Head of Admissions

Job Title: Head of Admissions

Job Purpose: Managing the Admissions Department; ensuring that the admissions process and procedures are properly implemented and that thorough records are maintained.

Providing support and guidance to the Principal and Senior Leadership Teams across the Senior School, Girls’ Preparatory School and Boys’ Preparatory School in taking the strategic vision for admissions forward.

Reporting Line: Director of Marketing, Communications and Admissions

Tenure: Permanent, full-time (52 weeks of the year) part time weeks will also be considered (minimum of 42 weeks of the year – term time plus 8 weeks)

Application Deadline: 8:00am, Thursday 29 September 2022

Interviews to be held week commencing: 3 October 2022

The Head of Admissions will develop and implement the admissions strategy for the School and support the Principal and Senior Leadership Team in all aspects of admissions. Understanding the importance of the role of admissions as the first interaction prospective parents have with the School is vital.

The successful candidate will be a hands-on and experienced professional who will be aligned to Surbiton High School’s ethos and values. They will inspire confidence and trust, operate collaboratively with a diverse group of staff, pupils, parents and prospective parents and immerse themselves fully in the life of the School. They will be an excellent team leader.

Experience of career success thus far within the fields of admissions, customer service, sales or recruitment, preferably in an educational environment will be an advantage. Some knowledge of and the ability to apply sound marketing principles to the Surbiton High School environment, taking into consideration the perspective of target audiences and the dynamics of the marketplace is essential.

The successful candidate will have a good work ethic, be flexible, pragmatic, well-organised and a credible ambassador for the School. They will be able to work effectively with different groups of people, get the best out of people and operate with purpose, integrity, enthusiasm, good humour and discretion. Key personal attributes including being creative, energetic, organised, pro-active, solution focused are essential as is the ability to work independently and to deliver on promises. An acute attention to detail and a desire for continuous review and improvement is essential.

Key Responsibilities:

Marketing & Strategy

• To take responsibility for developing and implementing a comprehensive admissions strategy in conjunction with the Principal, Director of Marketing, Communications and Admissions, the Senior Leadership Team, Local Governing Body and United Learning.
• To represent the Admissions Department at key events for prospective and existing pupils, including evenings and weekends, where necessary.
• Regularly analyse admissions data to help shape the admissions strategy and share with the relevant team.
• To work alongside the Heads of the Prep Schools and Principal to ensure all potential pupils are correctly assessed, checked and fit into the existing cohort.
• To work closely with the Director of Marketing, Communications and Admissions on the development of communications and events for prospective pupils and feeder schools, providing innovative suggestions.
• To ensure the department stays up to date with best practice and new and innovative processes to provide the best admissions process possible.
• To fully understand and maximise the opportunities of Admissions applications such as Hubspot.

Management

• To lead and line manage the Admissions Assistants and Admissions Administrator
• To support the Principal, Senior Leadership Team and Local Governing Body in all aspects of admissions across all three Schools.
• To lead the Admissions team by providing clear and consistent direction and ensuring gold standard customer service which is warm and professional.
• Maintain high levels of motivation within the team ensuring all feel fully involved and continue to develop their skills using their key strengths and areas of interest to further their role.
• To ensure that the Admissions team provide the relevant support to the department, across all three Schools, carrying out any such duties as may be reasonably requested.
• To implement procedures and processes to enable the efficient functioning of the department.
• To ensure that the Admissions team provide the relevant support for the department, across all three Schools, including but limited to:

– Dealing with phone and email enquiries for all three Schools.
– Open Event bookings and communications.
– Setting up and attending Open Events across all three Schools, including rearranging venues and furniture, and transportation of collateral and materials.
– Sending out prospectus packs and letters.
– Arranging individual visits and tour bookings.
– Processing pupil applications across all three Schools.
– Sending pertinent information to enable a smooth transition to the School.
– Follow-up communications regarding exams and assessments.
– Administering requests for all three Schools.
– Assessment and interview arrangements.
– Overseeing assessments and attend assessment days and relevant subject confirmation meetings.
– Assisting with assessment day arrangement emails and letters.
– Creating personalised communications to support the admissions journey .
– Processing acceptance and decline notifications on the admissions database.
– Assisting with scholarship application processing and communications.
– Coordinating all Entrance Exam communications, pre-entrance, post-entrance exam, and outcome notifications.
– Communicating outcomes with all feeder school Heads.
– Updating and coordinating joiners and medical questionnaires.
– Coordinating events for new joiners.
– Arranging and attending new pupil introduction mornings.
– Processing bursary applications and renewals and providing reports for the Principal for outcome decisions.
– Bursary renewal correspondence with parents.
Entrance Exam organisation and correspondence.
– Providing Head Office with information for fee enquiries and debt collection purposes.
– Submitting weekly leavers to Royal Borough of Kingston.
– Leaving notice communications – emails, contacts, letters and fees in lieu correspondence to staff, parents and Head Office.
– Exporting of new pupil data to our Management Information System (MIS) team and scanning of all acceptance paperwork.
– Creation of pupil files for all new joiners and updating/archiving as needed.
– Updating the admissions section of the website.

Administration

• To ensure records are accurate and kept up to date for all incoming pupils and in line with current legislation including archiving, Tier 4 and UVKI.
• Inform United Learning and relevant parties of all pupil leavers to enable accurate fee billing and records to be maintained.
• Work closely with our internal finance and MIS teams to ensure pupil information is up to date.
• To provide accurate and timely data to the Senior Leadership Team to support plans and projections.
• To ensure the smooth running of the department by initiating time efficient processes and procedures.
• To attend Senior Leadership Team meetings and internal/external meetings as requested.
• The successful candidate will be likely to fit the following profile

Experience and Qualifications

The following would be advantageous:

• A university degree or equivalent
• Experience within an education environment and/or independent school admissions
• Customer service experience
• Experience of leading and managing a team
• Knowledge and Skills
• An understanding of admissions procedures, the independent school sector and ‘Gold Standard’ customer service are desirable
• Excellent attention to detail, administrative skills and analytical skills
• Proficient use of Microsoft Office (including Excel) and understating and experience of, and ability to use, the functions of a database, including generating reports
• Evidence of challenging and supporting colleagues to improve performance ensuring tasks are appropriately delegated
• Record of developing and sustaining positive working relationships and managing a team effectively
• Commitment to use current and emerging technologies to enhance the educational offering and administration of the School
• Ability to communicate concisely and sensitively both orally and in writing
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and the ability to interact well with people at all levels and build relationships
• Effective communicator with a consistent approach and direction to managing a team
• Excellent telephone manner and written communication skills
• A self-starter – able to seek solutions.

Attitudes and Personal Attributes

• Alignment with the aims and ethos of independent education in general and Surbiton High School in particular
• High level of personal and professional organisation, integrity, discretion and confidentiality
• Impressive personal presence and presentation with high degrees of self-confidence personal energy and dynamism
• Expertise and gravitas when dealing with parents
• Personal warmth to engage positively and gain confidence of pupils, staff and parents as a frontline ambassador for the School and possess a genuine desire to help others and offer a good service
• A commitment to strengthen relationships with feeder schools both in the maintained and independent sector
• A passion for excellence and a willingness to engage in the life of the school community so as to support our vision and values
• A can-do attitude
• Willingness and availability to attend open days and other admissions related events (Examination Days, Scholarship Days etc) including occasional evenings and weekends
• Pro-active with a positive ‘can-do’ and enthusiastic attitude and the ability to work as part of a team
• Ability to respond to, and manage, multiple tasks and to work effectively under pressure
• Reliable, well organised with good attention to detail and ability to work to deadlines
• An understanding and support of the ethos of Surbiton High School
• Willingness to keep abreast of and adopt admissions best practice in independent schools
• An appreciation that there are physical aspects to the role, involved in the setup of events and working across a school campus with seven sites.

Surbiton High School is culturally diverse and are fully committed to celebrating, respecting and learning about inclusion and diversity throughout the community.

Surbiton High School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Please note that the School reserves the right to appoint at any stage during the recruitment process.

For any queries relating to the role or your application, please email

recruitment@surbitonhigh.com

United Learning

We are part of United Learning, a large, and growing, group of schools aiming to offer a life changing education to children and young people across England.

Our schools work as a team and achieve more by sharing than any single school could. Our subject specialists, our Group-wide intranet, our own curriculum and our online learning portal all help us share knowledge and resource, helping to simplify work processes and manage workloads for an improved work-life balance.

As a Group, we can reward our staff better: with good career opportunities, better pay, benefits, and ultimately, the satisfaction of helping children to succeed. We invest in our staff wellbeing. Our academies each have at least eight INSET days per year (with three of those solely dedicated to planning), and an ongoing group-wide wellbeing programme. It’s an ethos we call ‘the best in everyone’.

We are working hard to become a more diverse organisation – which is key to our commitment to bringing out the best in everyone. We welcome applications from everyone committed to this ethos and would particularly welcome applications from black and minority ethnic candidates, who are currently under-represented in the Group as a whole. We always appoint on merit. We are open to discussing flexible working options.