Dorset Council
PA/Secretarial/Admin/Finance Officer at Piddle Valley CE First School
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PA / Secretarial / Administration / Finance Officer
What a New Team Member Would Gain
Joining our school as a PA / Secretarial / Administration / Finance Officer means stepping into a role at the heart of a warm, busy, and highly collaborative first-school environment. Hours: 32.5 per week, term-time only (38 weeks).
A new colleague would gain:
- A deep understanding of how a school operates day-to-day, working closely with the Headteacher, staff, pupils, governors, and families.
- Experience across multiple professional domains — PA support, finance, administration, data management, and governance — making this role uniquely varied and professionally enriching.
- A chance to make a visible, positive impact on the smooth running of the school, supporting both staff and pupils to flourish.
How This Role Positively Impacts the School
This role is central to the effectiveness, efficiency, and culture of the school. Its impact includes:
- Ensuring the Headteacher can lead effectively, thanks to high-quality administrative and organisational support.
- Supporting safeguarding, attendance, admissions, and data accuracy, all of which directly influence pupil outcomes and wellbeing.
- Being the welcoming face of the school, ensuring visitors, parents, and pupils experience a positive, professional first point of contact.
- Ensuring financial processes such as purchase orders, invoices, BACS, and bank reconciliations are completed in a timely and accurate manner.
This role is not just operational—it actively shapes the school’s ethos, efficiency, and ability to deliver high-quality education.
Role and Its Purpose
The PA / Secretarial / Administration / Finance Officer role exists to:
- Provide confidential, high-level support to the Headteacher.
- Ensure financial processes are accurate, timely, and compliant.
- Lead on administrative systems (Arbor) that keep the school running smoothly.
- Manage essential data, including attendance, admissions, exclusions, and pupil records.
- Support staff, pupils, and families through clear communication and efficient organisation.
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This role is the backbone of the school office—the person who ensures that everything behind the scenes works seamlessly so that teaching and learning can thrive.
How This Role Fits Within the School and Supports Priorities
This role directly supports the school’s strategic priorities by:
- Enabling strong leadership through diary management, correspondence, meeting preparation, and information collation.
- Ensuring financial sustainability, which is essential for resourcing classrooms, staffing, and enrichment opportunities.
- Maintaining accurate data, which informs decision-making, safeguarding, attendance strategies, and school improvement planning.
- Supporting a safe, welcoming environment, aligning with the responsibility to promote and safeguard the welfare of children and young people.
- Strengthening communication between school, families, governors, and external agencies.
- Attending training and working collaboratively at the Central Team within the MAT (Multi-Academy Trust).
In short, this role is a key driver of the school’s ability to function effectively, meet statutory duties, and deliver the best possible experience for pupils.
Start Date
1st September 2026
Further Information
Piddle Valley First School values the diversity of our workforce and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people; this is a commitment which we expect all staff and volunteers to share. The successful candidate will be required to have a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check in line with government safer recruitment guidelines.
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The pro rata salary shown is based on the number of hours and weeks worked and includes appropriate paid annual leave and bank holiday entitlements.
The salary quoted is the annual salary for the position at the time of advert. The salary will be paid in equal monthly instalments and will be adjusted at the start of employment and again if leaving part-way through the school year to ensure the correct payment for the work completed in an academic year.
This role is UK-based, and your Right to Work will need to be established as part of the appointment process.
This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The amendments to the ROA provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’, so they do not need to be disclosed to employers.
For detailed guidance on which convictions must be declared and filtering offences, please refer to:
- Ministry of Justice (MoJ) guidance on the [Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and Exceptions Order](link would be included here).
- DBS filtering guide.
Keeping Children Safe in Education
Piddle Valley First School conducts online searches of shortlisted candidates. This check is part of a safeguarding process, evaluating whether candidates are suitable to work with children. All aspects of social media and internet searches will be conducted objectively to avoid unconscious bias or discrimination.
A person not on the appointment panel will perform the searches and only share information if findings are relevant and concerning.
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