Salary: Support Staff Pay Scale G: £28,015 to £29,935 pro-rata per annum (Actual) (£30,559 - £32,654 full time/full year equivalent)
Working Weeks: Term Time plus 3 weeks (41 weeks)
Jane Austen College is looking for an experienced PA to provide confidential and efficient support to the Principal. The post holder will manage and delegate appropriately the day-to-day activities of the front office.
This is an exciting, challenging role for someone looking to work in a fast-paced and progressive environment. You will have experience in a PA role, excellent communication and organisational skills, a keen eye for detail, and excellent IT skills.
You will support the Principal to ensure the school’s services are delivered to a high and professional standard. Duties will include: diary management; document preparation; event and meetings management; communications; meeting and greeting visitors; management of filing systems. You will be required to manage a small admin team.
Before applying, please read the attached Recruitment Pack and Job Description, for more details about the role. We ask that you read this pack carefully, especially the “Planning your application” section from page 11. This will support your application ensuring you have the opportunity to tell us about your relevant skills, experience and qualifications that relate to the job description and person specification in addition to details of your references covering the last 5 years.
The main purpose of this role will be
1. To provide confidential, efficient and effective personal assistant support to the Principal and act as an ambassador for the Executive Principal/ Principal and Academy in all matters.
2. To manage and delegate appropriately the day-to-day activities of the main school office.
3. To support the Principal in helping to ensure the Academy teaching and non-teaching services are delivered to a high standard in keeping with the aims and objectives of the Trust.
4. To ensure high standards of communication between the Principal, the Chief Executive Officer, Trust Central Staff, Executive Leadership Team, Trustees, Academy Committee members, Company Secretary, staff, parents, carers, pupils and all stakeholders both internal and external.
The ideal candidate will have:
5. Good level of education preferably including GCSE (or equivalent) in Maths and English
6. NVQ Level 3 or equivalent in a relevant discipline or equivalent experience
7. Sound experience of development, management and operation of organisational and administrative procedures (ideally in a school setting)
8. Experience of dealing with confidential information and complying with the General Data Protection Regulations
9. Ability to manage multiple priorities under pressure, trouble-shoot, and to meet short-and long-term deadlines
10. Ability to build good working relationships with a range of Trustees, Academy Committee members, external stakeholders and to be able to deal with difficult, often unexpected, situations as and when they arise in a calm and effective manner
11. Excellent IT skills, including being skilled in the use of Microsoft Office products including Sharepoint, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint
12. Excellent communication skills, both written and spoken, in dealing with a wide range of visitors / stakeholders
Jane Austen College is a school with a unique and exciting history. Set up in 2014 as a flagship free school for the Inspiration Trust, with a specialism in English and Humanities. The college has grown from two-year groups through to a full 11-18 school of over 1000 students. The college has a history of excellent results at both GCSE and A-Level, including STEM A-Levels as part of our unique collaboration with Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form.
In May 2024, Jane Austen College and Sixth Form received an Outstanding rating from Ofsted. The report stated that the college provided “exceptional academic education, excellent pastoral support, and a character curriculum for all its students, building life skills to see them succeed in progressing to some of the top universities in the country and into prosperous careers”. Ofsted commended the school’s dedication to the care and wellbeing of its students, including the prioritising of positive mental health practices. It is true to say that its staff write a narrative of success for all our students, ensuring that they all have access to powerful knowledge and transformative extracurricular experiences regardless of background or disadvantage.
We are part of the Inspiration Trust, twice ranked as the country’s top family of comprehensive schools for pupil progress, and strongly believe in the importance of giving the widest educational opportunities to all young people, regardless of their background. We have strong networks across the Trust, with opportunities to work with a diverse range of schools and partners. We are committed to offering excellent professional and learning opportunities for our staff, with a busy programme of continuing professional development courses delivered by some of the country’s best educational thinkers and practitioners.
The Inspiration Trust is a Multi Academy Trust, committed to delivering the very best educational experience for the young people of Norfolk and Suffolk, across 17 schools. We are ambitious for our schools and communities and want to create Britain’s highest performing federation of 3-19 schools and transform education in the East. Inspiration Trust specialises in transforming schools in disadvantaged areas and taking academies from failing to outstanding.
For information on what it is like to live and work in Norwich, click here.
When you join Inspiration Trust's thriving network of talented teachers, leaders and support staff, you join an organisation that supports you to be the best you can be. The Trust offers a varied professional development programme for employees.
We are committed to offering excellent professional opportunities for our staff, through careful support and personalised CPD. We offer a structured and specific induction programme.
The Trust also offers:
13. Generous holiday entitlement
14. Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with generous employer contributions
15. Health Plan and Employee Assistance Programme giving access to a range of services including claim back costs for Eye Care and prescriptions and access to 24/7 virtual GP Service and mental health support (Terms and conditions and restrictions apply).
16. Cycle-to-work scheme
17. Retail Benefits offering discounts with many shops and suppliers
18. Corporate membership of the Norwich Theatre Royal
19. Salary sacrifice schemes, including home technology, smartphones and healthcare plans, including Dental insurance and Gym membership discounts (Terms and conditions and restrictions apply).
20. Free Parking (on most sites)
*Some benefits are only available following successfully passing probation
To apply for this role please click the Apply button to complete the online application form.
Closing date for applications: 9am on Tuesday 22nd April 2025
Interview date: Tuesday 29th April 2025
Inspiration Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
All staff appointments are subject to satisfactory references and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks. We are an equal opportunities employer.