Overview:
The Lion Works School and The White House School offer a specialist learning provision for children and young people. We emphasise the development of core academic understanding, encourage creativity, celebrate outdoor learning and promote the growth of essential life skills. We aim to establish a safe, creative and vibrant environment where children feel challenged and supported in their learning, achieving high levels of wellbeing and academic success. We aim to nurture and develop mutual respect, tolerance, teamwork, perseverance, kindness and good manners.
The People & Wellbeing Manager leads People Services across both schools. They are responsible for delivering an effective and efficient HR function, ensuring compliance with employment legislation and supporting the strategic aims of the organisation. This role requires a proactive and knowledgeable professional who can lead on HR best practices, employee relations, recruitment, and workforce development.
Purpose of the Role:
The People & Wellbeing Manager plays a pivotal role in leading and delivering a high-quality People Services function, ensuring that HR practices align with the schools’ values, legal requirements, and strategic objectives. They are responsible for fostering a positive and inclusive work environment, supporting staff well-being, and ensuring compliance with employment law, safeguarding regulations, and Safer Recruitment practices. Through effective workforce planning, employee relations management, and talent development, the People & Wellbeing Manager contributes to creating a high-performing, motivated, and engaged workforce that enables the schools to provide the best possible education for its students.
Key Responsibilities:
As the People & Wellbeing Manager, you will:
Lead the development and implementation of HR strategies that align with the vision and values of both the school and Cavendish Education, focusing on building a skilled, motivated, and engaged workforce.
Provide expert HR advice to school leaders on staffing matters, supporting effective workforce planning, professional development, and employee engagement to enhance educational outcomes.
Promote a positive school culture by ensuring HR policies and practices support the wellbeing and success of both staff and students.
Manage complex employee relations matters, including disciplinaries, grievances, performance management, and absence management, ensuring compliance with employment legislation and educational requirements.
Ensure both schools adhere to safeguarding policies and Safer Recruitment practices, promoting the safety and welfare of students at all times.
Ensure safer recruitment procedures are consistently applied, including the accurate completion and verification of pre-employment checks and the maintenance of recruitment records.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of educational policies and employment law, ensuring compliance with KCSIE and other regulations relevant to the education sector.
Lead recruitment and onboarding processes for teaching and non-teaching staff, ensuring roles are filled with suitably qualified candidates who support the schools’ mission and values.
Work with senior leadership teams to identify staffing needs and support the recruitment of high-quality candidates who enhance the teaching and learning environment.
Develop staff retention and professional development strategies that support career growth and maintain a stable, effective workforce.
Develop and regularly review HR policies and procedures to ensure they reflect best practice, align with organisational goals, and comply with relevant legislation and education-sector requirements.
Ensure staff are aware of and follow HR policies and procedures relevant to their roles, promoting a transparent and consistent approach across the school community.
Oversee the payroll process for teaching and support staff, ensuring the timely and accurate payment of salaries and benefits in line with school policies.
Line manage HR and administrative staff, providing supervision, guidance, training, and performance management to ensure the effective delivery of support services across both schools.
Manage employee benefits and wellbeing initiatives, ensuring staff have access to appropriate support services, including health and pension schemes.
Promote a positive work-life balance for staff, helping to reduce stress and burnout while improving retention and staff satisfaction.
Maintain accurate HR and safeguarding records, including the Single Central Record (SCR), ensuring compliance with statutory and safeguarding requirements.
Analyse HR data to monitor key metrics such as staff turnover, absence rates, and recruitment outcomes, reporting findings to senior leadership to support school development planning.
Use workforce data to identify trends and propose solutions that support a stable and effective workforce.
Champion initiatives to improve staff engagement, promoting a culture where staff feel valued, supported, and motivated to achieve their best.
Oversee the management of HR systems, ensuring data is secure, accurate, and accessible to relevant staff and leadership teams.
Ensure compliance with GDPR and data protection requirements in the management of employee information.
Equal Opprotunities:
The Lion Works School and The White House School seek to ensure that all existing and potential employees and pupils are given equal opportunities for employment and education. It is committed to the elimination of unlawful or unfair discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity.
The Lion Works School and The White House School seek to ensure that no applicant for employment or education is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be justified. The school aims to provide an open, welcoming and safe environment for all its pupils, employees, and visitors.
Safeguarding:
The Lion Works School and The White House School seek are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and we expect all staff to share this commitment. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974; pre-employment checks will be conducted; references will be sought, and successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and other relevant checks with statutory bodies.
We comply with the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) code of practice and have a written policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders, both of which are available on request. If you are shortlisted, you will be required to declare any relevant convictions, adult cautions or other matters which may affect your suitability to work with children. As a result of amendments to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (exceptions order 1975) in 2013 and 2020, some minor offences are now protected (filtered) and should not be disclosed to potential employers, and employers cannot take these offences into account.
Pay: £42,000.00-£45,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
