Job Description

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TheStaff Support Manageris a key element of the School's employee wellbeing strategy, acting as the dedicated "active listening" provision for all staff. The role provides a confidential, impartial, and supportive space for colleagues to discuss any aspect of their working life that may impact their wellbeing.

This role is designed to ensure staff feel heard, valued, and supported, contributing to a positive, healthy, and sustainable working environment. It is a role that has been newly created to reflect New Hall's ongoing commitment to investing in our staff.The Staff Support Manager can be undertaken on a full-time basis, or a part-time basis by up to two people.

Key responsibilities:

• to provide a safe, confidential, and non-judgemental space for staff to talk openly
• to use active listening techniques to support staff in exploring concerns related to work and wellbeing
• to offer empathetic support without acting as a decision-maker or line manager
• to offer first line employee relations advice on how to deal with situational examples
• to help staff reflect on challenges and identify potential coping strategies through coaching strategies
• to direct staff to appropriate internal or external support services where needed
• to maintain awareness of available wellbeing resources and support pathways
• to always uphold strict confidentiality, within safeguarding and legal boundaries
• to build trust across the staff body through professionalism, discretion, and consistency
• to communicate clearly the limits of confidentiality when necessary
• to identify emerging themes or trends (anonymised) to inform leadership decision-making
• to support the development of a proactive, preventative approach to staff wellbeing
• to offer flexible appointment times to accommodate part-time and shift-based staff
• to promote the service regularly to ensure awareness and engagement, e.g. through staff INSET

The successful candidate will be expected:

Essential

• to have strong active listening and interpersonal skills
• to have high emotional intelligence and empathy
• to maintain confidentiality and professional boundaries
• to be trustworthy, approachable, and non-judgemental
• to be skilled in signposting and supporting without directing
• to have an awareness of staff wellbeing challenges within educational settings

Desirable

• to be a practising Catholic
• to have experience of employee relations / generalist HR
• to have previous coaching experience

What New Hall offers:

Excellent benefits & CPD
Lunch without charge in term time
Discounted annual membership for New Hall Sport Club

Information about the School

New Hall is a Catholic independent boarding & day school for girls and boys aged 1-18. New Hall School operates the highly successful 'diamond model', where students are educated in co-educational classes from ages 1 to 11 and at Sixth Form. However, from ages 11 to 16 they are taught in single-sex lessons. Click on one of the four diamonds below to find out more about our divisions.

The main benefits of the 'diamond model' and five years of single-sex teaching, derive from the ability to tailor pastoral and academic provision more sensitively and expertly to the needs of young people going through the physical, emotional and social upheaval of adolescence. Young teenagers are liberated from the negative peer pressure of having to perform in mixed classes. The gender stereotyping of subjects is also removed. Girls and boys follow an identical curriculum and do not learn to perceive subjects as being more suited to either girls or boys.

The Sixth Form experience at New Hall is about expanding students' horizons, both in their specialist areas of study and, more generally, in terms of their personal development.

From the moment New Hall students first travel up the mile-long, tree-lined avenue that leads to the grand façade of the former Tudor palace, they will be given individual opportunities to grow, learn, be challenged and to develop into confident young men and women. New Hall is set in an idyllic and convenient location, on the outskirts of the City of Chelmsford, Essex, just 30 minutes by train from London and within easy reach of all major London airports.

As a Catholic independent boarding & day school, at New Hall with every student we aim to educate the whole person: academically, creatively and socially, in a community which also nurtures the spiritual dimensions of human life.