HR Assistant

We are seeking a proactive, customer focused and diligent HR Assistant, with excellent attention to detail to join our high performing team. The HR Assistant will work 37.5 hours per week, predominantly Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with a 30‑minute unpaid lunch break. The position is offered on an all year-round basis to include four weeks annual leave, rising to five weeks after five years’ service, plus public holidays, along with a discretionary closure period over Christmas. The successful candidate will be required to work a full day on Founder’s Day which is one Saturday per year in late June or early July.

About the role:
This is an essential role working within a fast paced, all year-round education environment, supporting a
diverse workforce across two schools and associated commercial operations. The role is suited to a strong, experienced HR Assistant who is confident managing end-to-end people processes, passionate about delivering a tailored, inclusive and high-quality employee experience, and acting as a knowledgeable first point of contact for staff and managers.

The post holder will lead on delivering an excellent onboarding and offboarding experience for operational staff (especially induction and probation), as well as supporting the HR Advisors on people
matters across the whole employee lifecycle. They will also work closely with the Recruitment Manager on recruitment administration during peak periods.

Responsibilities of the Role:

Induction and Probation Management
• In collaboration with the Recruitment team, leading with the coordination of first day arrangements for
operational staff, including system access, ID passes, line manager readiness, and notifications to relevant teams.
• Managing and delivering a structured and consistent new starter communications journey, ensuring timely and engaging communications are issued pre-first day, on day one and at key probation milestones.
• Coordinating and overseeing the school wide induction programme for operational staff, delivered as a termly series of essential sessions with key leadership colleagues.
• Leading the efficient administration of the probation process for operational staff, ensuring clarity, consistency and positive engagement.
• Actively monitoring the issue and completion of probation review meetings and online forms, following up with managers where required and escalating concerns appropriately.
• Providing new staff optional check-in meetings to reflect on their experience, raise questions and ensure appropriate support is in place.
• Providing guidance to managers on probation processes, documentation and expectations, ensuring a fair, supportive and consistent approach.
• Issuing probation outcome correspondence.
• Contributing to the ongoing development and improvement of the induction and probation process and materials, seeking feedback from new starters and managers to enhance engagement and effectiveness.

Offboarding
• Coordinating the leaver processes for operational staff, including acknowledgements of resignations,
notifications to payroll and relevant internal teams such as Digital Services.
• Updating HR systems, employee files, internal trackers and the Single Central Register to reflect leaver changes accurately.
• Liaising with managers on contract end dates and leaver arrangements, with guidance from the HR Advisors.
• Supporting the development and administration of exit surveys and interviews where appropriate.

Employee Experience
• Owning the HR inbox, responding to day-to-day queries, resolving routine matters and escalating as
appropriate to ensure the delivery of a timely, professional and tailored service.
• Providing accurate and consistent signposting to policies, procedures and HR system functionality (Employee and Manager Self Service), ensuring information is accessible and clearly communicated to all staff.
• Drafting and issuing contractual variation letters ensuring accuracy, compliance, the return of signed
documentation, payroll awareness and other relevant associated administrative actions.
• Supporting the administration and day-to-day management of staff benefits, including acting as the first point of contact for routine benefits queries; liaising with benefit providers and payroll as required, supporting with the maintenance of accurate benefits records and monitoring take-up.
• Assisting HR Advisors in the ongoing review, promotion and continuous improvement of the school’s benefits offer by coordinating communications and promotional campaigns to increase awareness and engagement; gathering staff feedback and analysing take-up data; benchmarking elements of the offer where appropriate; and contributing ideas to enhance the overall offer.
• As capacity allows, and under the guidance of the HR Advisors, support with the administration of family leave processes for operational staff (including maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave), managing timelines, correspondence and documentation.
• Supporting sickness absence and health-related processes, including maintaining records, issuing routine correspondence and supporting managers with the informal absence management processes, ensuring a fair, consistent and compassionate approach.
• Advising on low-level employee relations matters under the guidance of HR Advisors, escalating issues appropriately, ensuring advice reflects policy, best practice and equality considerations.
• Providing confidential administrative support to formal employee relations cases, including minute taking, compiling documentation and drafting correspondence in line with policy and procedural fairness. 
• Supporting the HR Advisors and the Head of HR Operations to review the school’s performance management framework for operational staff, contributing suggestions and supporting with the tracking and monitoring of any new process.

General HR Administration & Continuous Improvement
• Providing high quality administrative support across the HR team.
• Supporting HR budget administration, including invoice processing and maintaining internal trackers, in line with agreed approval processes.
• Contributing to the maintenance of accurate internal trackers to support the effective delivery of HR processes. 
• Running routine reports from the HR information system and undertaking regular data quality checks,
highlighting issues, themes and recommendations to the HR Advisors.
• Preparing employment, mortgage and tenancy references.
• Supporting the delivery of the People Strategy and HR projects, particularly those requiring strong coordination, administrative oversight and those that align to personal development objectives.
• Actively contributing to the review and improvement of HR processes, systems and ways of working to improve efficiency and employee experience.
• Ensuring all processes and communications are delivered with due regard to equality, diversity and inclusion principles, promoting fairness, accessibility and consistency in the employee experience.

Recruitment & Compliance
To support with recruitment in peak periods, including but not limited to:
• Advertising vacancies and preparing associated recruitment documentation.
• Coordinating interviews, including scheduling, logistics, candidate communication and on-the-day support.
• Undertaking pre-employment checks (pre and post appointment) ensuring compliance with safeguarding (Keeping Children Safe in Education) and data protection legislation.
• Supporting Safer Recruitment interviews under the guidance of the Recruitment Manager.
• Supporting post-interview actions, including debriefs, offers, rejections and candidate feedback.
• Drafting and issuing offer letters and contracts, with oversight from senior HR colleagues.
• Responding to queries in the recruitment inbox as requested by the Recruitment team.

Line Management: The HR Assistant is managed on a day-to-day basis by the HR Advisor. The role holder will also have free access to the Head of HR Operations, the Director of People and the Chief Financial Officer, who holds ultimate responsibility for operational staff.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Experience:
• GCSE (or equivalent) in English and Maths at grade C/4 or above.
• Evidence of continuing professional development in HR or relevant comparable field.
• Degree in HR Management or a relevant field e.g. Law, Business Administration, would be desirable.
• CIPD Level 3 or above would be desirable.
• Experience working in an administrative role requiring high levels of accuracy and organisation (a prior HR role would be highly desirable).
• Experience of managing multiple tasks and deadlines in a busy environment.
• Experience of dealing with confidential or sensitive information.
• Experience of communicating professionally (verbally and written) with a wide range of stakeholders
• Experience working in a school or education environment would be desirable.

Skills & Abilities:
• Clear and professional verbal and written communication skills, including drafting emails, letters and documents.
• Confident interpersonal skills with the ability to build positive working relationships at all levels.
• Excellent organisation and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritise and manage competing deadlines.
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential matters with discretion and professionalism.
• Problem-solving skills and the ability to support process improvements and suggest more efficient ways of working.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.

Personal Attributes:
• Passionate about delivering a positive, efficient and tailored experience.
• Calm and resilient when working under pressure or managing busy periods.
• Highly reliable, with a strong sense of responsibility and accountability.
• Ability to work objectively, sensitivity and with integrity.
• Strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• A proactive mindset with a willingness to learn and develop.
• Enthusiasm for contributing ideas to improve HR processes and employee engagement.
• Commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

Closing date for applications is 27 April at 9am. Interviews will take place the following week.

This is a readvertisement and previous candidates need not apply.

The salary for this permanent position ranges from £31,000-£36,000 per annum, based on experience and qualifications and will be paid over twelve-monthly instalments. The appointment will be subject to a six-month probationary period.

The role holder will have access to, and may be automatically enrolled into, the School’s Group Personal
Pension Plan, currently provided by Legal & General. This plan may involve contributions being made via
salary sacrifice based on 6.5% employer contributions On completion of the required recruitment checks, the post would be available to the successful candidate immediate effect or at the completion of their due term of notice.

Alleyn's School provides additional benefits to its staff, including income protection insurance, an employee assistance programme, enhanced family leave pay, lunches and other refreshments, the use of school facilities including the swimming pool and gym, a cycle-to-work scheme, a tech scheme, and holiday purchase scheme, access to the library, free tickets to school performances, and the opportunity to join one of two private healthcare plans. Staff also enjoy discounts with local businesses and may use holiday sports camps for the children of staff at a preferential rate.

Members of staff who have children attending Alleyn’s Junior and Senior Schools will benefit from
25% fee remission, which, subject to means testing, may increase to a maximum of 85%. This is a
non-taxable benefit, and any means-tested element is reviewed annually. Staff children must meet the same admissions criteria as all pupils at Alleyn’s. There is also some fee remission available in respect of staff children attending Dulwich College and James Allen’s Girls’ School, though the terms and conditions are different, and it is a taxable benefit.