Job Introduction

We are seeking to recruit a Stage Manager to be responsible for all stage management aspects and the Costume and Wardrobe department at Westminster School. This will include all curriculum and co-curriculum theatrical productions, lessons and events, across multiple School venues. You will be responsible for the smooth and efficient running of all stage management aspects of productions and Drama lessons in addition to supporting a range of events including conferences and private functions. Duties will involve building sets, sourcing and/or making props, and running the Costume and Wardrobe department. 

This is a varied role requiring a high-level of practical and technical work, and it will therefore require excellent organisational and time management skills. You will be confident working with people across our School community and demonstrate strong communication skills as well as having experience of large-scale stage management work. You will have relevant experience working as a professional Stage Manager in a multifunctional venue and have knowledge and experience of a broad range of technical theatre and production aspects such as sound, light, set building and design. You will have an in-depth knowledge of Health and Safety protocols and regulations, and will be an outstanding team player with the ability to work flexibly. The job will also involve some Production Manager responsibilities.

The Department

Drama is highly valued at Westminster, and we wish to build on existing high standards in the quality of productions, in the results for GCSE and A Level Drama, and in the overall delivery of the subject.

The department currently consists of the Director of Drama, the Head of Academic Drama, a full-time Theatre Technician and a full-time Stage Manager.

Drama is well catered for with a fully functioning theatre – the Millicent Fawcett Hall, and various other Westminster School spaces which can be repurposed for theatrical presentations.

The Drama department at Westminster produce a wide range of performances, including the biennial full-scale Musical, the annual Bilingual Play, the annual Student-Led Production, the Sixth Form Festival, the Elizabethan Festival, Shakespeare in the Garden, the Upper School Play and the Fifth Form Play.

Role Responsibility

• In collaboration with the Director of Drama, be responsible for the planning of productions, including commissioning and costing set construction and liaising with designers and contractors.
• Overall responsibility for the Drama Department’s props, furniture, staging and costumes.
• Manage the sourcing, payment and delivery of props, furniture, set and costumes.
• Maintain, organise, manage props, furniture, set and costumes during the rehearsal process and run.
• In collaboration with the Director, organise and implement all rehearsal schedules.
• Run the technical and dress rehearsals of productions and ensure that the schedules for these are kept on track.
• Be present for all technical and dress rehearsals and for all evenings of ‘the run’.
• Recruit and train a Stage Management team for each production, comprised of pupils from all year groups, who will assist in the organisation of props, furniture, costumes, prompting during rehearsals, scene changes and calling the show.
• Collaborate with staff and pupils to plan wardrobe, set design, scene changes, sound and lighting.
• Supervise costume fitting calls.
• Create prompt scripts compiled with notes on actors’ cues and requirements for props, lighting and sound.
• Liaise with the Director, Drama Technician, Technical Crew and front-of-house staff to ensure the smooth and efficient running of all productions.
• Manage the 'get in' and ‘get out’ – the times when set and equipment are set up and taken down.
• Familiarise visiting companies and practitioners with the different spaces around the Westminster School site in line with safeguarding requirements, including instruction in fire alarm use and evacuation.
• Collaborate with the Director and Drama Technician in terms of set design, set build, hiring of equipment including staging and seating.
• Be responsible for the management of the School’s theatre rehearsal spaces and ensure that they are well prepared and safe environments.
• Be responsible for Health and Safety back of house and on stage across all productions and events, ensuring annual health and safety inspections are kept up to date.
• Ensure safety and legal compliance standards are maintained throughout all performance spaces, across all rehearsals, productions, events, and projects.
• Collaborate with the Drama Technician to ensure that Risk Assessments are regularly carried out for the building and for every production and that all necessary alterations are implemented.
• Overseeing the pastoral care of the cast and stage management teams.
• Foster and maintain an excellent working relationship with the Drama Technician and to cover for the Drama Technician if required.
• Liaise with the works, grounds and security departments to ensure spaces are available, booked and properly staffed.
• Any other reasonable duties that arise to fulfil the objectives of the Drama Department.

Administration Responsibilities:

• Photocopy of scripts, and any other necessary resources.
• Order of resources including playscripts.
• Manage of the Department's petty cash.
• Film all productions, including exam productions, and archive all such footage.
• Poster/Progamme design for productions using Adobe Creative Suite and/or similar design software
• Book and organise theatre and drama trips and expeditions.  

Hours of work

37 hours per week (term-time only), with some flexibility required to work evenings and weekends to support productions. Working hours will increase during production periods but time off in lieu will be given during quieter periods.

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: January 2025

Location: Dean's Yard - Westminster School

Contract: full-time (term-time only), temporary (one year, fixed-term contract)

Salary: £38,500 per annum

The deadline for applications is midday on Monday 2nd December 2024. Interviews will take place on Monday 9th December and Tuesday 10th December.

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