HR Officer

About Us

Harris Academy Battersea is a mixed state secondary school serving a truly comprehensive community in the heart of London. We are an Ofsted 'Outstanding' school with a track record of delivering fantastic outcomes year on year for our students. In 2023, Ofsted visited the academy and judged us as remaining 'outstanding', commenting on our "highly ambitious curriculum", the "exceptionally high quality of education" provided and noted that "behaviour in the school is very strong". Nevertheless, we are extremely ambitious for our school and as we seek to continue to grow and develop, we are looking for more brilliant people to join us.

Our Academy is centred on the values of Knowledge, Integrity and Resilience and these underpin the way we work for both students and staff. Our staff are inclusive, diverse and committed to our mission: we develop aspirational young people to thrive in a changing world.

HABS offers a broad, academic and challenging curriculum founded on six key curriculum aims:

• To develop deep, long-lasting knowledge
• To develop students into accomplished readers, writers and orators
• To provide experiences within and beyond the classroom that enrich learning and ensure students can make informed choices about their futures
• To equip students to challenge injustice in all its forms
• To enable students to understand how they learn
• To support students to reflect on their choices and values to improve themselves and their community

These aims underpin all elements of our curriculum, and we see our core academic curriculum and wider personal development curriculum as intrinsically linked. All staff at the Academy contribute to the personal development of our students through their roles as tutors and through their contributions to the wider life of the academy.

A thriving school can only function with fantastic staff, and our vision is to make teaching at HABS both enjoyable and sustainable. The wellbeing of staff underpins every decision we make, and we seek to ensure that every member of staff can enjoy a work-life-balance enabling them to bring their best to work each day.

At HABS, professional growth and development is central to our mission. Our professional development motto is 'improve, not prove' and leaders are relentlessly focussed on supporting staff in getting even better through a wide range of internal and external training opportunities.

As a part of the Harris Federation, all staff in the Academy benefit from being part of our network of more than fifty primary and secondary academies across London. Vibrant networks of subject experts meet regularly and teachers can access bespoke support from our central teams of consultants.

For more information about what we do and who we are, we encourage you to visit our website here as well as our careers page here and explore!

Main Areas of Responsibility

Your responsibilities will include:

• Line management of the Central Administration Manager and Finance Officer, including performance management
• Ensuring that all requests for leave comply with Academy policies and procedures for support staff
• Monitoring attendance and punctuality of all teaching staff, following up causes for concern
• Overseeing the accuracy of staffing data, following up with appropriate action where required
• Overseeing the staff workforce census return
• Liaison with catering company for organisation of Academy events
• Overseeing the work of peripatetic or other casual staff, ensuring they are deployed appropriately, correct safeguarding procedures are followed and pay is organised in liaison with the Finance Officer
• Oversight of the Academy asset register
• Organisation of preferred suppliers
• Oversight of all service level agreements
• Oversight of ensuring the Academy has the correct licensing agreements in place
• Oversight of records of all maintenance contracts
• Overall management of the Academy's single central record
• Overall responsibility for the recruitment and appointments process for new staff, including preparing job descriptions and person specifications, advertising, processing job applications, requesting references, arranging interviews, organising pre-employment checks and ensuring all documentation is in order prior to start date
• Auditing teaching staff sickness records and preparing termly reports
• Organisation and maintenance of confidential staff files
• Carrying out HR tasks including referrals to occupational health, organising interviews with the Executive Principal, liaising with staff representatives as required
• Working closely with Business Manager to produce salary assessments etc;
• Directing staff to the correct source of information regarding pensions, salaries, maternity, grievance, complaints etc
• Assisting with all matters relating to day to day staff welfare and personnel functions
• Maintaining and regularly updating staff contact details and vehicle information
• Updating staff lists, extension numbers and structure charts as necessary

Qualifications & Experience

We would like to hear from you if you have:

• Qualifications to degree level or equivalent
• Knowledge of Microsoft software packages
• Knowledge of Health and Safety legislation
• Secure knowledge of HR legislation
• Basic knowledge of financial procedures
• Knowledge of procurement processes
• Knowledge of the key principles of staff management
• Training in the use of a variety of ICT packages
• At least five years' experience working an office environment
• At least two years' experience of managing a team of staff in a variety of different areas
• Experience of training staff successfully in a range of duties
• Experience of working as part of a team
• Experience of working to targets and deadlines
• Experience of managing meetings
• Experience of developing policies, processes and procedures

For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.

Professional Development & Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.

In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes our Harris Allowance for teachers on MPS/UPS, a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan and many other benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our website.