HR Support Apprentice

Freemans School Surrey

Surrey (KT21 1ET)

Closes in 12 days (Friday 17 October 2025)

Posted on 26 September 2025

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Summary

The Human Resources Department at City of London Freemen’s School is staffed by a small, friendly and dynamic team, serves over 220 employees, volunteers, casual staff and self-employed providers. Working at Freemen’s will give you the opportunity to develop your skills within a school environment while learning about HR in a large organisation.

Wage

£25,780 a year

Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

City of London Corporation staff can take advantage of the pension scheme. They also receive discounts and special offers for a wide range of products and services.

Training course
HR support (level 3)
Hours
Monday to Friday, 9.00am - 5.00pm core hours. Flexibility will be required for business needs.

35 hours a week

Start date

Monday 1 December 2025

Duration

1 year 9 months

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

Purpose of Post:

  • The HR Apprentice will be part of the School’s Human Resources team. Under the direction of the Director of HR, you will be contributing to the high quality, effective and efficient HR administration, transactional support, system development and support in employee relations
  • You will provide a helpful and proactive service to managers, staff, external contacts, and colleagues
  • You will have opportunities and projects to develop your skills, experience, and knowledge in line with your apprenticeship modules
  • You will receive in-house mentoring by the Director of HR and be allowed to attend development events throughout your apprenticeship

Main duties & Responsibilities:

HR Administration and Systems:

  • With the HR Administrator, to monitor the recruitment and HR inbox, and answer queries as first-line support in a timely and efficient manner, directing them to the HR Officer or Director of HR as appropriate
  • To update City systems promptly with changes such as sickness absences, special leave requests, unpaid leave, maternity leave, changes in address, names, DBS checks and any requested changes to ensure the HR system reflects all employee information accurately
  • Working with the HR Officer, to liaise with the local IT Team, City IT Support team and CoL HR team to ensure all new user accounts are created, positions are created, and changes are reflected on the HR system accurately
  • To maintain the school systems, including assisting with administering all staff records, on-boarding and off-boarding and maintaining the Master Staff List
  • This will include liaising with the relevant staff involved in the onboarding and off-boarding process
  • Ensuring the system is always up to date and all records are compliant with Corporate, School and Safer Recruitment policies
  • To maintain the school's HR SharePoint site including uploading new policies as directed by the Director of HR
  • To maintain an up-to-date library of job descriptions and person specifications for staff posts (professional services, teaching and additional responsibility roles) within the School
  • In conjunction with the HR Officer and Administrator, to be responsible for all HR filing and document retention, ensuring all documents are appropriately disposed of in line with Data Protection and the School and Corporation policies
  • Creating new starter folders and archiving leavers folders and updating the archive records as needed
  • To assist the Director of HR with responses to Subject Access Requests, collating all relevant data from individuals and systems for redaction by the City’s Information Team

Recruitment and Transactional Service:

  • To support and assist the HR Administrator with the administration of the recruitment process
  • Supporting on interview days; meeting and greeting candidates, escorting round the School when necessary and any ad hoc. requests
  • With the HR Administrator, to monitor the recruitment inbox; answer recruitment queries, save and circulate applications, invite candidates to interview, create interview schedules and all appropriate correspondence to relevant parties as required
  • To draft HR related letters or documentation under the guidance of the HR Officer and Director of HR where appropriate
  • To monitor Fixed Term Contracts, Probation, Long Service, Work Permit, Maternity and DBS checks. Check if due dates are coming up for expiry and inform the appropriate member of the HR team
  • To support the administration of ER cases and other projects as requested by the Director of HR, ensuring all documentation is scanned, meeting rooms are booked, drafting formal letters, and taking minutes

Where you'll work

City ofLondon Freemens School
Park Lane
Ashtead
Surrey
KT21 1ET

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LONDON

Training course

HR support (level 3)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents
  • Service Delivery: Delivers excellent customer service on a range of HR queries and requirements, providing solutions, advice and support primarily to managers. Builds managers’ expertise in HR matters, improving their ability to handle repeated situations themselves where appropriate. Uses agreed systems and processes to deliver service to customers. Takes the initiative to meet agreed individual and team KPIs in line with company policy, values, standards. Plans and organises their work, often without direct supervision, to meet commitments and KPIs.
  • Problem Solving: Uses sound questioning and active listening skills to understand requirements and establish root causes before developing HR solutions. Takes ownership through to resolution, escalating complex situations as appropriate.
  • Communication & Interpersonal: Deals effectively with customers/colleagues, using sound interpersonal skills and communicating well through a range of media eg phone, face to face, email, internet. Adapts their style to their audience. Builds trust and sound relationships with customers. Handles conflict and sensitive HR situations professionally and confidentially.
  • Teamwork: Consistently supports colleagues /collaborates within the team and HR to achieve results. Builds/maintains strong working relationships with others in the team and across HR where necessary.
  • Process Improvement: Identifies opportunities to improve HR performance and service; acts on them within the authority of their role. Supports implementation of HR changes/projects with the business.
  • Managing HR Information: Maintains required HR records as part of services delivered. Prepares reports and management information from HR data, with interpretation as required.
  • Personal Development: Keeps up to date with business changes and HR legal/policy/process changes relevant to their role. Seeks feedback and acts on it to improve their performance and overall capability.

Training schedule

  • You will be supported to achieve the HR Support Level 3 Apprenticeship
  • Theoretical training will be given  with the support of the training provider
  • Practical training and support will be given in the workplace allowing you to embed your learning in the working environment
  • You will receive hours 6 per week to support with your apprenticeship studies

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

  • English (grade 4)
  • Maths (grade 4)

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

  • Communication skills
  • IT skills
  • Attention to detail
  • Organisation skills
  • Customer care skills
  • Administrative skills
  • Number skills
  • Logical
  • Team working
  • Non judgemental
  • Patience

Other requirements

Applicants will require an Enhanced DBS with children’s barred list

About this employer

The school was founded in 1854 by the Corporation of London, and was originally located in Brixton, London to educate orphans of freemen of the city. It is still possible for such children to be educated as "Foundationers" at the school with the costs of their education borne by the City of London Corporation. The school is set in 57 acres (230,000 m ) of Ashtead Park in Surrey, having moved from Brixton to Ashtead in 1926.

https://www.freemens.org (opens in new tab)

Disability Confident

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

  • On successful completion of the apprenticeship, we aim to offer a permanent role within the team if a position is available
  • Alternatively, we shall endeavour to secure an alternative position within the City of London Corporation

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LONDON

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000343977.

Apply now

Closes in 12 days (Friday 17 October 2025)

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