Sports Turf Grounds Assistant — Training & Growth

Erskine Stewart Melville are renowned for its high-quality sporting facilities and prestigious landscaped campuses. These roles will be directly involved in maintaining and presenting our high-level sports turf surfaces and campuses to a high standard, whilst ensuring Site Safety across our School sites. We welcome applications from a diverse range of outdoor professionals, including those with experience in school grounds, golf course greenkeeping and commercial landscaping. In-house training will be available.

We are currently seeking two motivated Assistant Groundspersons to join our dedicated Grounds Teams for the following positions on a full-time basis:

• 1 x Permanent position, working 39 hours per week Monday to Friday, including four hours on Saturday mornings, on a rota basis to assist with setting up of sports equipment, with a salary of £29,823 to £30,410 per annum dependent on skills and experience.
• 1 x Temporary position until 25 September 2026, working 39 hours Monday to Friday, with a salary range of £25,846 to £26,355, dependent on skills and experience.

The successful candidate must have a full UK driving license to operate school vehicles on and between sites. Candidates with the below desired experience, or who have a keen interest in developing their capabilities are encouraged to apply:

• Experience in using pedestrian, petrol engine rotary and cylinder mowers; and petrol engine hedge trimmers and strimmers.
• Experience of using amenity range diesel tractors with various mounted implements, such as trailed gang mowers, rotary mowers, turf aerators, sand spreaders, trailers, and drag brushes.
• Qualifications in NC Horticulture, City and Guilds Horticulture Level 2-3, NVQ/SVC level 2-3 in Greenkeeping/Sports turf maintenance or equivalent experience.

ESMS is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. International applicants will therefore be unable to apply for and secure a Skilled Worker visa. The successful candidate will only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

Employees get access to a range of benefits including:

• Fee remission from Nursery to S6.
• Free school lunches.
• Paid moving house day.
• Free Sports’ Club membership, including access to pool and fitness suites.
• Auto-enrolment in the Scottish Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
• Generous holiday allowance.
• Generous pension.
• Death in service benefit.
• Family friendly policies, including enhanced maternity leave.
• Membership of the ESMS Discount and Benefits Scheme, including a range of discounts at 130,000 retail and entertainment locations.
• Employee Assistance Service.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Car leasing salary sacrifice scheme.
• Annual professional review process.
• Regular salary reviews.
• Funding towards professional qualifications.

We are looking for individuals who can embody and promote ESMS values of Kindness, Confidence, Resilience, Integrity, and Curiosity while role modelling behaviours in line with our school pillars of Ambition, Innovation, and Community. ESMS is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Applicants must undergo child protection screening, including checks with past employers and Disclosure Scotland. All staff working at ESMS have direct access to young people therefore all posts within the school are considered exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

The closing date for applications is 12pm Thursday 28th May 2026. We anticipate interviews are likely to take shortly after.

Welcome to the ESMS, a vibrant family of independent schools, set in beautiful grounds in the heart of Edinburgh. We offer a co-educational nursery and junior school, single‑sex but closely twinned secondary education, and a co‑educational sixth form. We are a consistently award‑winning School, with an educational legacy that stretches back more than 300 years. Our Schools have always been pioneers of rounded education. Children’s education is underpinned by our values: kindness, confidence, resilience, integrity and curiosity. From virtual reality headsets in the classroom to developing one of the first outdoor learning programmes in Scotland, we are always searching for new ways to develop the whole child. The people that work for us are passionate, pioneering and strive for excellence in everything they do. We value the incredible contributions they make to school life, we invest in their careers and we support their ambitions so that they flourish professionally and personally.