Administrative Officer - The Blandford School

Inclusion and Access Arrangements Administrative Officer

21 HOURS PER WEEK

TERM-TIME ONLY PLUS 4 INSET DAYS AND FIVE DAYS DURING THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Permanent

Salary Grade 7 SCP 8 £13.90

FTE- £26,824    Actual- £13,423

The Blandford School is a successful school with high aspirations for our students.  The school was inspected by Ofsted in April 2024 and achieved Good in all areas.  With outstanding facilities, and inspirational and dedicated staff, we seek to appoint an ambitious and enthusiastic Inclusion and ARA Administrator. 

Job Introduction

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a dynamic and high-performing individual to take on the newly created role of Inclusion and Access Arrangements Administrative Officer.

In this role, you will work closely with the Inclusion Lead, Exams Manager, and the Learning Hub to ensure that appropriate access arrangements and classroom adaptations are in place for students with additional learning needs. Your responsibilities will include managing key data and conducting quality checks on information related to access arrangements, EHCPs, and student profiles.

This is a varied and rewarding position, offering the opportunity to play a vital role within the school community and make a meaningful difference to student outcomes.

Main Responsibility

You'll need to:

• To ensure the provision of a comprehensive administrative/clerical and secretarial service.
• Help organise the Learning Support team to ensure efficient use of resource and compliance. Assist in the appointment of Learning Support staff. Coordinate the administration and distribution of assistive technology
• To work with the Inclusion Lead and Exams Officer to maintain the Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (AARA) list, process Form 8s/Form 8RF/Form 9s, administration of AARA testing and communication of AARA to all teaching staff, parent(s)/carer(s) and students
• Support good attendance of students in school by managing school attendance management processes
• to act as a link between the administrative/clerical and secretarial team and the Headteacher/Bursar/Senior Admin Officer or other nominated person over all issues relating to the work of the school office.

• The school office refers to the Learning Support office, the Bursar refers to the Business Manager and the Senior Admin Officer is the Office Manager
• To be responsible for maintaining SEND information including the TBS SEND list and to develop efficient and effective ways of communicating SEND information to staff, students, parent(s)/carer(s) and external agencies
• To co-ordinate SEND meetings, including annual reviews, ensuring all paperwork is accurate and with the appropriate parties

Promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the school’s safeguarding and child protection policy.

The post holder will be required to undertake any other reasonable tasks as are required from time to time at the discretion of the Inclusion Lead/Headteacher.

The Ideal Candidate

You will have:

• A working knowledge of Microsoft Office including Word and Excel would be useful
• Relevant previous office and supervisory experience is desirable
• An ability to develop a good understanding of JCQ requirements and ways of working to ensure compliance with JCQ Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments 2023
• An ability to develop a good understanding of the Dorset SEND annual review process and statutory paperwork associated with this.
• An ability to develop a good understanding of relevant parts of the SEN Code of Practice, 2014, relating to Education Health and Care plans
• Resilience and positivity

For more information, please contact: Lauren Ayres [email protected]

CLOSING DATE: 20.10.2025

INTERVIEW DATE: To be confirmed

The School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.  Any offer of employment will be subject to receipt of a satisfactory DBS Enhanced Disclosure and acceptable references. All applications must be made either by completing the application form.  CV applications will not be considered.

The Blandford School will conduct online searches of shortlisted candidates. This check will be part of a safeguarding check, and the search will be based purely on whether an individual is suitable to work with children. As care must be taken to avoid unconscious bias and any risk of discrimination, a person who will not be on the appointment panel, will conduct the search and will only share information if and when findings are relevant and of concern. 

This role is UK based and your Right to Work will need to be established as part of the appointment process

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The amendments to the ROA 1974 (Exceptions Order 1975, (2013 and 2020)) provide that when applying for certain jobs and activities, certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’, so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. The MOJ’s guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications and related exceptions and further information about filtering offences can be found in the DBS filtering guide.