Job Title
Receptionist
Responsible to
COO
Contract
Permanent, all year round
Hours
15.5 Hours a week
Plus 9 Saturdays on a rota basis - Saturdays are only required during term time.
Available shifts to be shared 15.5hrs each between two individuals are:
Monday: 08:15 – 13:00 or 12:30 – 17:45
Tuesday to Friday: 12:30 – 17:45
Salary
C. £10,191 (£12.90 per hour)
Purpose of the Job
This is an exciting opportunity for two experienced Receptionists to join our team and deliver exceptional front of house service. As the first point of contact for visitors, parents, pupils and staff, you’ll create a warm and positive experience while ensuring our safeguarding procedures are upheld at all times.
To be successful in this role, you’ll thrive in a busy and fast-paced environment, enjoy helping others and take pride in delivering exceptional customer service. With excellent communication and organisation skills, you’ll be confident managing multiple priorities.
Previous experience within an educational setting would be an advantage but is not essential.
We aspire to deliver exceptional every day, whilst creating a welcoming and supportive environment where individuals can thrive, find their exceptional, and be celebrated. Our 3 cornerstone values are Humility, Engagement and Kindness. If this sounds like a cultural fit for you, and you meet the job requirements, we would love to hear from you.
Main Duties & Responsibilities
- Maintaining the reception area, creating a welcome and presentable environment for visitors
- Acting as the first point of contact for visitors, welcoming them warmly and directing them to the appropriate person or department
- Ensuring that all visitors are signed into the visitors’ book, receive a visitors’ badge and are attended to and looked after appropriately
- Handling correspondence e.g. any mail and packages, and outgoing correspondence
- Working with house staff to maintain accurate pupil registers, receiving telephone calls from parents and following up on any absences by contacting parents and passing on information about absentees to the appropriate staff
- Checking absentees not reported to School
- Processing general enquiries, ensuring these are promptly and politely dealt with, or passed on to the relevant member of staff
- Ensuring that the reception area conveys a first-class and professional impression of the school
- Operating the School telephone system, receiving incoming calls and passing them on appropriately in a timely and efficient manner. Taking accurate messages as appropriate
- Ensuring all necessary documents (including registers), mobile phone and loudspeaker are taken out to the meeting point during a fire alarm
- Responding to and forwarding emails as appropriate
- Assisting with the timely and accurate preparation, processing and distribution of School notices, risk assessments, correspondence and other official documents, as required.
- Liaising with catering staff over day pupil numbers for boarding supper
- Franking all School mail leaving the site. Ensuring that the mail including parcels, documents and exam papers are securely dispatched by the most appropriate method, depending on the urgency and cost.
- Co-ordinating as required parcels and other packages received for members of the school community.
- Assisting the HR department and other members of the administration team to undertake other reasonable tasks and administration work as required, including providing support to the School Secretary and Head’s Secretary, where this is appropriate.
- Supporting any critical incident within the school acting as the initial communication point and dealing with telephone calls and enquiries immediately and appropriately in accordance with School policy guidelines.
The duties and responsibilities shown above are not intended to be exhaustive and the post holder will be expected to be flexible and to take on new responsibilities as necessary to meet the changing needs of the school.
MORE INFORMATION
We acknowledge that candidates may use AI in writing their applications and ask that if they do, they declare where this has been the case. Our recruitment processes help us understand what candidates uniquely contribute, and submissions that rely too heavily on AI risk obscuring the very qualitied we are looking to discover. If you use AI, let it support your thinking not replace it.
We encourage you to apply even if you feel that you do not meet all the required qualifications. Frequently cited statistics show that women and underrepresented groups are more likely to only apply to jobs if they meet 100% of the listed qualifications. We encourage you to break that statistic and apply if you think you have what it takes to join us.
If you wish to apply under the Disability Confident Scheme, then please make us aware of this and ensure that you meet the minimum requirements for the role.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Taunton School is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of gender, marital status, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, or age. We particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups.
Candidates will be assessed against relevant criteria only (i.e. skills, qualifications, abilities, experience) in selection and recruitment.
If you require reasonable adjustments to be made to enable you to participate in the recruitment and selection process, please contact [email protected]
SAFEGUARDING
Taunton School operates in a regulated sector and adheres to the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) statutory guidance. We are committed to working together to safeguard children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
If you are shortlisted for interview the HR team may carry out an online search via Google to check presence and activity, as part of the School’s due diligence. As a regulated sector we are required to request references prior to interview unless your permission is not granted.
Offers of employment are subject to satisfactory safeguarding and pre-employment checks as part of the School’s due diligence, in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education. These include, but are not limited to, ID and Right to Work in the UK, satisfactory references, a successful enhanced DBS check, and satisfactory online searches.
This job is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and subsequent amendments. You are not entitled to withhold information about convictions which would otherwise be considered as ‘spent’. All applicants must therefore declare all previous convictions and cautions, including those that would normally be considered "spent", except those that are classed as protected offences.
It is a condition of employment that the employee should not have been convicted of a criminal offence against children, nor have been dismissed from or resigned from a previous employer for misconduct of a similar nature.
For more information, please visit this link to our school policies including child protection and recruitment: Taunton School Policies & Inspection Reports
CLOSING DATE
The closing date for receipt of applications is 30 July 2026, however, please note that early applications are encouraged as they will be reviewed as received, and the vacancy may close early should a successful appointment be made.
If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume that your application has unfortunately been unsuccessful. Due to numbers of applications received for our jobs, we do not provide feedback at this stage.
This job is one that engages in regulated activity.
Pay: £12.90 per hour
Benefits:
- Company events
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Free parking
- Gym membership
- Health & wellbeing programme
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
- Sick pay
Work Location: In person
