DATA OFFICER | Full-Time, Permanent
Hours of Work
- 8.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
- 6 weeks and 8 days annual leave entitlement.
Remuneration
- £42,000 - £45,000 per annum, dependent on skills and experience.
Key dates
- Closing Date - 25th November 2026
- Interviews - Expected to be held the week beginning 30th November 2026
Job Purpose
• To be responsible for the integrity, integration and use of data across all school systems, including but not limited to the MIS, SOCS, Schoolpost, My School Portal, Evolve, CPOMs, SchoolCloud, Every HR, and the school’s CRM provider. The aim will be to support a data culture forward and continue its enhancement within the school and support the smooth operation and efficient running of the school’s data systems.
• The Data Officer will ensure that the systems are developed to meet the needs of the school and will be responsible for timely, effective and efficient interaction with members of the school community in relation to access and use of data systems.
• The Data Officer will also turn school data into clear, timely and reliable insight for the Senior Leadership Team, Heads of Department and Governors, covering pupil progress, achievement and attainment, admissions and pupil numbers, and operational measures, so that decisions across the school are effectively informed by evidence.
• The role also involves working collaboratively with academic colleagues and the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to support and advance the school’s pastoral and academic objectives, ensuring alignment within the school’s wider educational priorities
Accountable To
Head of IT
Main Responsibilities: The following provides a main overview of the main duties and responsibilities for the post holder but is not exhaustive and can be subject to change.
Management Information System
• To facilitate the development and use of the MIS to support school services;
• To support relevant staff in use of modules within the MIS to ensure the smooth running of school services;
• To ensure the integrity and security of the data held in the MIS;
• To organise and distribute on-line support material for the school intranet, including offering drop-in support times and staff training as required;
• Be a point of contact for all staff for the MIS, liaising with users and the MIS provider about any issues, development requests, and undertake the necessary troubleshooting;
• To complete all necessary preparation and provision of the system for each academic year by early August, to include adding new staff and students, timetable, calendar, event and meeting data;
• To set up curriculum structure within the MIS and liaise with the Deputy Head: Academic and timetabler regarding any changes;
• To organise and supervise accurate set up of all required class lists and groups for academic and activity use;
• To undertake regular maintenance tasks such as the annual rollover of data and the archiving of staff and student leavers (in liaison with HR and IT);
• Provide the data export required by internal sources and external organisations (e.g. data files for photographers) and support the import of required externally supplied data (e.g. staff photos, examination base data);
• Assist with the preparation of annual data collection;
• To be responsible for data entry and cleansing tasks;
• Undertake annual data integrity checks;
• To oversee the school’s reporting cycle set up in the MIS and provide relevant tracking reports as requested;
• To produce ad hoc and regular scheduled reports for academic and support staff using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS);
• Monitor MIS operations to ensure optimal performance at all times;
• Maintain a clear understanding of the Data Protection Act and the implications that it has for managing school data, and ensure that the School complies with GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Statutory and Sector Returns
• Prepare and submit accurate, on-time data for the Scottish Government independent schools census, the SCIS and ISC censuses, and any other regulatory or inspection requests.
Attainment Analysis
• Work with the Deputy Head: Academic and Exams Officer to analyse SQA (and any other qualification) entries and results, and baseline / value-added data, producing departmental and whole-school analyses including results-day reporting in August.
Dashboards
• Develop and maintain dashboards for pupil tracking, attendance, admissions pipeline and pupil-number forecasting, presenting data in a way that non-specialists can act on.
Pupil Numbers and Fees
• Provide reliable pupil-number, admissions and leaver data to the Business Director and Finance team to support budgeting, fee billing and forecasting, and reconcile MIS data with the finance system.
Data Quality
• Own a data-quality framework for the school, including a data dictionary, agreed definitions, documented procedures and clear ownership of each dataset, so that there is one trusted version of key figures.
Integration and Automation
• Identify and implement opportunities to automate manual processes and integrate systems (e.g. via APIs, scheduled imports/exports), reducing duplicate data entry across departments.
Access Control
• Manage role-based user permissions across data systems, including timely set-up and removal of access for starters, leavers and role changes, and periodic access reviews.
Other
• Support key administration and teaching staff to champion for the school systems that support operations e.g. Evolve, CPOMs, SOCs.
• Staff training.
Data Protection and Information Security (supported by a retained external advisor)
• Support the Head and the Business Director with subject access requests, data retention and secure disposal schedules, the Record of Processing Activities, and Data Protection Impact Assessments for new or changed systems;
• Follow and help maintain the school’s data breach procedure, reporting any actual or suspected breach immediately;
• Ensure particularly sensitive data (e.g. safeguarding, pastoral, medical and additional support needs records) is held with restricted access appropriate to need-to-know;
• Assess data processing arrangements with third-party system providers in liaison with the DPO and Business Director.
School Community
• The post holder will be available to support the school community with problems and issues relating to the school data systems between 8.30am and 4.30pm during term time;
• Where practicable the post holder will be available to support emergency access to data or use of school data systems for distribution of information outwith normal school hours, but will have responsibility for training senior staff in use of systems that may be required in such circumstances;
• Prior to the commencement of each session, and as required during the session, the post holder will oversee Permissions for Data Access and Sharing for students.
Business Continuity
• Maintain documented procedures and backup arrangements so that essential data (e.g. emergency contacts, medical information, registers) can be accessed if a system is unavailable, including during a lockdown or evacuation.
Other Data Systems
• To set up, support and maintain other data systems as used in school (e.g. SOCS and Schoolpost);
• To ensure appropriate liaison with the school community about access and use of these data systems.
General
• To improve educational awareness, by attending and supporting staff training sessions and increase personal understanding of how the MIS and other systems are used in specific contexts;
• To perform training on school systems as part of the new staff induction.
• To attend and take part in all relevant meetings with colleagues as required;
• To participate in aspects of staff development as relevant to the role, including attending appropriate inservice days and taking part in the Professional Review process;
• Be familiar with and practise school policies, in particular relating to Data Protection, GDPR (or other relevant legislation), Health and Safety, Confidentiality and Child Protection;
• Helping to create and promote an image of the school which is in accordance with its aims.
• Complete mandatory safeguarding/child protection, data protection and cyber security training on appointment and at the required intervals.
Key Periods
• Annual leave should be planned around peak periods for the role, including SQA results day and pre-session set-up in August, the annual rollover, and census deadlines;
• The appointment is subject to satisfactory membership of the PVG Scheme (Disclosure Scotland), references and the school’s safer recruitment checks.
Ideal Candidate: Further information can be found in the attached Job Pack.
Package Description: Competitive remuneration and benefits package including:-
- Reduced school fees and wraparound care at St George’s School
- Pension Contribution
- Staff lunches
- Access to school buses on school bus routes for all staff (small charge payable)
- Professional learning and development opportunities
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Generous annual leave entitlement
- Cycle-to-work scheme
- Opportunity to benefit from the use of the many school facilities; libraries; sports facilities etc
- Death in service benefits all staff
- Opportunity to join our community and contribute to social, music, drama and other events and activities.