Job Introduction

We are seeking a dynamic individual to take on the role of Sports Centre General Manager at the Westminster School Sports Centre in Lawrence Hall.  As Sports Centre General Manager, you will lead and manage a large well-resourced Sports Centre and play a pivotal role across both School’s sports programmes, working with staff to foster in pupils of all ages a love of sport, as well as playing a key role in developing the School’s provision for sport as the charity moves towards becoming fully co-educational by 2030. 

The Sports Centre General Manager will also assist and manage when the building is used by the two schools for non-sporting events, such as Entrance Examination testing or various staff events.  

Coupled with this, the Sports Centre General Manager will work with the Commercial Director in the development and implementation of a strategy to embed commercial use of the Sports Centre outside of school hours and in the holidays. This will include exhibitions, filming and other commercial related activities.   

Lawrence Hall currently provides a spectacular home for our Sports Centre. A five-court sports hall dominates the lower floor and is complimented by a high-spec climbing wall down the full length of one side. Areas for fencing and other activities run down the other side of the sports hall. Across the other floors you will find a brand-new free-weights room, a well-resourced Fitness Suite, excellent land training facilities for rowing, a studio and a dojo. In addition to this are extensive catering facilities and a café area. 

The Sports Centre General Manager will report to the Senior School’s Deputy Head (Co-curriculum, Planning and Events) and work closely with the Under School’s Assistant Master Extra Curricular and the School’s Commercial Director. 

This role is a full-time, permanent position. 

The Sports Centre is open for use from 7.00am until 9pm Monday to Friday, and from 9.00am until 6.00pm on Saturday, unless it is a non-school weekend, and staff operate on a shift pattern, working 40 hours a week. 

As there may be evening and weekend use, some flexibility in working hours will be required to support this.  

Role Responsibility

• Manage the smooth running of the Sports Centre for all users, ensuring that all staff and sports coaches are supported in the delivery of their activities via hands on organisation and a flexible, positive approach. 

• Work with Directors of Sport to develop a variety of sports and fitness programmes, contributing personally to the programme with classes or sessions for Sports Centre users. 

• Liaise with the Directors of Sport, and other sports staff, to co-ordinate the Sports Centre programme and prepare the facilities and equipment for groups and events as necessary.  

• Oversee the maintenance and operation of sports equipment at Lawrence Hall, ensuring that all activities and facilities comply with health and safety regulations, conducting regularly updated risk assessments and safety checks. 

• Manage sports centre staff effectively, ensuring that rotas, appraisals, training, and HR processes are up to date and thoughtfully implemented. 

• Support the staff and Sports coaches of both schools, enabling them to use the facilities to deliver activities with Sports Centre users, ensuring that they are doing so in a safe and positive way. 

• Trained in First Aid (offered by the School if needed) and provide emergency assistance in the event of accidents. 

• Manage the Sports Centre budget to ensure careful stewardship of financial resources. 

• Ensure that all School policies are rigorously implemented and followed by all users of Lawrence Hall, with responsibility to check that there is careful consideration for the safeguarding of all Sports Centre users. 

• Manage the building and ensure that Lawrence Hall is a safe, clean and secure site for all users, arranging servicing and repairs as necessary.  

• Ensure that all Sports Centre Administration is clear, accurate and compliant with all GDPR requirements. 

• Foster a positive and inclusive environment for all Sports Centre users. 

• Work with the Commercial Director to facilitate the use of the building for events and lettings, or other commercial purposes in school holidays and when the Schools are closed. 

• Assist the Commercial Director in the development and implementation of a strategy for wider commercial use of the Sports Centre for other users 

Please note this job description is not exhaustive. Any significant and permanent amendments to the document will be made after consultation with the job holder   

Holidays 

25 days’ paid holiday entitlement plus public holidays to be taken at times agreed with the Deputy Head (Co-curriculum, Events and Planning).

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: as soon as possible

Location: Vincent Square - Westminster School

Contract: full-time, permanent

Salary: £43,000 per annum

The School also offers a range of benefits, including:

 - free school lunches

 - private medical insurance (opt-in)

 - discretionary Christmas shut down period 

 - free access to the School’s leisure facilities, including a fitness gym (restricted hours)

 - access the School’s Cycle to Work Scheme and season ticket loans following completion of our standard probation period.

The closing date for this role is Monday 17th February 2025. Interviews will take place w/c 24th February 2025.

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 an independent day and boarding school for boys aged 13-18 and girls aged 16-18, with a long history, a distinctive ethos, and a unique sense of place in the very heart of London. Pupils achieve exceptional examination results and entrance to some of the top universities in the world. It is a busy, passionate and purposeful place where independent and deep thinking is enjoyed, encouraged and respected by all, and where holistic excellence is nurtured and valued.

While the School is one of the foremost centres of academic excellence in the country, its commitment to academic life does not make it a hothouse for passing examinations. Pupils’ success at examinations and entry to leading universities is instead a result of their enjoyment of academic enquiry, debate and search for explanation, well beyond published syllabuses. Pupils are intellectually, socially, ethically and politically engaged and our aim is to ensure that their enthusiasm for learning is developed further, allowing them to take full advantage of the opportunities presented to them in the future. At Westminster, pupils have the freedom to lead on projects outside of the classroom and embrace a whole range of extra-curricular activities and interests. A host of pupil-led societies take place every week at the School, often with expert guest speakers, and pupils can choose to study an additional language, play an instrument or two, volunteer in local primary schools, row along the Thames, take part in plays and musicals, and much more. 

The School’s ethos resides in the enduring values of the liberal tradition reflected in the 1560 Charter of Westminster’s Elizabethan foundation, where it is stated that: ‘the youth which is growing to manhood, as tender shoots in the wood of our state, shall be liberally instructed in good books to the greater honour of the state’. Whilst academic and cultural attainments are highly prized at Westminster, the School is fully committed also to 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 prepare young people for fulfilled private and public lives.

From September 2028, the School will welcome both girls and boys at 13+ entry, offering a Westminster education to all. By 2026, Westminster Under School will have opened its brand new pre-prep for girls and boys at 4+ and girls will have joined boys in Years 3 and 7, at the 7+ and 11+ entry points. By 2030, all year groups at Westminster School and Westminster Under School, from ages four to 18, will be fully co-educational, reflecting the School’s dedication to inclusivity and excellence. 

Westminster School