BENENDEN Director of Admissions PA TO THE DEPUTY HEAD PA TO THE DEPUTY HEAD PA to the Deputy Head Job Description The Role The PA to the Deputy Head supports the Deputy Head in all aspects of his role and in a manner that allows the School to maintain its position as an independent school with a reputation for excellence. The principal function of the post is to provide managerial, administrative and secretarial support to the Deputy Head. This can be achieved by taking delegated responsibility for operational matters and through planning, arranging and organising events as necessary. A close working relationship is required to enable effective time management and efficient organisation of the Deputy Head’s and PA’s combined workload. The PA is expected to take a keen interest in the Deputy Head’s work and to understand his role in terms of strategic planning and development and to provide constructive and appropriate support. The PA is also required to foster good relationships, both internally and externally. The PA is responsible directly to the Deputy Head. This position requires a high level of discretion and confidentiality. The PA works as part of an administrative team led by the Headmistress’s Personal Assistant. Specific Responsibilities The PA’s tasks and responsibilities include the following. Management and Co-ordination • Forward planning of monthly, termly and annual meetings/events. • Recognise pressure points and countering these effectively. • Act on the Deputy Head’s behalf in his absence. • Be a member of the Critical Incident Management Team. Secretarial • Act as first point of contact for the Deputy Head in a professional and confident manner. • Effectively communicate tasks or procedures to other staff on behalf of the Deputy Head. • Open and sort all mail for the Deputy Head and to take care of his correspondence. • Comprehensive diary management to ensure that the Deputy Head’s diary is kept up-to-date, make his appointments. • Field calls to the Deputy Head ensuring he is accessible to parents, staff and girls. PA TO THE DEPUTY HEAD Administrative • Maintain and administer the School Diary, both printed and electronic. Includes proactive liaison with all diary contributors and close liaison with the two Deputy Heads. • Manage the Deputy Head's budgets and reconcile on a monthly basis with the Accounts Dept. • Minute meetings as required, including Senior Management Team meetings. • Update Policy review chart to ensure policies are prepared/reviewed as required for Governing Council sub-committee meetings. • Act as a proof-reader of School publications and documentation as required. • Keep up-to-date with filing, both hard copy and electronic. • Assist with mailouts as necessary. • Arrange weekly meetings on behalf of the Deputy Head with the Support Staff Team Leaders (PA/secretarial, School Office, IT and Administrators). • Maintain Concerns and Complaints Log. • Maintain Detention and Sanctions Logs and produce weekly lists. • Administer the updates to the Staff Handbook on the School portal. Working with the Deputy Head to ensure that policies are always in a state of Inspection Readiness: to include Senior Management Team review chart and policy chart. • Produce and maintain the Appraisal schedules, including Threshold chart. • Maintain the staff and student absence log. • Maintain the programme of Staff Training. • Arrange termly House visits. • Maintain log for overseas trips. • Arrange Senior Management Team on-call for term (checked weekly) and holiday time. • Admissions Register and Leavers’ List to ISI required standards. • Produce weekly reports for monitoring Blue Slip and Notification Slips. • Arrange New Staff Induction programmes. • Support the Deputy Head for Speech Day and Mark Reading preparations. • Update New Student Pack inclusions each Spring Term for Admissions. • Arrange Staff Inset days. • Produce weekly reports for monitoring staff registering lessons. • Liaise on behalf of the Deputy Head to arrange Grey Jumper meetings, support and annual voting system. • Liaise with Tonbridge School for Grey Jumper Training and arrange Senior Management Team & Housemistresses/masters Annual Dinner. • Administer the Car Permission and Scooter light process for students. • Carry out any other tasks as reasonably requested by the Deputy Head. PA TO THE DEPUTY HEAD Person Specification Offers of jobs at Benenden will usually depend on the applicant’s letter of application, application form, references and performance over the interview process. For some posts, particular qualifications or skills are required: • Offers of jobs at Benenden will usually depend on the applicant’s letter of application, application form, references and performance over the interview process. For some posts, particular qualifications or skills are required: • A well-qualified PA with a good track record of working at senior management level in a complex and fast-paced environment. • Superb organisational skills with an eye for detail. • Manage competing priorities, work methodically and remain calm under pressure. • Flexible, adaptable and open to new ideas. • Ability to think on your feet and willing to accept responsibility. • Approachable and friendly but able to be assertive. • Proactive, intuitive and resourceful. • To be self-sufficient and comfortable working alone/unsupervised. • Comfortable with maintaining confidentiality at all times. • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. • Strong IT skills using Microsoft Office package. Experience of using the database iSAMS would be beneficial and shorthand would be desirable but not essential. • Determination, drive, stamina and enthusiasm. • Willing to consult and seek advice when appropriate and learn from experience. • Excellent and professional personal presentation. • A good sense of humour! Information about Benenden Benenden is one of the leading independent schools in Britain. We were founded in 1923 and we are situated in 250 acres of attractive parkland in Kent, the Garden of England. There are 555 girls in the school, aged 11-18, with 187 of those in the Sixth Form. We are a boarding community which aims to give each pupil the chance to develop her potential to the full within a happy and caring environment. Our all-boarding and all-girls model is unique in the UK. Through our innovative and blended academic and co-curricular programmes, we offer opportunity, stretch and breadth and balance so that each girl goes out into the world confident, courageous, compassionate and ready to make a difference. PA TO THE DEPUTY HEAD In all that we do at Benenden, we aim to foster: Belief in oneself, belief in others, commitment to learning, commitment to the community. We aim to do this by providing: • An inspiring, challenging and relevant academic curriculum which balances the best of tradition and innovation. • Excellent and motivating teaching designed to encourage girls to become independent, enquiring and critical thinkers. • A framework of individual support devised to help each girl experience and benefit from a full programme of study balanced with a wide variety of cultural, creative, physical and fun activities. • A culture of encouragement, opportunity and challenge designed to develop self-reliance, resilience, confidence and physical and emotional wellbeing. • The experience of learning to understand other people, working and living together with understanding and compromise and appreciating diversity. • A wide range of opportunities for leadership • Careers and higher education guidance designed to help every girl achieve her own personal goals, equipped with the requisite skills for university and beyond in their professional lives. • A close partnership with parents so that school and home can work together to help every girl make the most of her time at Benenden. The Academic Curriculum: Enjoy and Achieve Benenden achieves excellent GCSE and A Level results each year, but our curriculum and our wider programme of academic enrichment is about far more than passing exams. We never mistake a syllabus for an education. We want pupils to learn from the most inspiring teaching and to direct their own learning. We encourage pupils to engage in intellectual debate with visiting expert speakers, to discover the world around them and be inspired by it, to determine their own skills and passions and become aware and prepared for life and its many challenges. A Level and GCSE statistics 2018 A Level: GCSE: 31% A* grades 57% A* grades 63% A*/A grades 80% A*/A grades 86% A*/B grades 97% A*/B grades Higher Education Destinations of 2018 Benenden Leavers The majority of Benenden leavers take up places at Russell Group universities or other prestigious universities abroad. The most popular universities with Benenden girls this year were: Edinburgh, Exeter, Durham, Oxford Brookes and Newcastle, Other popular destinations include: Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol and York. PA TO THE DEPUTY HEAD The Campus Benenden enjoys a beautiful and historic 250 acre parkland setting in the Weald of Kent. Living, learning, sporting and leisure facilities are clustered around the original 19th century mansion which adds to Benenden’s sense of close community and enables students to get the most out of the wide variety of activities on offer every day. Over the last 12 years almost £30 million has been spent on improving every facet of living and learning at Benenden: investing in facilities, widening the curriculum, extending activities outside the classroom, and improving