Job vacancy details

Frontier Learning Trust is a small Academy Trust comprising of Woodhouse College and The Imperial Maths School. Woodhouse College is a popular and oversubscribed 16-19 academy of around 1500 full-time students, all on A level courses, on a vibrant campus in north London. The Imperial Maths School opened in September 2023. This school is a specialist sixth form based on the Woodhouse College site. It currently has 126 students and is based in temporary classrooms. In time the school will have a new building and 200 students.

 

The Trust is proud of its strong community spirit and friendly supportive atmosphere. We have maintained our ‘outstanding’ status in a recent inspection by Ofsted in May 2022. Our students are ambitious, lively and committed to doing well. Staff work hard and morale is high; this is a great place to work.

 

 

 

 

 

We are seeking an enthusiastic Finance Assistant with a minimum of two years’ experience working in a finance department and of using accounting software and spreadsheets with an understanding of double entry book-keeping. The successful candidate will have good communication and IT skills and be able to work efficiently to deadlines in a busy but friendly team consisting of a full-time Assistant Principal of Finance, an Accountant and an Assistant Accountant. The Finance team is responsible for managing the finances of Frontier Learning Trust which includes Woodhouse College and Imperial College London Mathematics School.

 

The salary will be at point 10 on the sixth form college support staff salary scale, currently £27,733 plus £3,382 London Weighting per annum. On a part-time, enhanced term-time only basis (0.5932), the actual salary would be £18,457 inclusive per annum. On a part-time, all year-round basis (0.6944), the actual salary would be £21,606 inclusive per annum.

 

The Trust offers a very attractive pension scheme, holiday allowance plus 8 bank holidays, a Christmas shutdown period and a cycle to work scheme. We promote health and wellbeing and provide an excellent employee assistance programme which is free for all staff.

 

The closing date for applications is at 9am on Tuesday 14 April 2026. Interviews are taking place on the 24 April 2026.

 

The finance office administers and controls the finances for the Trust which has an annual budget of around £12m. Finance for the Trust is managed centrally and the finance team deal with all finance issues for both Woodhouse College and Imperial College London Mathematics School. This is accomplished by a small team – currently made up of four people – where all team members have specific responsibilities and clear roles. However, in a small team, where workload may not be spread evenly throughout the year, all members share responsibility for the efficient and effective working of this service on which the functioning of the whole Trust depends.

The post of Finance Assistant is to play a major role in processing financial transactions made in the day to day running of these busy institutions. As such it involves understanding the Trust’s financial procedures and often dealing with those who don’t, such as many colleagues and our external suppliers. In practice, the key tasks are to maintain and operate the purchase ledger, process BACS and other forms of payment, and assist in providing efficient financial control for the Trust. The post holder reports directly to the Assistant Principal of Finance.

 

 

• Inputting all purchase invoices and staff expense claims onto the Iris/PSF finance system.

• Authorising purchase orders and placing orders with suppliers.

• Managing the finance email inbox and dealing with queries from students, parents, staff and suppliers.

• Preparing a weekly BACS payment run.

• Setting up and amending supplier accounts in line with agreed procedures.

• Reconciling supplier statements.

• Making bursary and household support payments to students.

• Running month-end reports, including aged creditor reports.

• Assisting budget holders to ensure they get “best value” when placing orders, including booking coaches and other trip related activities.

• Assisting with day- to day management of some contracts including mobile phones.

• Assisting with year-end and management accounts by highlighting accruals and prepayments.

• Placing orders by credit card and reconciling the statement each month.

• Assisting with other finance department work, such as petty cash, student payments and banking so that cover can be provided across the department when necessary.

• Carrying out any other duties that may arise from time to time as requested by the Accountant, the Assistant Principal of Finance and the Principal.

 

• Understanding of double entry bookkeeping.

• English and Maths GCSE or equivalent.

• Minimum two years’ experience working in a finance department including:

o Reconciliation purchase ledger accounts

o Posting of purchase invoices

o Running payment runs

o Matching of invoices to purchase orders

o Month end reporting

• Experience of using accounting software and spreadsheets.

• Good IT skills including use of Outlook, Excel and Word.

• Good attention to detail and organisation skills.

• Good oral and written communication skills.

• Good interpersonal skills.

• Ability to work to tight deadlines and to work as part of a team.

• Willingness to work flexibly when required.

• Ability to deal tactfully and sympathetically with suppliers, staff, students, parents and members of the public.

• Understanding of and commitment to equality and diversity in practice.

• Commitment to safeguarding the interests and needs of young people.

 

 

• Experience of working in education or the voluntary sector.

• Knowledge of Iris/PSF accounting software.

• Willingness to train as First Aider.

For further information about the Trust, the department and for downloadable documents, please go to the following links. Please note that the links will no longer be accessible following the vacancy deadline.

 

Overview of the Trust 

 

Job description 

 

Some of the benefits of working at the Trust:

If you have any queries or require any assistance, please don't hesitate to contact personnel@woodhouse.ac.uk

 

We look forward to hearing from you.