list in various ways. Basically, they had to show they could use Word and Excel competently.

Safeguarding.
Make sure you are aware of school roll, who is who, what they do.
I agree acronyms would be helpful.

Good luck! I’m a primary school
admin- multi tasking, safe guarding, team work, caring, it’s not a little mum job like people think, it’s actually scary how much responsibility we have- sense of humour needed and no two days are the same- although doing attendance and the lunches are always the same! It’s fun, draining and rewarding 🤞

@Wendaliciousthats the job I’m going for “primary school admin assistant” is there any way we can message on here so I can ask some questions :))) xx

Ah one of the annoying things is you can’t have your phone out- I can answer after work if that’s enough time! xx

@Wendaliciousyh that’s fine hun x