1st or 2nd Line NOC Operative / IT Support Technician

The Opportunity

Permanent, non-residential, full-time position as soon as possible.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an NOC Operative / IT Technician to work within a dynamic and innovative IT Services department. We will offer you the opportunity to work as part of a progressive and forward-thinking team working across our school under the direction and support of the Head of IT Services.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the day-to-day resolution of end-user issues, providing 1st and some 2nd line support to a busy school, while supporting the wider IT Services team in projects and wider work. You will be a friendly face of the IT Services team supporting all of the various school stakeholders, managing incoming queries via email, phone and walk-ins via our Helpdesk, and escalate issues where needed to the NOC Analyst, IT Services Operations Manager or Head of IT Services.

Our School vision is:

To lead in transforming the futures of intelligent children who experience Specific Learning Difficulties, Developmental Language Disorder and associated conditions, by empowering them.

Our School Values are:

Kindness – Spirit - Responsibility

The School:

Nationally celebrated, More House School provides an exceptional, mainstream education for intelligent boys with Specific Learning Difficulties and weakness in their developmental language skills. Providing a transformative education repeatedly recognised as 'Outstanding' by Ofsted over more than a decade, we offer a specialised learning environment for day and boarding boys from Year 4 to Year 13. Our pupils are taught to recognise their strengths and develop their self-belief so that they achieve independence and extraordinary results at GCSE, BTEC and 'A' Level, above the national averages. A majority progress to university.

About the Department:

Under the leadership of the Head of IT Services, a comprehensive review of the IT systems and services was completed in 2021, identifying several challenges for the school. This led to the creation of a new, comprehensive 3-year IT development plan aimed at modernising and replacing the majority of key IT systems. T This work has now been completed, and the school is supported by modern end-user and backend systems, providing best-in-class solutions to its stakeholders.

While supporting end-users, the IT Services team is also tasked with the ongoing development of SharePoint Online and OneDrive, the advancement of PowerBI, and the construction of a new combined IT Services and Computer Science building to replace the existing department. These developments will run alongside the further integration of Microsoft’s cloud technologies and the enhancement of the school’s use of assistive technology, both in service and educational capacities.

Currently, the school is supported by four full-time staff members in the IT Services Team, with external support agreements in place for critical infrastructure.

About the role:

We are seeking a 1st or 2nd Line NOC Analyst / IT Support Technician who will support the school’s many stakeholders and ensure that the school’s IT provision is an enabler for success for all members of staff and pupils.

The NOC Analyst / IT Support Technician will provide essential technical support and guidance to staff and students, to understand varied applications, problem solve and generally support users in using software / hardware correctly in the classroom and office situation.  Responsibilities include recording, maintaining, and resolving technical issues via the helpdesk, ensuring smooth operation of workstations, laptops, printers, and peripherals, maintaining good communication with the end-user and other staff where needed.

Accurate record keeping regarding issued assets, installed software and stock of consumables, such as printer toner, will become embedded within the post holder’s day-to-day work.

The ideal candidate will have excellent communication, service delivery, and relationship management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues in simple terms. The successful candidate will need to respond in a timely manner to service requests and will be expected to meet agreed Service Level Agreements and targets as set by our Head of IT Services.

Technical support will be required for staff training, meetings, assemblies, and special school events, which may occasionally occur outside of regular working hours.

Liaising and communicating with 3rd party contractors, e.g. cabling and printer maintenance, will be commonplace for the role. A professional and courteous manner is essential for all communications with stakeholders.

This role is ideal for an IT professional with experience in a school setting or someone at the beginning of their IT career, offering excellent training opportunities and exposure to a variety of technologies. Good people skills, and the ability to talk professionally with all members of staff and students and explain complex technical issues in non-technical terms will be of benefit. The school uses multiple systems and technologies enabling a broad range of exposure to a wide variety of solutions, enabling good training opportunities and increasing knowledge of IT sector standards. The successful candidate will assist with the delivery of larger IT projects and site-wide upgrades, contributing to the school’s technological advancement.

During examination periods, the role will focus significantly on supporting the successful delivery of exams, including flexible working hours as needed. This is likely to include flexible working hours in line with the examinations calendar and data input to support the start and conclusion of each exam sessions.

Support business continuity arrangements to respond to any unforeseen or unplanned circumstances that may arise to maintain the safety and security of data and information, maintain security and minimise disruption to end users including being part of a response team.

By nature of the school’s users, no two days are the same and the post holder will be expected to adapt to the unknown with a flexible approach supporting the ethos of the IT Services team and the school.

We offer daily free lunch, free parking within the school’s beautiful grounds, and enhanced employee benefits including a contributed pension scheme, death in service, and critical illness cover.

The above list of duties is not exhaustive, and the post-holder may be required to perform such other duties as may be, from time to time, deemed necessary by the Headmaster. This is a non-residential post.

Person Specification:

Essential

• Educated to Level 2 (GCSE grade C or equivalent) in Mathematics and English.
• Proven problem-solving skills in IT, including both software and hardware
• Ability to effectively prioritise and assess the impact and scale of problems and tasks, addressing them methodically.
• Maintain accurate documentation and update internal databases with precise information through front-end interfaces.

Desirable

• Technical qualifications relevant to the role’s demands.
• Experience in an educational setting or within an organisation of 200+ users
• Experience with helpdesk or ticketing systems

Hours:

8 hours per day - Monday to Friday (arranged between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm) during term-time, and 7 hours per day between 8.00 am to 4.00 pm during school holidays.

Attendance at School events outside these hours from time to time, as well as Founders’ Day and INSET days towards the beginning or end of School holidays.

Remuneration and support:

• Annual salary, paid in monthly instalments: extremely competitive and in accordance with qualifications, experience and recognised skills;
• Pension - there is a contributory pension scheme in operation specifically for non-teaching personnel.  As governed by pension legislation you are automatically opted into the scheme and once enrolled, need to complete an ‘Opt Out’ form not to be included.  Contributions are paid by the School at the Governors discretion and directed by Government legislation.  Contributions towards your own personal pension plan may be made, but again this will be at the discretion of the Governors with the forementioned restrictions.  Details about the scheme can be found at http://www.nestpensions.org.uk;
• Employee Assistance Programme;
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Free on-site parking within the School’s beautiful grounds;
• Excellent lunchtime meals at no cost in the School’s refectory;
• Free use of the School’s fitness gym facilities

Safeguarding:

This role is deemed to be one of working in regulated activity, meaning that the post-holder may expect to come into unsupervised contact with children and young people frequently in the discharge of their duties on-campus.  As such, the expectations of conduct, required of all adults working at More House School, apply to this position, as does a full Safer-Recruitment vetting process of any appointee.  A key responsibility of all adults working within the School is that of ensuring the effective safeguarding of all children and young people, through adherence to the School’s policies; full-training is given.