Victoria Osbourne - School business professional

Name: Victoria Osbourne

Job Role: School business professional

School: Copenhagen Primary School, Islington, London

Bio:

I have been at Copenhagen Primary School for just over a year but have been a business manager for over 20 Years.

Before being in a school I worked for Barclays Bank, local government and private business. The local authority asked me to go to Copenhagen School to help out for two days a week as they were having problems as a lot of the staff had left. There was so much to do that it was a real challenge juggling two full-time jobs at once.  When the job was advertised I decided this was the job for me and luckily the head thought it was too.

In my role, there is no such thing as a typical day! At Copenhagen I meet with contractors, deal with personnel issues, deal with finance and budgeting matters, look after contracts, monitor office staff, attend meetings with the senior leadership team and governors and much, much more. It is important to be a jack of all trades and be able to multi-task. The ability to keep calm is crucial and you need to be prepared to arrive early and leave late!

I have the Certificate, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in school business management. These qualifications provided me with the skills required for communicating at all levels and to use the language that is relevant when writing reports. I keep up to date with all training courses that are offered by the local authority and attend many briefings and conferences. I have attended training in finance, safe recruiting, NEBOSH (National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health), fire safety and safeguarding.

I love working in a primary school because there are never two days the same and the staff are like a family; the children are lovely too! It is a challenge to keep on top of the workload and the job specification grows constantly, but the day flies by and I look forward to going to work every day and I am NEVER bored!.

If you are interested in becoming a school business manager, develop your financial skills and gain as much experience as you can. You need skills in personnel, finance, premises, health and safety and data management so try to gain experience in all areas.