HR Officer/Senior Officer in London

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 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 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. 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 focused 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.

Do you have HR experience or an interest in supporting the HR function in schools? We are currently looking to appoint a HR Officer to support our thriving team at Harris Academy Battersea.

• 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 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.
• 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.
• Carrying out HR tasks including referrals to occupational health, organising interviews with the Executive Principal, liaising with staff representatives as required.
• Directing staff to the correct source of information regarding pensions, salaries, maternity, grievance, complaints etc.
• Knowledge of Microsoft software packages.
• Secure knowledge of HR legislation.
• Basic knowledge of financial procedures.
• Training in the use of a variety of ICT packages.
• At least five years’ experience working in an office environment.
• Experience of training staff successfully in a range of duties.
• Experience of developing policies, processes and procedures.

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.

The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.

We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. This will be helpful for you when completing your application, and throughout the recruitment process.

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible as we may interview and offer to a candidate before the closing date. Please note that we only accept applications submitted before the closing date via our careers website.