Human Resources Manager

We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for a committed and enthusiastic Human Resources Manager to join The Fernwood School. We are an outstanding 11-16 school (stand-alone academy - SAT) enjoying a long-standing excellent reputation for high standards of achievement and behaviour. About the Role This is a key strategic role, leading and developing our HR function at a pivotal point in the school’s growth. You will oversee all aspects of HR, including recruitment, employee relations, safeguarding-related HR processes, compliance, and staff wellbeing. As a member of the wider leadership team, you will play a central role in shaping a high-performing, supportive, and values-led staff culture. The successful candidate will have a rare opportunity to shape HR in a high-performing stand-alone academy, direct impact on whole-school culture and staff wellbeing and an opportunity to build systems and processes during a growth phase of staffing. About the School Following a recent expansion from 1000 to 1500 pupils, with staffing growing to over 200 colleagues across teaching and support roles, we continue to strengthen our infrastructure to support both pupils and staff to succeed. We are an oversubscribed and popular 11-16 school within Nottingham City and had over 800 applications for our 300 places this year. We are a proudly diverse school and have children with heritage from all corners of the world. We celebrate our different cultures through our curriculum and special events like ‘Culture Day’ and ‘Diversity Week’ and have our own EDI (Equity Diversity and Inclusion working party) made up of parents, staff and our EDI student ambassadors. We welcome applications from people who will embrace the diversity of our school community. In our annual staff survey, the most common response to what staff value most about working at Fernwood was ‘being part of a welcoming staff body who look out for and support each other’. The vast majority of staff would recommend working here to a friend, and all staff agreed that children are ‘happy’ and ‘safe’ at Fernwood. Our unique culture and ethos mean we have strong staff retention statistics and a stable team of staff. We are a popular employer to potential applicants and have a strong track record of attracting and retaining high-quality staff. We value and prioritise our staff and have a comprehensive programme of support, both in terms of professional development and personal support. All staff have access to our comprehensive EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) which includes benefits like free physiotherapy appointments, telephone GP access, counselling and financial advice to name a few. We have several staff social groups including an LGBTQ+ group, a theatre group, and staff yoga. We also have several staff social events each year. We are part of the ‘cycle to work’ scheme and provide staff with free flu jabs and eye tests and a voucher for purchasing glasses for staff using display s