Working in a school office.

Spendless

Anyone do this? How did you get into this in the first place? I've been at college past few years and have text/word levels 1,2 & 3 most at distinction as well as clait, clait plus certificate and diploma. Previous background was in admin (before I had children) and just been working recently in a volunteer admin role.
Have applied before to school admin and got nowhere, just about to apply again and have also seen an advert for supply admin on council's website, which I'm interested in.
Can anyone give me any pointers/advice?

nearlyrich

I have a couple of relatives who do this, one has done the supply role too, she started helping out as a volunteer when her youngest was at the school and when the school admin person was off ill they asked if she could do the job, then she got other jobs by word of mouth..Good luck with your application

Savvy_Sue

There are some school specific programs which you might find you'd use more than Word etc, so if you've got any experience of using Access or other database programs it would be worth making the most of that.

kingfisherblue

In my area, you need to be able to use SIMS software - but there is nowhere locally that teaches you how to use it. It is a databse type of software I think.

A friend worked for a school office and was able to learn SIMS 'on the job', but she already worked for the local authority before that, in another capacity, so I think she might have had an idea of how it works; it was just that she hadn't actually used it before.

Spendless

kingfisherblue wrote: »

In my area, you need to be able to use SIMS software - but there is nowhere locally that teaches you how to use it. It is a databse type of software I think.

A friend worked for a school office and was able to learn SIMS 'on the job', but she already worked for the local authority before that, in another capacity, so I think she might have had an idea of how it works; it was just that she hadn't actually used it before.

This is what I've often seen on job adverts here. The latest application hasn't asked for it, but has as a 'desirable' prev experience in a school office which is the only desirable I haven't met , buuuut there are so few jobs where I live it could make all the difference. That's why I wanted to know how do you get started in the first place.

Sue - I've also got access, power point, excel as these are all in my Clait qualifications.

Nemo

SIMS is the software schools use for holding all the student information and for doing the attendance, plus a few other bits. It's not difficult to learn. Most school office jobs will say something to the effect of SIMS experience would be advantageous but not essential. Most people in the office just use it for getting home contact details if need to contact a parent/carer, or for checking where a student or teacher will be at any specific time.

I got a council education job after a career change and was known to the school. I applied for a job in the school, which I didn't get, but was offered the job I'm doing now on a temporary basis replacing the person who did get the other job. This has now been made permanent, although I did have to apply again and be interviewed for it. Although I've good PC knowledge and come from an IT background, I don't have any admin-related qualifications at all.

The problem is that a lot of the school jobs are term time only which appeals to a lot of people, so you get a large number of applications. If you can get some volunteer work in a school, not necessarily on the admin side, it might help show that you know how schools work and what you can expect working there. Until you work in one, you've got no idea what it's like and what the teachers and other staff have to put up with, but it's always interesting, varied and (usually) enjoyable.

Good luck.

dollydoodah

I currently work in a primary school office - following quite a drastic career change - and anyone who thinks it is a 'nice, easy little job' (as has often been said to me) would be in for a shock! This is all from an average sized Primary School point of view as I know things are a lot different in Secondary Schools due to the size of them. (Just so you know, there are 2 of us in our office and we do everything between us). I had never had experience when I got the job but I must have made a good impression as I got the job over others who were already working in other schools although I had worked a volunteer in my childrens school.

Word processing skills and ideally SIMS experience would be the two things that would be most advantageous but SIMS is all in-house, so you can't just learn it unless you are employed. It is pretty simple once you have been using it a while though but it has huge functionality; not just looking up contact details but also recording attendance, generating reports etc.

There is also the finance side - again with the majority done using the in-house system. There is school funds, budgets, petty cash, trip money, dinner money, charity money.....having worked in a job with money handling would also work in your favour.

You have to be absolutely meticulous in record keeping as everything is audited and needs to be accounted for. For example, if you pay out £1.20 on stamps, you need that receipt as you can bet your life the auditors will pick up on it. You need to be really organised and be able to pick up where you left off - you could be in the middle of inputting something and the phone will ring, or a child will come in ill, or an irate parent will turn up and you have to break off from what you are doing to deal with it.

You also have to be on your guard a lot and be careful what you say even if you think there are no children around. You can never, ever swear, you have to be careful when talking about Christmas etc. And it goes without saying that confidentiality is massively important. You need to be tactful, discreet, comforting, caring, sympathetic and often be able to bite your lip.

Above all, I think, you need to like being around children and be able to talk to them and show interest. Children tell you everything - from the mundane to the worrying and you need to be able to relate to them. Not being phased by vomit - or other bodily functions! - is another good one as believe me, you see and smell it all.

I love my job. It is so varied as you never know what the day will bring. You deal with lovely parents, horrible parents, social workers, education welfare officers, school nurses, other government bodies, governors, other schools, the general public....amongst others. You'll see kids who have a fantastic life, kids who have nothing, kids who are bullies and some who you just want to take home and give some love.

Hope that helps a bit - if you get an interview, be enthusiastic but realistic about what the job entails. Don't say you want it just for the holidays!

Spendless

Nemo and dollydoodah thanks for your experience. I def don't just want it cos it's term time. eg I have also sent off an application for a Drs surgery today. I have no problem with finding and using childcare for my 2.

A lot of what you've put up was in the essential and desirable details. I've worked in a cash office before for example and had a lot of jobs where attention to detail was important (I've worked as a buyer/stock controller).

Confidentiality was mentioned and I've recently been volunteering for a charity that supports welfare rights for the disabled working on their telephone lines and inputting details of visits and the outcome so can demonstrate that can meet this. I've also worked in a school before -supervision at lunchtime, only for about 6 months but can relate to what you are saying what what you hear and see and I was only on duty 75 minutes a day! I left in order to go to college, and my supervisor from then is one of my references.

Savvy_Sue

If you get as far as interview for any posts like this, expect scenario questions on confidentiality and equal ops ...

Spendless

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

If you get as far as interview for any posts like this, expect scenario questions on confidentiality and equal ops ...

Cheers need to work on this as I have an interview.:j

Nemo

Congrats on the interview. Do you have details of the format of the interview/day yet. When I went for the job that I didn't get, it included a tour of the school with a couple of students, and a separate interview with the student council, although this role would have had more student contact than the role I'm doing now. It's in a secondary school by the way.

You'll get a safeguarding question, maybe two, to judge your suitability to work with or around children. Most of these are common sense, mostly dealing with boundaries between staff and kids, eg. 'What would you do if you suspected another member of staff of inappropriate behaviour with a student?', or 'What would you do if you felt that a student was becoming too familiar with you?'. Another question would be 'Why do you want to work around children?'. These should all be easy enough to answer using common sense. The only question that's maybe not that obvious to answer is 'What would you say if a student asked if they could tell you something in confidence?'. You might be tempted to tell them that they could, although you should tell them that you'll listen to them, and help them if you can, but if you're told anything that leads you to think that they're being harmed or at risk of harm, you'll have to tell someone.

Hope this is of some help. Good luck with the interview.