Admin Assistant - The Forum Centre

The Forum Centre is looking for an enthusiastic Administrative Officer to provide support for a small team at our satellite location in Lytchett Minster. The successful candidate will provide high quality administration assistance to the staff and provide reception/telephone services to ensure all visitors and/or telephone callers to the site are received in an efficient and effective manner.

• Maths and English GCSE or equivalent, grade C or above



• Good telephone and reception skills



• Good typing and keyboard skills, which will be tested at interview. To be able to work accurately under own initiative for short periods of time and to work in an organised and flexible manner.



• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, administrative capabilities and IT skills including data bases and the ability to work effectively with a range of people in a courteous manner.



• Maintaining confidentiality with an ability to show sensitivity and objectivity in dealing with these issues.



• Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team.


Desirable

• Previous experience working in a school office or similar.


Personal Attributes

• The ability to empathise with vulnerable young people is essential.



• The office is extremely busy environment, therefore a patient and calm nature is necessary.


Other Factors

• Ability to form and maintain appropriate relationships and personal boundaries with children in accordance with safeguarding practice.



• Emotional resilience in working with challenging behaviours
  
  The Forum Centre is a Pupil Referral Unit based in Blandford, Dorset. We are a small team of dedicated professionals providing education for pupils who are excluded, at risk of exclusion and those with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. We teach children from 7 to 16 years old. We are committed to inclusion and aim to reintegrate pupils back into mainstream education and/or further training. We work with small groups teaching core and other relevant subjects.
  
  The Forum Centre is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people; this is a commitment which we expect all staff and volunteers to share. The successful candidate will be required to have a Disclosure and Barring Service check in line with the Governments safer recruitment guidelines.


The Forum Centre values the diversity of our workforce and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.

The pro rata salary shown is based on the number of hours and weeks worked and includes appropriate paid annual leave and bank holiday entitlements.

The salary quoted is the annual salary for the position at the time of advert. The salary will be paid in equal monthly instalments and will be adjusted at the start of employment and again if leaving part way through the school year to ensure the correct salary is received for the work completed in an academic year.

This role is UK based and your Right to Work will need to be established as part of the appointment process.
This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The amendments to the ROA 1974 (Exceptions Order 1975, (2013 and 2020)) provide that when applying for certain jobs and activities, certain spent convictions and cautions are 'protected', so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. The MOJ's guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications and related exceptions and further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide.

Keeping Children Safe in Education

The Forum Centre will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates. This check will be part of a safeguarding check, and the search will purely be based on whether an individual is suitable to work with children. All aspects of social media and internet searches will be conducted. As care must be taken to avoid unconscious bias and any risk of discrimination, a person who will not on the appointment panel will conduct the searches and will only share information if and when findings are relevant and of concern.