Administrative Assistant and Attendance Officer

The Administrative Assistant is responsible for providing full administrative and organizational support to the Middle School Assistant Principal and Middle School Director of Student Life, and general support to middle school employees. As Attendance Officer, the role holder will also log student attendance across middle school, keeping up-to-date records of absences and monitoring/reporting trends in attendance and student behavior. This is a term-time only role.

Summary of duties

• Schedule appointments and produce itineraries and reports for the supervisors to optimize use of their time
• Monitor and maintain records of student attendance on a daily basis; prepare monthly attendance report and report trends and/or concerns to the relevant administrator
• Oversee the administrative aspects of greeting, coordinating and paying substitutes to assist in ensuring that appropriate teaching cover is available when required
• Overseeing certain student-travel opportunities in the middle school, which includes processing field trip requests, trip packs, organizing risk assessments, and collecting medical consent forms
• Maintain an accurate and up-to-date archive of student files to ensure that the appropriate information is available whenever it is required; prepare packages of student transcripts and reports for applications to other schools
• Collect, collate and distribute report card data to merge this with attendance and other data and provide a full progress record for each student; compile and maintain daily records of attendance and timeliness of students in order to provide accurate information to faculty and parents, and to enable the monitoring and reporting of trends in behavior
• Liaise with other school departments to ensure that all non-academic support for students is coordinated to run smoothly
• Where required, supervise/monitor students during recess, lunch or after school hours to ensure their safety and wellbeing
• Participate actively in the life of the School, through attendance at events, committee membership and/or leadership of co-curricular activities
• Any other duties as are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job as requested by the supervisors

Selection criteria

Essential qualifications/experience:

• Recent and extensive experience in a general administrative or managerial role
• Proficiency with a number of computer applications (Google suite, MS Office, etc.), including high level of competence with spreadsheets, strong proofreading, spelling and editing skills
• Tact, diplomacy and a friendly manner with the ability to interact with a diverse student, parent, faculty and staff body with ease
• Demonstrably strong organizational abilities, along with excellent oral and written communication skills, and the ability to meet deadlines
• Outstanding collaborative skills and a desire to work in a team-focused environment
• A proven commitment to the safeguarding and welfare of children

Desirable qualifications/experience:

• Experience in an administrative role in a school
• Experience working in a school or other educational setting
• Proficiency with G Suite
• Experience with Axiom/Veracross or other school data entry systems

This position description is current at the date shown but following consultation may be changed to reflect or anticipate changes in the role that are commensurate with the job title and salary.

The American School in London is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all trustees, employees and volunteers to share this commitment. All new appointments will be subject to appropriate checks: Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS enhanced), Disqualification by Association Self-Declaration, Declaration of Criminal Record, checks against the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) Prohibition List (Teacher Status Checks) including Identity, Address, Date of Birth, a Full Employment History, Right to Work in the UK, overseas checks where applicable, at least 2 references (one with current or most recent employer, where appropriate) and original documentation of Qualifications (where appropriate). For positions into Senior Management a Prohibition from Management Check (s128 Directive) will also be undertaken.

All posts involving direct contact with children are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. However, amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013 & 2020) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are 'protected'. These are not subject to disclosure to employers and cannot be taken into account. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found on the Ministry of Justice website. Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide details of all unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered, prior to the date of the interview. You may be asked for further information about your criminal history during the recruitment process. If your application is successful, this self-disclosure information will be checked against information from the Disclosure & Barring Service before your appointment is confirmed.

Diversity and equality of opportunity are cornerstone values of The American School in London. The American School in London will not discriminate against an applicant or employee based on race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, or any other legally recognised protected basis under local law. Read our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement here .