Part-Time Junior School Receptionist

Highgate School; Greater London; Hybride; GBP 8 700 - 27 000; Temps partiel

Avantages offerts par ce poste

AVIVA workplace pension scheme (flex)

Complimentary lunch

Cycle to Work Scheme

Season Ticket Loan

Enhanced maternity pay

Résumé du poste

Highgate School is seeking a friendly part-time Junior School Receptionist to join the front desk team. The role involves greeting visitors, staff and pupils each day during term time, and supporting safeguarding procedures while presenting a welcoming and efficient office presence in a busy Junior School building.

The position is 2 days per week (Thursday and Friday), term-time only, with a pro-rated salary and potential pension flex benefit options.

Qualifications

• Friendly and energetic receptionist with a welcoming approach.
• Experience handling visitors, staff and pupils in a school or similar setting.
• Awareness of safeguarding responsibilities in a school context.

Responsabilités

• Provide an effective and friendly reception service for visitors, staff and pupils.
• Maintain a professional image of the School and handle safeguarding duties as required.

Connaissances

Reception skills

Customer service

Safeguarding awareness

Description du poste

Part-Time Junior School Receptionist

• Job title: Junior School Receptionist
• Job Type: Permanent, Part Time, Term-Time Only, 2 days per week (Thursday + Friday), 7:55am-4:55pm
• Salary: £8,712.70 pro-rated salary (£9,923.77 if full pension flex benefit is utilised), All Year Round FTE - £27,230
• Department: Junior School
• Reporting to: PA to the Principal of the Junior School
• Location: Highgate, North London
• Start: 4th January 2027
• Closing Date: 4 November 2026 at 8:00 am

Are you an energetic, friendly and efficient receptionist?

Highgate Junior School are looking for a receptionist (2 days per week) who can create a welcoming environment and ensure all visitors, staff and pupils are dealt with courteously and to the highest standard. You will be a key part of the office team and work in a beautiful building at the heart of this buzzy, busy Junior school. The receptionists interact with pupils, staff and parents and have important safeguarding responsibilities to ensure that the safety of our children.

The Department

"From the moment you step foot inside our bright and well-resourced building, you will feel the buzz of excitement from our pupils ringing through the corridors. At the heart of our school is a nurturing environment where pupils feel happy, safe and secure so that they can fulfil their potential academically, socially and emotionally and be their very best selves." – Philippa Studd, Principal.

Highgate Junior School is one of the largest Key Stage 2 Independent Junior Schools in the country with 445 pupils from Years 3 to 6 in five classes per year group.

We pride ourselves on providing an innovative curriculum which challenges our pupils to be curious, creative and brave in their learning. Our timetable is designed to incorporate both an intellectually rigorous approach to studies alongside skills-based learning. We aim for our pupils to develop a genuine love of learning whilst acquiring a knowledge of how they learn, how to take responsibility for their learning and how to apply their skills and knowledge in a variety of different contexts.

We have a team of staff dedicated to nurturing our pupils’ wellbeing. To develop a sense of community and belonging from day one at Highgate, our pupils all belong to a form group and one of our four houses. We want to nurture in our pupils how to be a reflective and proactive member of the community with a sense of social responsibility and a deep understanding and appreciation of the wide range of heritages, cultures and backgrounds in our diverse society.

The Junior School is located on Bishopswood road, Highgate, in an outstanding purpose-built teaching environment. The deliberate playfulness of the architecture and the openness to our sports fields is the physical expression of our belief in nurturing childhood playfulness and curiosity.

At the heart of our school is a nurturing environment where pupils feel happy, safe and secure.

THE ROLE

The main purpose of this role is to provide an effective and friendly reception service to ensure that visitors, staff and pupils are dealt with courteously.

School receptionists have specific safeguarding responsibilities so the post-holder will need to take ownership of these alongside presenting a professional and welcoming image of the School.

Job Description Person Specification

Benefits

• Location |Highgate Village, adjacent to Hampstead Heath, with quaint shops and easy connections across London.
• Pension | AVIVA workplace pension scheme offered – 26% employer contribution, with the ability to flex up to 16% of this as additional non-pensionable salary, employees contribute a minimum of 5%.
• Personal development | Comprehensive induction support for new staff. Focus on continued professional development for all employees.
• Leisure facilities | Free access, at stipulated times, to our sports facilities, including a fitness suite and swimming pool (recently refurbished).
• Lunch | A complimentary lunch including hot meals, sandwiches, salads, fresh fruit and dessert.
• Help with sustainable travel | Access to the Cycle to Work Scheme and a Season Ticket Loan scheme for public transport.
• Family-friendly policies | Highgate appreciates that employees sometimes have family commitments so we try to be as supportive as possible, for example with enhanced maternity pay (8 weeks' full pay, then 10 weeks' half pay) and paid dependant leave.

Working at Highgate

A culture of community, kindness and belonging

Highgate is a caring, open-minded community, where we promote kindness, empathy and friendship. Everyone who works and studies with us deserves to feel they are part of a welcoming environment that enables them to be themselves and to thrive as individuals.

Our community extends beyond the school, through partnerships, charity work and our commitment to equality, inclusion and sustainability. All members of our school community are encouraged to look outwards and play an active role.

Following a visit from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) in September 2024 to assess Highgate's regulatory compliance and school standards, we are pleased to share the inspection findings, which reports compliance in all five areas and a 'significant strength' in our teaching expertise.

Staff wellbeing

Highgate is committed to staff wellbeing, which we promote by encouraging a strong work-life balance; trying our best to support flexible working requests; providing a nutritious complimentary lunch in the dining hall; and offering access to sporting facilities including our recently renovated swimming pool.

The Staff Wellbeing Committee, with representatives across the School, meets regularly to drive forward initiatives, and a selection of staff have been trained as Mental-Health First Aiders.

We encourage an open culture throughout our school, with regular staff surveys, action committees and opportunities to feedback. We strive for continual learning and improvement, and staff training and development is paramount. There are opportunities to participate in the wider life of our school, such as taking part in trips or societies and getting involved in partnership projects.

More details about working at Highgate can be found here:

Work with us Aims + Ethos

"A child has to feel comfortable in order to learn and in order to perform to the best of their abilities, so we really try to make the children feel at home here." – Hayley Lock, Deputy Principal (Pastoral)

Charitable work and sustainability

As an independent school, we want to use our position as a charity effectively: to make high-quality education accessible to as many children as possible – through our bursary programme at Highgate and through our work with local state schools. We have partnerships with over 60 state schools across 7 London boroughs, and we are the principal educational sponsor for London Academy of Excellence, Tottenham – an academically-selective state sixth form in a community where such opportunities are lacking.

Alongside this, our staff and pupils undertake charitable activities throughout the year. These range from staff giving up their time to neighbourhood schools and charitable organisations, focused fundraising campaigns, to pupils undertaking community work in the local area or further afield.

As a school, we have a central role to play in educating our pupils, staff and parents about the importance of environmental sustainability. We are taking positive action to adapt our operational performance to tackle the negative effects of climate change. We encourage all our staff to reflect upon their personal and professional practices, to support our environmental agenda and to make positive changes wherever possible.

We know that more diverse teams are stronger teams,and that the more inclusive we are, the more our staffand pupilswillfeel a sense of belonging and willthrive. To enable us to make reasonable adjustments, please let us know of any disabilities (including neuro-divergence) when you submit your application.

Safeguarding

As this role will have regular unsupervised contact with children you must, if appointed, comply with Highgate's Safeguarding Policy and Staff Code of Conduct. Ifin the course ofcarrying out the duties of the post the post holder becomes aware of any actual or potential risks to the safety and welfare of our pupils, these concerns must be reported immediately in accordance with the Safeguarding Policy. If whilst in the post, Highgate becomes aware of any safeguarding concerns to staff, pupils or the community; these will need to be followed up in line with the safeguarding policy and code of conduct which