HR Assistant - Brookfields School - Tilehurst
Grade F11–19 FTE - £28,142 – £32,061 plus £1539 SEN Allowance. Actual Basic: £25,474 - £29,021 Actual SEN £1393
Full Time 37 hours per week – 07.30 – 15.30 Monday to Thursday. 07.30 – 15.00 on Friday
Term Time Only plus 2 weeks
Start Date – June/July 2026
Brookfields School is a vibrant, caring, and forward‑thinking special school committed to providing exceptional education and support for our pupils. We are seeking a highly organised and proactive HR Assistant to join our team and help deliver an excellent HR service across the school.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone with previous HR experience, looking to develop their HR career in a supportive and fast‑paced environment. You will work closely with our HR Manager to provide comprehensive operational and administration HR support across all aspects of the employee lifecycle.
About the Role
As our HR Assistant, you will play a key role in ensuring the smooth running of our day‑to‑day HR operations. Your responsibilities will include:
Absence & Attendance
- Managing the daily staff absence process from 07:30am
- Recording staff sickness, leave and appointments on SAMPeople/Arbor
- Supporting return‑to‑work processes and sickness monitoring
Recruitment & Onboarding
- Advertising roles and coordinating applications
- Arranging interviews, assessments and reference checks
- Supporting with pre‑employment checks, new starter packs and inductions
- Maintaining the Single Central Record and HR systems
Staff Lifecycle Administration
- Monitoring probation periods
- Processing staff changes, leavers and contractual variations
- Ensuring HR records are kept up‑to‑date and secure
Payroll & HR Data
- Preparing payroll updates for starters, leavers and changes
- Entering additional claims into SAMPeople / iTrent
- Supporting HR reporting
Other Key Duties
- Managing the HR and Recruitment inboxes
- Minute‑taking at formal HR meetings
- Manage Agency Cover
About You
We’re looking for someone who is confident working with people at all levels, thrives in a busy environment and has strong attention to detail.
Essential:
- Minimum GCSE Maths and English
- Previous experience in HR
- Strong communication and organisational skills
- Excellent IT skills (Outlook, Word, Excel)
- Ability to manage your own workload and meet deadlines
- Ability to work sensitively with confidential information
- Availability to start work at 07:30am
Desirable:
- CIPD Level 3 or above
- Previous work experience in a School/education environment
- Knowledge of SAMPeople and Arbor
What we offer:
- A supportive and friendly team environment
- The chance to make a real difference in a school community
- Generous holiday entitlement (term‑time + 2 weeks)
- SEN allowance included
- Free on-site parking
- Generous pension scheme
- Contractual Sick Pay
- Free confidential mental health and wellbeing coaching and counselling services
- Family friendly policies
- Staff Wellbeing
- Continuous Professional Development: A full induction and on the job training with a commitment to supporting and coaching you towards excellent practice
- A generous site in a well-established community location, with excellent transport links
Joining our team at Brookfields Schools presents an exciting opportunity to be part of a community committed to excellence in education and development of SEN pupils. If you are passionate about facilitating positive experiences for pupils and families and are ready to make a meaningful contribution, we encourage you to apply.
Who we are
Part of the Ascendancy Partnership Trust family of schools, Brookfields School is an oversubscribed, thriving, vibrant and happy place of learning. We have c224 pupils on roll aged from 4 to 19 who due to their complex needs, require significant specialist support to succeed academically and achieve their full potential.
How to Apply: An application pack, including a job description and person specification, and an application form can be found on our website.
Applications should be sent to [email protected] and the closing date is 09.00am on Monday 15 June 2026. Should you have any questions prior to making an application, you would be welcome to contact us on the above email address. Please apply as soon as possible as we reserve the right to interview and appoint before the closing date.
We welcome applications from all sections of the community.
The Ascendancy Partnership Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening and safer recruitment checks appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the DBS. This position is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
Applicants must be eligible to work in the UK.
This role has been identified as public facing in accordance with Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, and therefore the ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English will be required. Conversing at ease with members of the public (including pupils), providing advice and using any specialist terminology appropriate to the role is essential for the post.
Pay: £25,474.00-£29,021.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Free parking
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Sick pay
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person
