An exciting opportunity to join the HR team at Cheadle Hulme School. You'll support recruitment, wellbeing, compliance and staff experience while completing a CIPD Level 5 apprenticeship. This role is perfect for someone ready to take the next step in their HR career., Cheadle Hulme School (CHS) is offering a fantastic opportunity for an Apprentice HR Business Partner to join our friendly and forward‑thinking HR team. This role is ideal for someone with existing HR or employee‑relations experience who is ready to grow into a true Business Partner role while working in a busy, people‑centred school environment. As part of your apprenticeship, you will complete the CIPD Level 5 People Professional Apprenticeship (HR Business Partner Pathway) delivered by The Growth Company. You'll gain hands‑on experience across the full HR lifecycle, supporting leaders, line managers and colleagues across academic and professional services teams. A normal day would include:
- Supporting recruitment and onboarding processes for teaching and professional services staff
- Being a first point of contact for routine HR queries, signposting and giving clear, people‑focused advice
- Helping to maintain HR systems including our employee database, recruitment systems and HR Helpdesk
- Supporting wellbeing, absence and performance processes
- Contributing to the School's Single Central Register and safer recruitment compliance
- Assisting with HR data, reporting and project work across the school
- Working closely with the Head of HR to build your knowledge, confidence and professional practice
What you could go on to do
This apprenticeship is designed to prepare you to step confidently into a HR Business Partner role. You will gain the skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to work as an HR generalist or specialist, with opportunities for future progression within CHS or the wider HR sector.
How you will be supported
Full training and support will be provided by The Growth Company to help you achieve your apprenticeship and reach your full potential in your role. Day‑to‑day supervision and mentoring from the Head of HR. Exposure to the full range of HR activity across a large and busy independent school.
GCSE in
- English (grade A-C/9-4)
- Maths (grade A-C/9-4)
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Team working
- Confidential
- Proactive
- Personable
- Motivated
- Eager to learn
- Professional
- Approachable
- Reliable
- Resilience
- Positive attitude
- Good judgement
- Communicate information through appropriate channels to enable key stakeholders to understand what is required.
- Build and manage multiple and diverse stakeholder's relationships.
- Advise on application of policy, regulation, and law for HR issues.
- Use data and metrics to mitigate areas of risk and highlight opportunities.
- Negotiate with and influence stakeholders to support achievement of business and organisation objectives.
- Present insight and conclusions on workforce issues or people process failures.
- Enable stakeholders to deliver people solutions. e.g., through negotiation, providing guidance.
- Lead and improve people capability within the business.
- Manage and deliver people related business and change projects.
- Handle and process people data according to legislative requirements.
- Embed organisational people policy to promote a diverse and inclusive culture with stakeholders.
- Analyse financial implications of people solutions ensuring value for money.
- Support the delivery of people strategies using technology and innovation in accordance with regulations and policies.
- Make decisions on people policy and issues raised, escalating concerns outside own area of responsibility.
- Use prioritisation tools e.g., priority matrix to manage workload, and deliver against business objectives.
- Challenge matters which conflict with ethical values or legislation.
- Contribute to the development of people policies and procedures or people initiatives.
- Interpret people and management data, from both internal and external sources to identify trends.
- Educate and support stakeholders to deal with wellbeing issues.
- Benchmark to improve people policies and procedures, or people initiatives.
- Communicate information through appropriate channels to enable key stakeholders to understand what is required.
- Build and manage multiple and diverse stakeholder's relationships.
- Advise on application of policy, regulation, and law for HR issues.
- Use data and metrics to mitigate areas of risk and highlight opportunities.
- Negotiate with and influence stakeholders to support achievement of business and organisation objectives.
- Present insight and conclusions on workforce issues or people process failures.
- Enable stakeholders to deliver people solutions. e.g., through negotiation, providing guidance.
- Lead and improve people capability within the business.
- Manage and deliver people related business and change projects.
- Handle and process people data according to legislative requirements.
- Embed organisational people policy to promote a diverse and inclusive culture with stakeholders.
- Analyse financial implications of people solutions ensuring value for money.
- Support the delivery of people strategies using technology and innovation in accordance with regulations and policies.
- Make decisions on people policy and issues raised, escalating concerns outside own area of responsibility.
- Use prioritisation tools e.g., priority matrix to manage workload, and deliver against business objectives.
- Challenge matters which conflict with ethical values or legislation.
- Contribute to the development of people policies and procedures or people initiatives.
- Interpret people and management data, from both internal and external sources to identify trends.
- Educate and support stakeholders to deal with wellbeing issues.
- Benchmark to improve people policies and procedures, or people initiatives.
Cheadle Hulme School is a large, vibrant, co‑educational independent school with a strong sense of community and a commitment to wellbeing, inclusion and personal development. We have over 1,600 pupils and more than 350 staff working across academic, operational and support functions. Our Waconian Values guide everything we do, and we are proud of our warm, collaborative working environment.