IT Support Apprentice

Employer description:

Warwick Independent Schools Foundation comprises five schools: King’s High School, Warwick Preparatory School, Warwick School and Warwick Junior School all sit on the Myton Road site in Warwick, with Kingsley School in the neighbouring town of Leamington Spa.

The Foundation is unique in the Midlands, offering co-education for our pupils aged 3 to 7, and single-gender education from age 7 onwards. This offers the best of both worlds for our pupils: teaching specifically tailored to their needs with extensive opportunities to collaborate outside the classroom. 

Overview:

Reporting to the Foundation IT Team Manager, the IT Support Apprentice will gain experience of providing support for the IT systems and services across the Foundation of schools. This will include handling through to resolution First Line/Level 1 incidents and problems as well as working with other members of the IT Team to help resolve 2nd Line/Service issues.

Benefits include salary review each September, company sick pay dependent on length of service, use of the sports complex, free lunches and free on-site parking.

Duties: 

You will be responsible for: 

• Supporting the delivery of the Foundation-wide SLA across all schools and departments
• Acting as the initial point of contact for staff and students requiring help with IT issues and queries
• Proactive maintenance for IT systems and software
• Accurate service desk information to enable the analysis of issues and effective configuration recording and management
• Effective troubleshooting, analysis and resolution of issues, using support from the School Lead Technicians where appropriate
• Assistance in the deployment of new client device software builds as and when required
• Assistance in the deployment of hardware devices as and when required
• Supporting activities associated with the Foundation Innovation Framework whereby staff and students may require a higher degree of support during the implementation and testing of new tools and technologies
• Occasional support outside of normal working hours, including weekends, for specific activities

What we are looking for:

You will need the following skills:

• Excellent customer service skills
• Highly motivated and enthusiastic
• Confident personality
• Strong communication skills
• Good organisational and problem-solving skills
• A good level of written and spoken English appropriate to the context and audience
• Able to work effectively on their own as well as part of a team
• Ability to effectively organise own time
• Ability to keep calm under pressure
• A wholly professional attitude

The following experience would be beneficial:

• Experience and knowledge of Active Directory, Exchange and Windows Server
• Knowledge of both general ICT H&S issues relating to work, both for self and all potential users
• Experience of working within an educational setting
• Experience supporting and using Microsoft Teams
• Experience of working with people of all ages
• Experience of training others

Safeguarding and Protection of Children and Young Persons:
In accordance with the Children’s Act 1989, on appointment post holders will be required to commit to their responsibilities with regards to safeguarding. In addition offers of appointment will be subject to an Enhanced criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and other pre-starter checks as required by the regulations governing the appointment of staff within education.

The criminal record checks will highlight cautions, reprimands and final warnings as well as any convictions. The post holder must not have any spent or unspent convictions that would prevent working with children.

Working hours: 

37 hours per week - Monday to Thursday, 8am - 4.30pm and Friday, 8am - 4.00pm.

Entry requirements:

The entry requirements for this Azure Cloud Support Specialist programme are as follows:

• 3 GCSEs (or equivalent) at grades 4+ (A-C) in any subject
• GCSE Maths and English (or equivalents) at grades 3+ (D or above)
• Prospective apprentices must not hold an existing qualification at the same or higher level as this apprenticeship is in a similar subject

You may also have a combination of qualifications and experience which demonstrate the minimum foundation needed for the programme. In this instance you could still be considered for the programme.

If you hold international equivalents of the above qualifications, at the time of your application you must be able to provide an official document that states how your international qualifications compare to the UK qualifications. 

Salary:

£14,085 and £16,393 per annum.

Future prospects:

92% of QA Apprentices secure permanent employment after finishing their apprenticeship. Additionally there may be opportunities to undertake further apprenticeship training as many of our programs offer on-going development tracks.

Important information:

QA’s apprenticeships are funded by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), an executive agency of the Department for Education.

To be eligible for a Government funded apprenticeship you must have lived in the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) for the last 3 consecutive years.