Interview Date:  Wed 21st Oct, 2026

Everyone who comes to Beam County Primary School meets you first.

Beam is a 3 to 11 school of around 560 pupils in Dagenham. Ofsted's July 2025 inspection judged behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision Outstanding. Press here to read our Ofsted report. Our Year 6 results have been above the national figure in every subject for each of the last three years. We are appointing a Receptionist and Administrative Assistant (SEND) to welcome our community at the front desk and keep our SEND administration accurate and on time.

Apply now by completing this application form.

Once completed, please click this link for it to be emailed to our HR email. 

About the role

The post has two parts. The first is a welcoming, secure front desk. The second is dedicated administration for our SEND provision, which is a defined and protected part of the role.

At the front desk you will:

• Welcome pupils, parents, governors, contractors and other visitors, and answer all calls.
• Check identification and issue badges under our visitor safeguarding arrangements, and operate the gate entry system.
• Clear the absence line and office inbox before 09:00, and record first day of absence calls.
• Act as a first aider once appropriately trained.
• Deal with routine queries and refer other matters to the Office Manager.

In SEND administration you will:

• Maintain the SEND register and records, and the calendar of statutory review dates for pupils with education, health and care plans, alerting the SENDCo and the Office Manager to approaching deadlines.
• Issue invitations, circulate paperwork within statutory notice periods, collate reports and send completed documents to the local authority and to parents.
• Coordinate visits by educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, the school nurse and specialist advisory teachers.
• Take and circulate notes of SEND and team around the family meetings, and record actions.
• Keep SEND files secure, including when a pupil moves school.
• Help the SENDCo prepare information for leaders and governors, and for the local authority.
• The post also covers general administration, 
• You will also give confidential administrative support to the Headteacher, the senior leadership team, the Business and HR Manager and the Office Manager.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for someone with an excellent telephone manner and strong interpersonal skills, who works methodically and stays effective when the front desk is interrupted. You will track deadlines accurately and handle sensitive pupil information with care. The full essential and desirable criteria are in the person specification; please press here to read the full job description and person specification.

Why join us

Inspectors reported that staff are "rightly proud to be members of this school community" and that leaders take care to limit the effect of their decisions on staff workload. Staff also receive high-quality professional development. Pupils' behaviour is excellent, and you will see directly how reliable administration supports children with complex needs, including those in our specialist provision. Visits and informal conversations are welcome.

How to apply

• Visits and informal conversations before applying are welcome. To arrange one, please press here to send an email.
• To request the application pack, please telephone 020 8270 4700 or press here to send an email.   The pack includes the full job description and person specification, the school application form, the child protection policy.
• Return the completed application form, addressing the person specification, to office@beam.bardaglea.org.uk by 9:00am on Monday 19 October 2026. CVs alone will not be accepted. Interviews will be held on Wednesday 21 October 2026. Please tell us if you need reasonable adjustments for the selection process.

Safeguarding

Beam County Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post involves regulated activity with children. It is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, subject to the applicable filtering rules, and requires an enhanced DBS check with a children's barred list check and other satisfactory pre-employment checks. It is an offence to apply if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity with children. Online searches will be carried out on shortlisted candidates as part of our safeguarding due diligence in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education.

We welcome applications from all communities and will consider reasonable adjustments throughout recruitment and employment.

Downloads

Job description and person specification, Receptionist and Administrative Assistant (SEND)
Application form
Child protection policy

Safer Recruitment Policy

View this vacancy on Teaching Vacancies (GOV.UK)

Beam County Primary School in Dagenham is a 3 to 11 school of around 560 pupils. Ofsted's July 2025 inspection judged behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision Outstanding, with quality of education judged Good. In our provisional 2026 results, 80.7% of our Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with 63.2% nationally, and 24.1% reached the higher standard, compared with 8.6%. Pupils' progress from Key Stage 1 is well above the national average in every subject measured.

We are appointing a Business and HR Manager to run the school's business operations to that standard, so that leaders can concentrate on teaching and learning.

Inspectors reported that staff are "rightly proud to be members of this school community". They also found that leaders take care to limit the effect of their decisions on staff workload, and that staff receive high-quality professional development. Our values are Striving, Inspiring and Community, and you will be expected to model them.

The post

You will join and support the senior leadership team under the Headteacher. You will also report to the governing board and its committees as required. You will manage the Caretaker and the Catering Lead, and through them the teams who keep the site clean and the kitchen running. You will also set the financial, HR, compliance and data protection procedures that the school office follows, working with and through the Office Manager.

On finance, you will work in partnership with our Head of Finance and Resources, who leads on financial strategy and statutory reporting, while you run the operational cycle beneath that.

Your main responsibilities will include:

• Running the purchase to pay cycle and the school's internal financial controls, and leading procurement so that every contract shows value for money.
• Managing safer recruitment from advertisement to pre-employment checks, and owning the Single Central Record.
• Supporting the Headteacher in formal HR processes in line with the ACAS Code of Practice, and working with our payroll provider and local authority HR advisers.
• Keeping the compliance calendar and risk register current, and holding corporate responsibility for health and safety.
• Overseeing our in-house catering, premises services, lettings and contractors.
• Supporting income generation and grant applications.
• You will not line manage the Office Manager or the office team. You will set the procedures and quality-assure the results.
• Unresolved differences go to the Head of Finance and Resources on finance and to the Headteacher on HR.

About you

• You will hold a Level 4 school business management qualification or an equivalent professional qualification in a business discipline such as finance or HR, or you will be able to show equivalent experience.
• You may come from a school or from a relevant field outside education, provided your experience of finance and resource management is substantial.
• You will have run HR administration, including contracts and payroll liaison, and have managed people and their performance.
• You will know the ACAS Code and Keeping Children Safe in Education, and you will understand the health and safety and data protection duties that apply in a school.
• You will have advanced Excel skills and substantial experience of a finance or ERP system.
• Experience of a school finance system and knowledge of school funding arrangements are desirable.
• Safer recruitment training is essential, or willingness to complete it before your appointment takes effect.

Experience of working in a school or managing an operational service such as catering or cleaning, and of supporting change or formal employment procedures, will strengthen your application. A degree or Level 5 qualification, or a CIPD qualification at Level 3 or above, will too.

Practical details

Contract: Permanent; full-time, 35 hours per week, all year round (52 weeks)

Grade: PO1, £42,492–£45,123 per annum, dependent upon experience; 

Reporting to: Headteacher

Job Description and Person Specification

Annual leave: 28 days' paid annual leave per year, rising to 31 days after five years' service, in addition to bank and public holidays, under LBBD conditions of service. Leave dates are agreed with the Headteacher to meet operational requirements.

Start date: As soon as possible; preferred start Monday 2 November 2026, or by agreement, subject to notice period and satisfactory pre-employment checks

Closing date: 9 AM on Friday 16 October 2026

Interviews: Wednesday 21st October 2026

Visits and informal conversations are welcome. Please telephone 020 8270 4700 or press here to send an email.

Press here, if you would like to request the application pack, including the full job description, person specification, child protection policy and Safer Recruitment Policy. 

Return the completed school application form by pressing this link, addressing the person specification, to office@beam.bardaglea.org.uk by the closing date.

CVs will not be accepted.

Please tell us if you need reasonable adjustments for the selection process.

Beam County Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post involves regulated activity with children. It is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, subject to the applicable filtering rules, and requires an enhanced DBS check with a children's barred list check and other satisfactory pre-employment checks. It is an offence to apply if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity with children. Online searches will be carried out on shortlisted candidates as part of our safeguarding due diligence in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education. We welcome applications from all communities and will consider reasonable adjustments throughout recruitment and employment.

Downloads

Job description and person specification Business and HR Manager
Application form
Child protection policy

Safer Recruitment Policy

View this vacancy on Teaching Vacancies (GOV.UK)