Any School Administrators out there?

[singingpinkmonkey]

Hi!

I want to apply for a School Administrator position with a local primary school and just wondered if anyone could offer me any advice on the application.

I have a lot of experience within administration and I currently work within HR. I notice there is a a few questions relating to safeguarding and am not sure how to structure my answers on the application form.

Can anyone offer any tips?

I am in the process of studying for a Level 1 Safeguarding qualification but really want to make the best impression possible on my application.

Any advice would be appreciated

Yes I am. I found the job interview and application quite easy as really the most important skill when working in a school is common sense. Just show you are practical and switched on. If you have a good admin background you're in a strong position.

What exactly are the questions about safeguarding? A level 1 is surely just a days worth of training which you'll probably have on a staff INSET day.

In my school everyone has some basic training on what to do in a safeguarding situation, but that all involves reporting to the designated safeguarding person in your school, office staff don't really have direct involvement with safeguarding in my experience.

I used to work in a role like this but don't now.
However, go on the schools website and read their safeguarding policy and evidence your understanding of this within your personal statement

Example could be (perhaps)

Within my current HR role, I am required to support employees with a variety of issues, in addition to work related ones which have including addiction, financial concerns and those relating to their families that have an impact on their working life, both emotionally and also in relation to facilitating flexible working

This demonstrates an understanding of issues that can be linked to safeguarding and if it's a larger organisation (as opposed to a small local business with 10 people!) you could give examples of supporting employees who either foster children or who have had their own children removed for various reasons.

They'll be looking for transferable skills.

1 thing to remember is, a job in a school, term time only is likely to attract a huge number of applicants.

Ring the school too and book an informal visit and tour round aswell so they can put a face to the name.

Good luck with your application!

Thanks so much for replying.
The safeguarding question was quite broad.
It's says "Describe what you understand about safeguarding?"
I can't seem to explain myself very well.

In a nutshell it's about keeping children safe from harm (of various kinds eg physical, mental, emotional, neglect etc).
Crucially it is the responsibility of all staff within a school to actively safeguard the children.
It's also one of the first things looked at by the inspecting body, be it Ofsted, or ISI.
A school will have a Level 3 lead and deputy or deputies.
Key documents are Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to safeguard Children.
Those are the key points. It depends how much they expect you to write.

www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/nscb

Look on your local safeguarding website like this one - there's some useful information on there for you.

Use phrases such as

In my current HR position, part of my role includes xxxxxx
Reference any previous roles or if you say volunteered at a playgroup when yours were little or cubs/brownies/ youth clubs/ church groups etc and if poss get a reference from one of these settings

Thank you both so much. That has given me a good starting point.
I am going to phone the school on Monday and ask for a tour.

Thanks so much again.

I would understand safeguarding as keeping children safe in school, making sure adults follow procedure, adequate first aid etc, as well as knowing what to do if a child discloses something worrying and knowing the basic signs of abuse. Mention you are taking a safeguarding course and expanding your knowledge. Read the schools safeguarding policy.

Btw if it were my school I would hate if you called and asked for a tour before even being invited for interview. We really don't have time for random tours, you'd have to be supervised by an adult so couldn't even get kids to show you around.

Depends on the school though.

I see what you mean @nothisispatrick.but it does actually say on the advert that applicants are invited to call and book a tour and meet the headteacher.
I was quite surprised when I saw this as I bet they will get inundated!

In that case go for it! I can't imagine a Head who has time!

We normally do a group tour.

Tours for jobs in educational settings are fairly standard and a good opportunity for you and them to see what you think. A lot of the adverts say "please contact for informal visit" and then d think it was rude if you didn't do that or think you weren't that interested.

Good luck with it, I hope you are successful