School Estates Manager

Claires Court School, Maidenhead, Berkshire
Salary: Competitive
Full-time | 37.5 hours per week | All year round

Locations

This role covers Claires Court School’s three Maidenhead campuses:

• Junior School & Nursery -1 College Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 6AW
• Senior Boys - College Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 6AW
• Senior Girls & Sixth Form - Ray Mill Road East, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 8TE

Regular travel between all three campuses is required.

Claires Court School is seeking an experienced and proactive School Estates Manager to lead the operational management of its estate across all three campuses.

Reporting to the Head or Director of Estates, you will ensure the school’s buildings, infrastructure, grounds and transport services remain safe, compliant, well maintained and fit for purpose. You will lead the Maintenance, Caretaking and Transport teams while managing specialist contractors.

The Role

You will provide a responsive estates service that supports teaching, learning and wider school activities.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading and developing the Estates, Maintenance, Caretaking and Transport teams
• Managing the daily operation of school buildings, facilities and infrastructure
• Developing planned preventative maintenance programmes and overseeing reactive repairs
• Conducting estate inspections and ensuring buildings remain safe and inspection-ready
• Maintaining accurate asset registers, compliance records and audit trails
• Managing the school’s CAFM system, ideally iAM, including inspections, schedules and work orders
• Leading approved maintenance, improvement and capital projects
• Procuring, vetting and managing contractors and service providers
• Reviewing risk assessments, method statements and permits to work
• Monitoring contractor performance, service standards and value for money
• Managing operational budgets, supplier agreements, expenditure and forecasts
• Overseeing vehicle compliance, servicing, MOTs, driver training and licence checks
• Supporting emergency planning, business continuity and out-of-hours response arrangements
• Monitoring utility consumption and supporting sustainability initiatives

Health, Safety and Compliance

As the operational lead for Estates Health and Safety, you will ensure compliance across fire safety, asbestos management, legionella control, electrical and gas safety, pressure systems, lifting equipment, working at height, COSHH and manual handling.

You will monitor actions arising from audits, inspections and fire risk assessments and oversee fire alarms, emergency lighting, fire doors, evacuation drills and contractor permits.

About You

You will be an experienced estates or facilities professional with strong leadership skills, commercial awareness and a hands-on approach.

You will need:

• Experience managing a multi-site estate or facilities operation
• Experience within education, healthcare, hospitality or another regulated environment
• Strong knowledge of health and safety and statutory building compliance
• Experience managing planned and reactive maintenance programmes
• Contractor, supplier and budget-management experience
• Experience leading operational or maintenance teams and delivering projects
• Confidence using CAFM systems
• Excellent communication, organisation and stakeholder-management skills
• The ability to respond effectively during emergencies
• A full UK driving licence
• A relevant qualification in estates management, facilities management, construction, engineering or building services
• A NEBOSH General Certificate or IOSH Managing Safely qualification
• A fire-safety qualification or demonstrable fire-safety management experience

An IWFM Level 4 or 5 qualification, project-management qualification, professional membership or Fire Risk Assessor qualification would be advantageous.

Benefits

• Competitive Salary
• Employer pension contribution of up to 20%
• 26 days’ annual leave plus concessionary days
• Health Cash Plan
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Professional development opportunities

About Claires Court School

Claires Court is a leading independent school educating pupils from Nursery through to Sixth Form. It forms part of the Licensed Trade Charity EducationGroup, which providesstrategic leadership, investment and shared professional services across its schools.

Apply today

Claires Court School and the Licensed Trade Charity are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. The successful applicant will be required to complete the school’s safer recruitment and pre-employment checking process.