ABOUT THE ROLE
The Senior HRBP (Academic) acts as a trusted advisor to our Academic teams working across both Winchester College and the Pilgrims’ School. This is a broad and active role supporting the unique needs of colleagues working in an independent, boarding school environment. In addition to their primary role as Business Partner this role will also align the day-to-day activity of the HR Business Partnering team ensuring that HR advice is delivered consistently across all areas and will act as a deputy for the HR Director.
Key Responsibilities
- Act as a trusted advisor for academic managers and employees on day-to-day people matters, providing timely and practical advice aligned to relevant policy and practice.
- Coach and guide academic managers in handling the full range of people issues.
- Manage employee relations casework for the academic client group, ensuring disciplinary, performance, grievance and other formal matters are handled appropriately and in compliance with policy and legislation.
- Act as an escalation point for complex employee relations cases arising in other client groups, providing advice as required.
- Provide operational leadership for the HR Business Partnering function, managing the HRBP, HR Advisor and HR Officer. Ensure consistent delivery of day-to-day HR advice across both schools, enabling the HR Director to focus on strategic priorities.
- Maintain a thorough understanding of the unique contracts and working practices of academic roles, ensuring people practices support the effective running of the schools.
- Support the HR Director with threshold progression for teachers, ensuring assessments are completed and clear feedback is in place.
- Lead the planning and delivery of cyclical people processes, such as performance reviews and pay review cycles, enabling managers to participate effectively and on time.
- Work with the recruitment and development team to ensure effective workforce planning is in place for the academic client group.
- Advise and support the recruitment and development team on recruitment activity for academic teams, ensuring that up-to-date job descriptions and attraction plans are in place. Support the delivery of recruitment days and be a participant on key interview panels.
- Act as the link between the specialist areas of the HR team, including Recruitment, Development and HR Operations, and the academic client group’s employees and managers, ensuring a joined-up and consistent experience of HR support and projects.
- Deputise for the HR Director in relationships with the Headmaster, Bursar, and governing body committees, as required.
- Design and deliver strategic projects as assigned by the HR Director, supporting delivery of both schools’ people plan.
- Ensure the accuracy of documentation relating to changes affecting the academic client group.
- Cross-cover the professional services client group during absence, maintaining continuity of casework and manager relationships.
Reporting Lines
The Senior HRBP (Academic) and Deputy Human Resources Director will report directly into the Human Resources Director.
PERSON SPECIFICATION AND KEY QUALITIES
Professional Experience
- CIPD level 5, or above, or equivalent experience.
- Significant experience of managing complex employee relations casework.
- Experience of managing an HR team
- Experience of working in a school, ideally in an independent, boarding setting.
- Experience advising senior leaders on HR matters.
- Experience working with unions is desirable.
- Experience of managing or coaching teams for high performance
Skills and Knowledge
- Maintain up to date knowledge of employment legislation and best practice, advising the leadership team as and when relevant, and taking a lead in the HR team for more complex issues.
- Strong organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise competing demands.
- Ability to build strong relationships with school leaders, with experience of working with a broad range of stakeholders, providing challenge and support.
- Sound numerical reasoning, with the ability to make complex remuneration calculations.
- Understanding of safeguarding responsibilities in employment practice, to ensure that safeguarding is at the core of all practice.
BENEFITS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Start Date
Flexible start date for the right candidate with preference for commencement as soon as possible
Hours of Work
This is a full-time role, 37.5 hours per week, and such other hours as are reasonably necessary to meet the needs of the College and the demands of the role.
Salary
Competitive salary of £60,000-£65,000, commensurate with qualifications and experience. Salary is paid monthly, in arrears, to a nominated back account in 12 equal payments.
Induction and Continuous Training and Development
The school is fully committed to the induction, training and development of all our staff, with staff supported to grow and reach their full potential. We deliver a range of training, run by both our own staff and external providers, varying from highly practical First Aid courses to seminars and learning lunches on many aspects of teaching and learning. There is an annual cycle of appraisal offering the opportunity to reflect on professional practice and development opportunities. The school also offers a wide range of apprenticeships supporting staff development and progression.
Pension and Life Cover
On employment, employees will be auto-enrolled into the College’s pension scheme according to legislative thresholds. Those who are not eligible for auto-enrolment may still elect to join the College’s pension scheme. Initially, when joining the College’s pension scheme, employees will become a member of the College’s Group Personal Pension Plan (GPP). For this Plan, known as Tier 1, the employee contributes 4% and the employer 3%. After 9 month’s membership of the Tier 1 plan, employees may opt to join Tier 2, which is also a GPP, where the employee contributes 5% and the employer 9%. Employees in Tier 1 automatically qualify for a Life Cover of 2 times salary. On entry to Tier 2, Life Cover changes to 4 times salary.
Annual Leave
The College leave year runs from 1 September to 31 August. This position will be entitled to 28 days holiday annually, which includes the usual Public Bank Holidays. Any Public Bank Holiday occurring during term time is deemed to be a normal working day. All leave must be taken by prior arrangement and must be taken outside of the school’s term times. Subject to the discretion of the school’s Bursar, a gift may also be given of extra time off during the Christmas period.
Wider Benefits
- Free staff lunches during term time.
- Free use of some sports facilities and discounted hire charges for others
- Tour of the College, with discounted rates available for booking venues within the school’s grounds for hospitality events.
- Cycle to work scheme.
- Free access to an ongoing cycle of cultural, musical, theatrical and sporting talks and events.
- Employee Referral Scheme, with a reward of up to £250 for staff (subject to scheme conditions).
- Free Library membership with access to a range of online journals and magazines.
- Reduced green fee rates for local golf course.
Probation, Notice Periods
The first three months of employment will be a probationary period. Regular reviews with line managers take place over the probationary period with the opportunity to discuss progress, identify any areas for action and ensure that there is appropriate guidance and support in place to enable successful completion of the probationary period. During the probationary period, the notice required by either party to terminate employment will be one week. Once employment is confirmed, the notice period will be one month.
Disclosure Check
As Winchester College is an educational establishment, a condition of employment will be that the successful candidate must consent to the school obtaining an Enhanced Level Disclosure Check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). This will reveal all spent and unspent convictions, warnings, cautions and bind-overs. A policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders is available on the school’s website. Safeguarding is one of the primary responsibilities of this role. The jobholder is responsible for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young persons for whom they are responsible, or with whom they come into contact with, and will need to adhere to and ensure compliance with the school’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy at all times. The postholder should be conversant with the responsibilities and procedures detailed in this policy and with the Department for Education’s Keeping Children Safe in Education. If, in the course of carrying out the duties of the post, the postholder becomes aware of any actual or potential risks to the safety or welfare of children in the school, they must report any concerns to the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead, or in their absence, the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads.
References and Other Pre-employment Checks
The appointment will be dependent upon the receipt of a successful medical check and satisfactory references. The College will usually seek references from shortlisted candidates before interview and may approach previous employers for information to verify particular experience or qualifications. At least one referee must be the current or most recent employer. Where applicants are not currently working with children but have done so in the past, one referee must be the person by whom they were most recently employed when working with children.
Data Protection
Winchester College collects and processes relevant personal data as part of its everyday operations and is obliged to process it in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Act 2018. The school is the Data Controller of this data under the Act and is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Its registration number is Z5751669. If you have any queries or comments about this policy or how personal data is processed by the school, please contact the Bursar and his team by emailing: dataprotection@wincoll.ac.uk or by writing to: Data Protection, The Bursary, Winchester College, College Street, Winchester, SO23 9NA.
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