Security and Fire Officer

Required for: As soon as possible

Location: Deans Yard - Westminster School

Contract: Full-time, permanent

Hours of work: 40 hours per week

Salary: £30,975.73 per annum

Benefits include:

• A generous School pension scheme
• Free access to the School's leisure facilities, including a fitness gym (restricted hours)
• Access to the School's Cycle to Work Scheme and season ticket loans following completion of our standard probation period
• Private medical insurance (opt-in)
• Free school meals are also available when working on-site.

The closing date for this role is midday on Monday 6th July 2026. Interviews will take place in person shortly after the closing date.

We are seeking a professional and customer-focused Security and Fire Officer to join our Security Team. You will have a strong situational awareness and the ability to respond calmly and efficiently in emergencies. Working as part of a supportive team, you will assist in ensuring a safe, secure environment for our pupils, staff, and visitors. Responsibilities will include conducting routine security and fire safety checks, logging incidents, monitoring fire safety systems, and escorting visitors as required.

Security experience would be advantageous, and a good working knowledge of health and safety and fire safety practices is essential. You will be professional, approachable, and possess excellent customer service and communication skills.

The role is full-time and will require flexibility to work shifts between 07.00am to 11.00pm, Monday to Friday and 07.00am to 07.00pm on Saturdays, as well as attending key School events. Full-time hours are 40 per week working for 52 weeks of the year.

Working as part of the Site Services team, the role will include:

• Maintaining the security of the school premises and its contents. This includes patrolling buildings within the Estate.
• Following procedures to enable access to buildings as required throughout the year and ensuring that all buildings are secured each night.
• Monitoring alarms and CCTV.
• Carrying out routine fire safety checks across the Estate, including checking fire doors, fire exits, emergency lighting, fire signage, and ensuring escape routes remain clear.
• Testing and inspecting manual fire call points and inspecting portable firefighting equipment.
• Reporting any fire safety defects, hazards, or concerns through the Incident Reporting System and to the Security and Fire Manager.
• Assisting with regular fire safety inspections and supporting compliance with the School's fire safety procedures.
• Communicating effectively with the team through a daily log.
• Controlling the allocation of keys through maintaining a daily log.
• Assisting Reception in the greeting and receiving of visitors and contractors.
• Being ready to escort visitors or contractors on site.
• Understanding how to use the Access Control System to provide appropriate access rights for members of the school community.
• Monitoring and (as directed) controlling those entering and leaving Little Dean's Yard, including the use of gates and signage as and when required.
• Assisting with school events as required.
• Working with security from Westminster Abbey to ensure an effective working relationship with others who share the site.
• Delivering letters and parcels to the Post Room or as required.
• Maintaining appropriate conduct and demeanour and being correctly dressed at all times.
• Undertaking suitable training to enable the tasks and duties required to carry out the job.
• Carrying out other tasks as may be instructed by the Security and Fire Manager, Interim Head of Facilities, Director of Estates, or other senior members of the School Management.

Equal Opportunities: We are an equal opportunities employer. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex or sexual orientation.

Safeguarding and Child Protection: Westminster School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Working at Westminster: Westminster School is a busy, purposeful and vibrant place to be and an excellent workplace. The community is made up of around 750 pupils, 120 teaching staff and 108 support staff. Our staff are friendly and welcoming, and all newcomers quickly become part of the rhythm of life here. There is a real sense of community here as, being a boarding school many members of staff and pupils live on site and the School's premises are very much treated as a home away from home. School life starts before breakfast and continues way beyond the working day; as a result, there is always a lively atmosphere in and around School and always someone to share a tea and biscuit with in the Common Room. Support staff as much as teaching staff are encouraged to embrace the School's day-to-day activities, whether that be attending an evening concert or a morning service in the Abbey.

At Westminster we will always select the best candidate for every position. We do know, however, that we can only truly choose the best person on every occasion if a broad and diverse pool of candidates see the job advertised and are encouraged to apply. As such, we continue to work on how our job roles are encountered, and particularly welcome applications from groups who have traditionally been underrepresented here. Westminster School is for everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic. We hope you are encouraged to apply.

The School: Westminster School is an independent day and boarding school for boys aged 13-18 and girls aged 16-18, with a long history, a distinctive ethos, and a unique sense of place in the very heart of London. Pupils achieve exceptional examination results and entrance to some of the top universities in the world. It is a busy, passionate and purposeful place where independent and deep thinking is enjoyed, encouraged and respected by all, and where holistic excellence is nurtured and valued. While the School is one of the foremost centres of academic excellence in the country, its commitment to academic life does not make it a hothouse for passing examinations. Pupils' success at examinations and entry to leading universities is instead a result of their enjoyment of academic enquiry, debate and search for explanation, well beyond published syllabuses. Pupils are intellectually, socially, ethically and politically engaged and our aim is to ensure that their enthusiasm for learning is developed further, allowing them to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to them in the future. At Westminster, pupils have the freedom to lead on projects outside of the classroom and embrace a whole range of extra-curricular activities and interests. A host of pupil-led societies take place every week at the School, often with expert guest speakers, and pupils can choose to study an additional language, play an instrument or two, volunteer in local primary schools, row along the Thames, take part in plays and musicals, and much more. The School's ethos resides in the enduring values of the liberal tradition reflected in the 1560 Charter of Westminster's Elizabethan foundation, where it is stated that: 'the youth which is growing to manhood, as tender shoots in the wood of our state, shall be liberally instructed in good books to the greater honour of the state'. Whilst academic and cultural attainments are highly prized at Westminster, the School is fully committed also to each pupil's spiritual, moral, emotional and physical development and wellbeing.