School Officer - Student Services Support (Middle School)

Position Purpose                                                                   

The Student Services Support – Middle School role is a central point of contact for students and parents/caregivers, providing broad administrative and organisational support across Villanova College’s Middle School community. 

Key responsibilities include daily roll reconciliation, administrative support to the Head of School and Heads of House, and serving as a key liaison between students, parents, and other staff members. The position also oversees First Aid, ensuring the health and safety of students. 

This role plays a crucial part in facilitating communication and providing information that may impact various stakeholders, thereby promoting a supportive and well-informed school environment.

*This is a Full Time, Term Time role, working Monday-Friday 7:45am-3:45pm

Reporting Relationships

The role reports to the Head of Middle School and works collaboratively with other College staff.

About Villanova College

Villanova College is an independent Catholic school for boys under the care of the Augustinian Order. It was founded in 1948 by five Irish priests on a 10-acre property in Hamilton, with the large onsite residence, called ‘Whinstanes’, functioning as three classrooms, a chapel and sacristy. 

The College moved to its present site in Coorparoo in 1954, where it still sits on the grounds of historic home ‘Langlands’. From 40 students to over 1,500, Villanova has continued to grow into the close community we now cherish today. 

The Augustinian Order has a long history in education reaching back 750 years, and Villanova has made a love of learning and pursuit of understanding part of its character since day one. This unrelenting pursuit for knowledge and understanding ensures our lives will be based on truth, for it is truth that conquers. This is reflected in the College motto: Vincit Veritas (“Truth Conquers”). 

Villanova College prides itself on being an equal opportunity and family-friendly workplace. The College employs over 250 staff across a variety of areas and all staff play a valuable role in supporting the College in making a difference in each young man’s life. 

Our goal is to facilitate a supportive and collegial work environment to assist staff to produce exceptional outcomes for the young men and for their own professional development and job satisfaction. The College offers a variety of different benefits to staff, including opportunities for professional development, career progression and a wellbeing program. A distinct feature of our Augustinian values is the strong sense of welcome and community that unites staff, parents and students. We treasure open, friendly, and caring relationships between teachers, staff and students, and welcome people of all faiths and denominations to share our story of hope as we strive for excellence in boys’ education.

Responsibilities

• Attend to Middle School enquiries on daily basis.
• Maintain accurate and current student attendance records, including late arrivals and early departures (daily reconciliation of attendance rolls and confirmation of student absences). 
• Collect and distribute incoming and outgoing correspondence for the Middle School Office.
• Liaise with parents/caregivers regarding unexplained student absence.
• Provide support for students who are ill or injured by following the appropriate College protocols in the management and maintenance of the Sick Bay.
• As required administer appropriate First Aid and/or care to students reporting to Sick Bay, ensuring maintenance of Sick Bay supplies and washing of sick bay linen as required.
• Liaise with parents regarding student illness and co-ordinate the College response when a student needs to leave the College. 
• Manage First Aid supplies and maintain First Aid kits for use by various departments.
• Store medication for students requiring medication to be kept on campus i.e. Epi-pens, Ventolin, antihistamines, ADHD medication; regular checks of stored medication to ensure use by dates are current. Administer authorised medications (daily and periodically) to students as required and liaise with parents to advise replacement medication required due to expiry.
• Maintain up-to-date action plans for anaphylactic and asthmatic students (annually).
• Distribute, collect and collate data from various student forms (Immunisation Forms; Medical and Parental Consent Forms for Year Level camps; preparation of student medical information data via spreadsheets and folders for Year level camps).
• Monitor and attend to items of lost property: labelling and recording of lost property items, distribution of lost property advice slips to students via pastoral, search for lost property as requested by parents and students, delivery of donated unclaimed lost property items to St Vincent de Paul at the end of each Term.
• Assist the Head of School to prepare for all Outdoor Camps, being responsible for coordinating the logistics for Years 7, 8 and 9 Camps and ensuring the Risk-management procedures are completed in a timely manner. 
• Attend Year 9 Camp as Group Supervisor and First Aid Officer.
• Assist the Head of School in the completion of necessary Risk Management paperwork. 
• Attend Student Services meetings as required.
• Attendance and general enquiries at front desk for Parent/Teacher Interviews (two per year).
• Maintain Locker Database (data entry; allocation of locks and lockers to Middle and Senior School students; liaise with Maintenance staff regarding repair of locks and lockers; liaise with College Administrator to order new locks and lockers when required).
• Distribution and recording of loan uniform items, and/or cash loans to Middle School students.
• Given the dynamic nature of the school year, the responsibilities of this role may fluctuate based on the specific needs of each term. This includes the potential for cross-collaboration and shared duties with other Student Services Support roles. The aim is to ensure a balanced workload and optimal support for all students, whether in the junior or senior school, as circumstances demand.

Role Requirements/Key Criteria

1. Demonstrated experience in a similar administrative position, preferably within an educational setting. Experience in Student Services would be advantageous.
2. Exceptional communication and customer service skills, with the ability to liaise effectively with students, parents, and staff members. This includes the ability to provide information and advice, and to handle sensitive issues with discretion.
3. Excellent computer skills, including proficiency in Word, Excel, email, and database management. Familiarity with school management systems would be beneficial.
4. Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively both within a team environment and autonomously. This includes the ability to adapt to varying workloads and to support other Student Services Support roles as required.
5. Strong understanding of child safety and confidentiality principles and the ability to handle information of a sensitive nature with discretion and integrity.

Additional Essential Requirements

• Applicants must hold a Current and valid Blue Card (Working with Children Check).
• Applicants must hold current First Aid and CPR.
• Commitment to the Catholic and Augustinian ethos of the College.

Application Process

To apply for this role, please forward a cover letter briefly addressing the role requirements/key criteria and a current resume via email to **@vnc.qld.edu.au or apply direct via Seek.

Please note the closing date for applications is COB Tuesday 2 April 2024. Referees will be sought from candidates following the interview process. 

For further information or for a confidential discussion please contact Human Resources on (07) 3394 5***. We respectfully advise that no agency applications will be considered at this time.

Additional Information 

Villanova College is committed to providing an inclusive and child safe environment that is free from Workplace Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Bullying. Our robust human resources, recruitment and vetting practices are adhered to during the application and interviewing process. Certain roles require that we carry out working with children, police records and reference checks to ensure that we are recruiting the right people. 

At all times, all employees must act in accordance with Villanova College Student Protection Policy and other Villanova Policies and Procedures. It is necessary that the role holder exercise judicious and prudent judgment in interactions with students.

This position carries no inherent delegated authority regarding expenditure of funds or supervision of other position holders within the College. Expenditure of funds must be in accordance with approved budgets and appropriately authorised.

Terms and Conditions of employment are as per the Catholic Employing Authorities Single Enterprise Collective Agreement Religious Institute Schools of Queensland 2023-2026. 

Please note: This job description is a guide to the nature of the work required of the prospective employee and does not form part of the contract of employment. It is neither wholly comprehensive nor restrictive and therefore does not preclude change or development that may inevitably be required in the future. Villanova College will engage in consultation to align any required change with both the employee’s and the company’s goals.

Villanova College acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and study, and their living culture. We pay our respects to them and their Elders, past and present, for their care of the land and waterways, and pay tribute to the unique role they play in the life of this region. Villanova College has always been, and always will be, a place of teaching and learning connected to Country, culture and community.