HR Partner at Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust

The Oxford Diocesan Bucks Schools Trust (ODBST) is an ambitious and aspirational family of 15 schools united by a clear focus on school improvement. Our mission is to empower our unique schools to excel, enabling our children and young people to "experience life in all its fullness."

We are proud to serve communities of all faiths and none, with our schools existing to provide exceptional education and care to their local communities. We foster a deep sense of belonging across our Trust, where pupils, parents, staff, and the wider community feel proud to be part of our family.

The Role:

We are looking for an experienced and qualified HR Partner to join our Shared Services Team to provide an effective and efficient HR helpdesk and professional partner service to our schools.  You will visit schools on a regular basis.

As HR Partner you will be working in our newly created friendly and supportive HR team and work in close liaison with the Finance team on payroll matters.  This role will report to the Chief People Officer.

You will work in partnership with a group of schools allocated to you, but across the Trust as directed to meet wider capacity needs and to deliver projects.  The ability to develop key relationships at each setting is vital when supporting our primary and secondary schools across Buckinghamshire.  You will support them with a range of people matters with timely operational advice linked to our published Service Level Agreement to schools. 

This is a busy, varied role in a child and people focused Trust, where you will be working in a culture of continuous improvement and will have a real opportunity to make a difference to our schools.

If you have previous experience as an education focused HR professional and would like to work in a really positive, solution-focused and supportive team, we would very much like to hear from you. You must be resilient, have a good sense of humour, and be passionate about the work you do.  

What We Offer:

•             The opportunity to make a significant impact across a growing family of schools

•             A collaborative, supportive team committed to educational excellence

•             Competitive salary and benefits package

•             The chance to work with passionate educators dedicated to transforming young lives

Being part of a Trust, makes you part of the family and this comes with many opportunities from CPD training and networking to in-house support and career development. 

We are committed to our staff and offer benefits which include:

•             Employee Assistance Programme with Schools Advisory Service - through this programme, staff can access a wide range of support including a GP service, menopause support, counselling and mindfulness, chronic illness support, physiotherapy, fitness services and so much more! 

•             Free flu vaccination vouchers

•             Free eye test for computer users

•             Cycle 2 Work Scheme

•             Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) for support staff 

•             Extensive CPD opportunities including (not-exclusively) Trust wide subject leadership groups, mentoring, networking opportunities and apprenticeships 

•             Full commitment to sustainable ways of working, green energy and reducing our Trust emissions to reach net zero by 2035.

We encourage early applications as we reserve the right to close the advert before the published date if we have received a sufficient response.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share in this commitment.  All post holders in regulated activity are subject to appropriate vetting procedures and a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Enhanced check.  The ODBST is an Equal Opportunities employer.  

This post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exemptions) Order 1975 because it is a post which involves working directly with children or young people and the applicant is required to declare any criminal convictions (or cautions or bind-overs) including those which are “spent”.  The amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013, 2020) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’ and are not subject to disclosure to employers, and cannot be taken into account.  Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found on the Disclosure and Barring Service website: Guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975. It is an offence to apply for this role if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children.