First day school admin ?

[AXCS]

I start my new role as office admin in a primary school in a couple of weeks and I’m starting to get a little nervous (and excited of course!)
what should I expect on my first day?
I’ve got admin experience but not in a school, I assume a tour round the school and meeting some staff, where things are etc. Get set up on the IT systems? What other kind of induction will I have? E-learning or online training?

just wondering if anyone has experience of their first day in a school and what I should expect so I’m not too nervous about the unknown 😊

Thanks

I teach in a secondary and I strongly suspect you will be pointed in the direction of a desk that long ago disappeared under piles of old paperwork/lost property/whatever didn't sell at Young Enterprise and left to get on with it!

Take your own supplies of tea and coffee, a couple of bin sacks and some rubber gloves just in case!

Thanks for you response - I’ll be prepared to get stuck into the lost property then :)

Sounds like the right attitude! Bet they need you!!

Oh also - put the Red Cross app on your phone. Our office staff do a surprising amount of first aid...

You'll be given logins for all the systems you'll use - email, calendars, registers, meal ordering system etc., so get them all up and running ASAP. They're pretty simple to use. Work out who is who - use the schools website which should have a 'who's who' with photos of most people. Learn your way around the school- where all the classrooms are, how to get outside etc..

Don't be afraid to ask if you don't know and don't be afraid to use your 'grown up' voice if the children need it!

You'll be given an induction which will include safeguarding. Don't hesitate to report anything that seems 'not right', even if it's a little thing.

Get used to being constantly interrupted!

Good luck and congrats on the job!

Not without being first aid trained she won't be! They most likely will send her on a first aid course but no one should be practicing first aid in the workplace without being qualified.

Absolutely but a bit of self study could be helpful.

Sometimes when you start new jobs you can be hanging around a bit.

Take a notebook and make copious notes. So many things working in a school that you’re assumed to know if you’re in admin, and it takes a long time to ask all the right questions. But ask them, because there’s no way that anyone can really brief you fully - you just learn as you go.

I have worked in a primary school office for 25 years! Loved it to start with but in recent years it has become quite stressful. You need to be good at juggling and multi-tasking . I hope you enjoy it but it’s a tough job at times. Good luck.