People Business Partner

Job Overview
We are looking to appoint a committed and hard working individual that will be required to:

• Implement the people strategy at school level
• Coach, challenge and advise school Leadership Teams on people issues
• Create sustainable talent and succession plans, working closely with other People BPs and MEI
• Establish a performance management culture and support line managers to have honest conversations with team members
• Work with senior leaders to build an inclusive, ‘one Trust’ culture
• Carry out organisational design activity to ensure that schools have the right sized teams, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time and manage any resultant re-structuring activity
• Support with cyclical processes, e.g. performance appraisals, pay awards
• Support the engagement agenda, including workload and wellbeing initiatives
• Manage FTE and vacancies against budgeted headcount, working closely with the Finance Business Partner
• Develop workforce plans at school level
• Advise and support line managers on employee relations cases, drawing on central HR expertise as appropriate
• Feed back on schools’ needs/issues to the central People team
• Support and implement central initiatives
• Lead on ad hoc HR projects
• Deliver training on an ad hoc basis
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people in schools and the Trust

The ideal candidate will be:

• Able to work with ambiguity and at pace
• An excellent collaborator and relationship builder, with the ability to constructively challenge and influence stakeholders at all levels of an organisation
• Able to demonstrate excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal

• Able to drive change and bring people on the journey
• Resilient and able to remain calm under pressure
• Of sound judgement, able to read situations, apply discretion and clear thought to resolve issues
• Knowledgeable of employment law, HR principles, Codes of Practice, EDI, policies and procedures. Ability to translate these into pragmatic HR advice
• A motivated self-starter with a flexible mind set for continuous improvement and innovation
• Understanding of the educational environment, including terms and conditions of employment
• Able to balance conflicting demands and prioritise according to the needs of the organisation
• Competent in the use of IT packages, including Word, Excel and Powerpoint, and HRIS systems
• Committed to own personal development The role is hybrid, working at our Shared Services site on a regular basis, with some travel to schools within the Trust.

Please apply via our recruitment platform MyNewTerm

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: £40,778.00-£45,091.00 per year

Benefits:

• Company pension
• Employee discount
• On-site parking
• Work from home

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Reading RG6 7HS

Application deadline: 17/08/2025
Reference ID: https://mynewterm.com/jobs/15762/EDV-2025-MET-82250