Admissions Officer (16+ and Senior School Occasional Places)

Main Responsibilities

• Lead 16+ and Occasional Places (Senior School) Admissions: You will lead the 16+ admissions and also Occasional Places (Senior School) admissions process from initial parental enquiry through to the induction of new pupils. Alongside this, you will support other admissions colleagues, particularly the 11+ Admissions Officer.
• Planning, strategy and marketing: Set, communicate and maintain timelines and priorities for your entry point. Assist the Head of Admissions in formulating our overall strategy for Admissions, including reflecting on the efficacy of existing systems, customer service and proposing improvements. Help identify marketing and communication opportunities to promote events and encourage conversion. Maximise the communication and marketing potential of the application database, HubSpot. Suggest applicants at 16+ and current pupils/leavers suitable for market research and support the Communications team / Development Office / Strategic Inclusion Lead with collating feedback from families / pupils or information that might be required. Liaise with the School Photographer and Filmmaker to create video and photo content to support 16+ entry. Liaise with the Communications team regarding producing marketing collateral to support 16+ entry.
• Events and admissions process: Work with the Head of Admissions to devise and implement the 16+ Open Evening, tours and other admissions events, working with colleagues across the school. Work with the Head of Admissions and the Senior Teacher (Senior School Admissions) to plan the academic assessments including requesting references, corresponding with parents/carers, organising interviews, processing results and communicating outcomes to parents. Arrange any assessments for candidates living abroad. Work with internal and external colleagues to promote and support bursary applications. Work with colleagues to devise and deliver conversion events for offer holders. Monitor applications as they arrive, check their accuracy and monitor payments. Obtain all documentation pertaining to learning differences (e.g. educational psychologist reports), agree any adjustments with the academic team and communicate this to parent. Establish that all applicants have the right to study in the UK. Acknowledge acceptances, verify payments and documentation in line with statutory requirements. Manage the reserve list, filling further places as appropriate. Liaise with staff to ensure that new pupil inductions are fully arranged and appropriate, timely correspondence is shared with parents, and “new joiner” information is completed. Support the 11+ Admissions Officer by attending events and through any other support tasks as required.
• Building relationships: Correspond with prospective parents via email and telephone, building positive relationships. Manage registrations for open events via website and telephone, and support the events with quality communications beforehand and afterwards. Act as an ambassador during open events and offer holder events, helping with anything from offering drinks to putting up banners. Gather feedback from parents about the event/process and report on this, making recommendations as appropriate. Provide accurate, timely and consistent feedback to parents after assessments. Ensure that the Head of Admissions is asked for support, if needed, and/or updated with any difficult conversations or situations arising within your entry point. Act as the lead contact for feeder schools at your entry point, both state and independent, providing assessment outcomes and arranging events, with colleagues, where required.
• Systems and Regulatory: Understand Safeguarding and GDPR requirements (including the data retention policy) and work to meet these requirements at all times. Ensure that the School is compliant with visa and UKVI regulations. Obtain relevant documentation for non‑UK citizens joining the school, and record their information. Use relevant systems such as HubSpot, My School Portal, SIMS and other systems. Carry out the safeguarding follow up for all joiners at the entry point.
• Reporting: Use HubSpot to build lists, reports and dashboards to monitor the entry point. Collate statistics to share with the Head of Admissions and senior colleagues. Arrange, prepare for and actively participate in the Admissions Panel meeting where decisions are made.

How We Work

We ‘pitch in’ and assist each other at busy times, whether that be staffing events, stuffing envelopes or answering more than our share of phone calls. We are committed to continually developing our expertise by reading blogs, attending conferences and courses, contacting colleagues in other schools. We think critically about how we can improve our processes, gain efficiencies and improve the experiences of our prospective families. We work collaboratively and think creatively about how best to solve problems as a team. We communicate clearly and with empathy at all times with prospective families. Our written communications are always courteous, accurate, warm and understanding. We continually build our understanding of all aspects of school life to enable us to sell the school to prospective families. We collaborate with the Communications team, sharing intelligence gleaned from working with prospective families to inform our marketing and communications.

These duties and responsibilities are intended as a guide. They are not exhaustive: the Admissions Officer will be expected to undertake any reasonable task or responsibility as required by the line manager.