Job Introduction

The IT Department is responsible for all of the School’s IT infrastructure and related hardware and software systems. The Department provides support to the School community, including pupils and all staff. The department is headed by the Director of Digital Strategy and IT. The Department also includes the Deputy IT Director, Network Engineer, Help Desk Manager, Senior and Junior Developers and a Print Specialist.

Westminster School is seeking to recruit an IT Gap Assistant to join its IT Department. The post requires someone who is adaptable, with an enthusiasm for IT, who can work unsupervised and on their own initiative.

The candidate should be a self-learner, who can quickly assimilate documentation. Good interpersonal skills are important, as the post holder will need to deal directly with pupils and staff at all levels. You will also need to be a team player. The I.T. Gap Assistant is employed on a term-time only basis to assist with the smooth running of the IT help desk. The post is a 12-month fixed-term role commencing in late August 2024, and would suit someone who is considering a future career in IT and/or education and is looking to take a gap year either pre or post university

Role Responsibility

The I.T. Gap Assistant reports to the Director of Digital Strategy and IT, but is functionally responsible to the Help Desk Manager.

They will be expected to undertake a range of tasks to support the School’s IT operation, including the following:

• To provide first-line user support to pupils and staff
• To provide first-line telephone support
• To monitor the online IT Support Request system and deal with routine tasks
• To arrange warranty hardware repairs
• To install consumables (e.g. projector bulbs, toner cartridges)
• To set up and install software onto desktops and laptops
• To set up and install printers
• To provide basic IT support for privately-owned devices (e.g. tablets, phones)
• To proactively inspect the IT equipment in the day and boarding Houses on a weekly basis
• To ensure that printers and photocopiers are refilled with paper
• To assist the Print Specialist as required
• To supply new documentation and to update existing documentation as necessary
• To set up AV equipment for lectures and presentations.

Hours of work

This is a term-time only role, with a requirement to work an additional day before and after the start and end of each term (i.e. six additional days in total).

Normal working pattern during term-time: 8:30 to 16:30, Monday to Friday, with a one hour unpaid break for lunch, and 8:30 to 13:00 on Saturdays. Annual leave to be taken during normal school holidays. The post is subject to a six-month probationary period.

The Ideal Candidate

Please refer to the below (attached) person specification.

Equal Opportunities

We are an equal opportunities employer. We therefore encourage candidates to apply irrespective of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion and belief, gender identity, sex or sexual orientation.

Safeguarding and Child Protection

Westminster School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Package Description

Required for: 29th August 2024

Location: Dean's Yard - Westminster School

Contract: full-time, term-time only, for one academic year

Hours of work: 8:30 to 16:30, Monday to Friday, with a one hour unpaid break for lunch, and 8:30 to 13:00 on Saturdays.

Salary: £21,402.08 (actual) based on FTE of £29,521.44 per annum.

The deadline for applications is midday on Thursday 1st August 2024. Interviews will take place shortly after the closing date.

About the School

Working at Westminster

Westminster School is a busy, purposeful and vibrant place to be and an excellent workplace. The community is made up of 750 pupils, 120 teaching staff and 108 support staff.

Westminster School is friendly and welcoming, and all newcomers quickly become part of the rhythm of life here.

There is a real sense of community here as, being a boarding school many members of staff and pupils live on site and the School’s premises are very much treated as a home away from home. School life starts before breakfast and continues way beyond the working day; as a result, there is always a lively atmosphere in and around School and always someone to share a tea and biscuit with in the Common Room. Support staff as much as teaching staff are encouraged to embrace the School’s day-to-day activities, whether that be attending an evening concert or a morning service in the Abbey.

At Westminster we will always select the best candidate for every position. We do know, however, that we can only truly choose the best person on every occasion if a broad and diverse pool of candidates see the job advertised and are encouraged to apply.

As such, we continue to work on how our job roles are encountered, and particularly welcome applications from groups who have traditionally been underrepresented here.

Westminster School is for everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic. We hope you are encouraged to apply.

The School

Westminster School is a selective day and boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 and girls aged 16 to 18. There are approximately 360 boys in the Lower School (Years 9 to 11) and 400 boys and girls in the Upper School (Years 12 and 13). One quarter of the pupils board, and the School is structured and run as a boarding school, with an extended day and week and a strong House-based system of pastoral welfare, for boarding and day pupils alike.

Westminster is an ancient school, whose origins can be traced to a charity school established by the Benedictine monks of Westminster Abbey. Its continuous existence is certain from the early 14th century. Henry VIII personally ensured the School’s survival by statute and Elizabeth I, who confirmed royal patronage in 1560, is celebrated as the School’s foundress. Westminster is rare amongst long-established schools in remaining on its original site in the centre of London. Its proximity to Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and the use of the Abbey for its chapel, together with the stimulating diversity of the South Bank and West End, account in part for its special atmosphere and outlook.

The School is one of the foremost centres of academic excellence both in this country and internationally. Central to its academic ethos is the dialogue between teachers and their pupils, whether in the classroom or in tutorials, inspiring enjoyment of intellectual enquiry, debate and search for explanation and the development of skills of rational, independent thought well beyond any standard examination syllabus. The desired environment is happy, busy and purposeful; the pupils are intellectually, socially, ethically and politically engaged, with plenty of opportunities to develop initiatives and to articulate and defend their views, in line with the enduring values of the liberal tradition reflected in the School’s Charter. That tradition is fully committed also to the nurture of each pupil’s spiritual, moral, emotional and physical development and wellbeing – with a particular emphasis on drawing out individual talent wherever it lies - and to the preparation of young people for fulfilled private and public lives beyond School.

Westminster School