The Board of Education works with schools and parishes to further the work with children and young people. The Board is involved in two major streams of work. One is support for schools regarding curriculum and buildings, which is offered through a service level agreement and delivered through a team of 25 associate advisors. The other is support and advice for volunteers and staff who work with young people in churches and the provision of events for young people.

Main Duties

• Provide administration and clerical support to the Director and Deputy Director of Education and other members of the Senior Leadership team of the Board of Education

• The post holder will be one of the first point of contacts for the Board of Education and will be required to provide a friendly and efficient service for all enquiries

• To deal with all first line queries wherever possible, to prioritise and delegate all other enquiries to the most appropriate member of the Education team

• To arrange appointments and proactively manage the SLT’s diaries

• To manage and organise meetings for SLT, this to include invites, room bookings, circulation of all meeting papers and refreshments

• Organising and servicing committee meetings (producing agendas, taking minutes etc)

• To prepare reports and presentations for the SLT

• Manage, edit and update shared databases proactively ensuring that information is up to date

• Respond to general correspondence on behalf of the Board of Education

• Typing and photocopying as required

• General Office administration duties

• Manage an effective filing system

• Assisting at Diocesan events which may involve some evening and weekend work as required

• To attend and take meeting minutes as required

Specific responsibilities:

• Editing and updating Board of Education handbooks and other materials

• Collating updating and maintaining accurate OFSTED and SIAMS data in relevant formats

• Liaising and communicating with parish youth/children workers and associate advisors

• Allocating the advisory team to visit schools and parishes

• Responding to school and parish requests as appropriate

• Manage visits under the terms of the service level agreements with schools for the advisory team

• Manage visits of diocesan staff and advisors to parishes

• Manage adviser invoices for payment

• Assist in the recruitment of volunteers and associate advisors

• Updating and maintenance of databases and spreadsheets

• Assisting and updating relevant sections of the Board of Education website

• Support in the production of leaflets, booklets and promotion of events

• Booking venues for events and conferences and dealing with delegate booking procedures

General:

• Attending relevant training opportunities

• The role includes dealing with confidential information

• Research and the production of information using a variety of sources

• Updating and maintenance of databases and spreadsheets

• Assisting and updating relevant sections of the Board of Education website

• Support in the production of leaflets, booklets and promotion of events

• Other relevant duties as required

Technical Skills & Qualifications, Knowledge and Experience

• Good educational standard with a minimum of 5 GCSE including Mathematics and English
• A minimum of 2 A levels or equivalent
• Excellent attention to detail in all written materials and communications
• Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft office software including Word and Excel.
• Good knowledge of databases
• Experience of administrative processes in a busy office
• Ability to deal with confidential and sensitive information
• The ability to present information in an accurate and appropriate format
• Advocate of customer care including experience of dealing with a wide range of customer queries in a professional manner
• Experience of prioritising workload to meet competing deadlines without supervision
• Support for the ethos of the Church of England, Blackburn Diocese and the Board of Education

Personal Effectiveness

• To be able to meet deadlines and targets
• A hard worker, able and ready to tackle a range of work with energy and stamina
• Works with others to achieve outcomes
• Works imaginatively to achieve outcomes while working within Department guidelines

Personal style

• Professional, approachable, trustworthy

Methods of working

• Organised
• Self-starter
• Attention to detail

Team skills

• Team player, works well with range of colleagues and partners

Communication

• Listens carefully and communicates sensitively & credibly, both speaking and in writing, with a range of audiences

The Diocese of Blackburn represents the Church of England in most of Lancashire and part of Wigan Metropolitan Borough, covering an area of 878 square miles with a population of 1.3 million. The Diocese is made up of two archdeaconries, Blackburn and Lancaster, with a total of fourteen deaneries. There are 275 licensed churches, comprising around 237 parishes, with around 254 licensed clergy (of whom 146 FTE are stipendiary incumbents, plus approx. 25 stipendiary curates) and 158 licensed Readers.

Salary: £12,176.86 - £20,294.76 per annum

Pension: Membership of the DBE, Royal London Pension Scheme 10% employer contribution and 2% employee contribution. Salary sacrifice is available if membership of the Clergy Pension Scheme is preferred.

Hours of Work: 21 - 35 hours per week

Holiday Entitlement: Entitlement to 25 days (not including statutory bank holidays) in the first year rising by 1 day per completed calendar year up to a maximum of 30 days per year. The holiday year runs from 1 January to 31 December.

Probation: This post will be subject to a six-month probationary period.

How to apply - please do not apply via the pathways website. To apply please visit the Diocesan website General vacancies | The Diocese of Blackburn (anglican.org)