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Administrators and Finance

Administrators

Headteachers’ PAs
School Secretaries
Administration Assistants
Examinations Officers / Invigilators
Reprographics
Receptionists
Attendance Clerks

Administrative staff provide essential back-up services for the whole school.

Administration assistants

Administration assistants perform a wide range of office support duties including data entry, photocopying, filing and answering the phone.

Secretaries

Secretaries provide administrative support to the school. They perform a wide range of duties including answering the telephone, typing letters, dealing with mail, greeting visitors and keeping records.

Exam officers

Many secondary schools now have an exams officer: a non-teaching member of staff whose role is to submit exam entries, organise timetables, oversee exams and process the results.
The National Assessment Agency (NAA) Exams Office provides training and support for exam officers in schools. Their website includes information about:

    • training opportunities, including free courses available both online and at training centres
    • one-to-one support from the NAA's team of 40 field officers
    • good practice guidance (including case studies)
      grants for exams equipment such as PC hardware and software, secure storage facilities, phones, pagers and walkie-talkies
    • invigilator resources, including recruitment and training materials.

    Finance

    Bursars
    Finance Officers
    Assistant Finance Officers

    Bursars

    Bursars work as part of the senior management team and play a crucial role in managing a school’s financial resources, facilities, contracts and recruitment.

    The role goes by different names in different schools – senior administrative officer, bursar, business manager – but the focus is on providing expert managerial, administrative and finance services to support schools and their leadership teams.

    If you are currently employed as a bursar and interested in taking on a wider, more strategic role, you can study for a Certificate or Diploma of School Business Management. Funding is available for 1,400 people to train for these programmes through the National College of School Leadership (NCSL). 

    Certificate of School Business Management - FAQs updated
    School Business Manager Development Programme new

    You can read an outline of both management courses on the NCSL website and find out about students' experiences of the courses.

    A comprehensive free digest of job vacancies for bursars and business managers taken from local education authority (LA) and other websites around the country, can be found on the Radcliffe Gower site.