Sheila Allport, 10 years Personal Assistant (PA) to the Headteacher and SLT at King Edward VI Lordswood School for Girls, describes her day-to-day role, including the most rewarding aspect of being a PA, her development since taking on the role and other interesting personal facts!
Describe a ‘typical day’ at work:
I don’t think I have a typical day at work; it changes so often throughout each day! The first thing I do is review and respond to emails as I cannot function properly without knowing what is in my inbox!
I co-ordinate diaries and arrange both internal and external meetings, book meeting rooms, arrange refreshments, update reports, attend the weekly SLT meetings, draft letters, and reports.
Following this I could be taking notes at the Headteacher’s Question Time sessions with students, which is always enjoyable, or at the Parents Update sessions which is equally interesting, but which incorporate two completely different formats.
I am also responsible for collating the information for the weekly Staff Bulletin and issuing the staff nomination letters where colleagues have nominated staff who have gone above and beyond their responsibilities to support each other.
Furthermore, I manage the recruitment process which involves producing adverts, obtaining references, drafting interview schedules, and inviting candidates into school, together with updating the SCR.
Currently I am arranging for staff DBS certificates which are more than 3 years old to be re-processed, so busy collecting documents!
What do you find most rewarding about your job?
The thing I love most about my job is the variety of tasks that I become involved in. My day never stands still and there is always something new to learn!
I am very lucky to work with so many lovely colleagues who always brighten up my days.
How have you developed since taking on this role?
I have learnt so many new skills that I would never have envisaged.
Working in education was a completely new way of life for me as I had spent my working life up to this point supporting board meetings, arranging corporate hospitality events in addition to my PA roles.
I have really enjoyed learning about how the education system works, the processes involved and particularly being Company Secretary, Clerk to LAT and GB/Committee meetings.
On a personal note, it is a joy to work at a school where the staff are so dedicated and committed to the teaching and learning of their students.
What is something interesting or surprising about you that most people don't know?
I love travelling and have visited many countries including: Spain, the Canaries, Switzerland, Italy, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, and Thailand as well as lots of the US such as Florida, San Diego, San Francisco, and my absolute favourite having visited twice; New York which I long to revisit. I have not had the opportunity to further my travels during the last few years for various reasons, but I am looking forward to continuing this once again upon my retirement.
What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
Never say never! When I was faced with redundancy at the international bank I worked for, I had no inkling of where I would be working next but somehow, I was lucky enough to secure a job at the University of Wolverhampton. I had never thought of working in further education, but I loved the journey of learning that I experienced there. This led me to securing a number of different roles within the four years I was there from Team Leader for admin support of social work students, setting up a Practice Learning Unit to incorporate social work and nursing student placements, supporting the Associate Dean of Research in the Centre of Health & Wellbeing, who is an incredible woman, and then due to an admin restructure, working as HR Support in the Faculty of Science.
Following this restructure, is where my journey with King Edward VI Lordswood School for Girls began and continues.
