School Business Manager

This is an exciting opportunity to take on a key leadership role at Shalom Noam Primary School, a single form entry community and family minded faith school. This role will make a real difference to the successful running and future development of our school.

We are looking for an experienced, capable and highly organised School Business Manager to take ownership of the school’s business and operational functions, ensuring that the Headteacher, teaching staff and governors are supported by a strong, professional and well run operational infrastructure.

This is a full time school leadership role with broad responsibility across finance and commercial management, HR and payroll, school administration, premises and health and safety, compliance and risk, procurement, IT, and income generation. The School Business Manager will work closely with the Headteacher and will play an important role in translating the school’s priorities into effective day-to-day operations.

A key part of the role will be ensuring that the school has robust financial controls, accurate budgeting and reporting, effective procurement and good value for money, while maintaining strong systems and processes across the wider school operation.

The successful candidate will also lead and develop the school office and relevant support functions, helping to create a culture in which responsibilities are clear, issues are dealt with proactively and high standards of service are maintained for pupils, parents and staff.

The role also has an important compliance and assurance dimension, ensuring that the school maintains effective arrangements around health and safety, premises, statutory and regulatory requirements, data protection, financial controls, policies and risk management.

Income generation will be an important and specific area of responsibility. The School Business Manager will own the school’s Voluntary Contribution collection process from end to end, including parent communications, collection arrangements, monitoring, reporting and appropriate follow -up. They will also work with the Headteacher and governors to identify other opportunities to strengthen income, including fundraising, grants and the effective use of school resources.

We are therefore looking for much more than someone who can administer the school's finances. We want someone who will take ownership, spot what needs doing, establish effective processes, follow matters through to completion and continuously look for ways of making the school run better.

What we’re looking for

We are looking for someone who:

• Has strong experience in finance, business management or operational management, ideally within a school or education environment
• Is confident managing budgets, financial controls, forecasting, reporting and procurement
• Can manage and develop staff and create effective, accountable ways of working
• Is highly organised and able to manage a broad portfolio of competing priorities
• Has a strong understanding of compliance, risk, health and safety and good organisational governance
• Is comfortable taking responsibility for important processes and following them through from beginning to end
• Is commercially minded and able to identify opportunities for efficiency, cost control and additional income
• Has excellent attention to detail without losing sight of the bigger picture
• Communicates confidently and sensitively with parents, staff, governors, suppliers and external organisations
• Is proactive and solutions-focused, with the judgement to know when to act independently and when to escalate
• Is comfortable improving established processes rather than simply administering them
• Understands that a successful school relies on excellent operations behind the scenes
• Shares the school’s commitment to providing the best possible environment and opportunities for its pupils