Groundsperson - School

About the school

Crosfields School is a day, co-educational Independent Preparatory School with some 700 pupils in the age range 3-16 years.

The School is located on a 42-acre site on the outskirts of Reading near Shinfield. The School consists of a number of purpose built buildings in a campus style, including teaching blocks, nursery, theatre, dining hall and sports centre with pool and sports hall.

The grounds consist of sports fields for football, tennis, rugby, hockey, athletics, netball, rounders and cricket including artificial surfaces, wickets and nets area. The extensive grounds are also used for cross-country, have several forest school sites and an outdoor classroom. The School has an extensive match fixture list each week over a variety of sports and age ranges and annually hosts inter school tournaments for football, rugby and cross-country.

The Grounds Team is a close knit unit reporting to the Head of Estates with responsibility for maintaining the school grounds to a high standard of appearance and supervising the day to day running and use of the sports fields, grounds, woodlands and gardens.

Usual day-to-day work involves:

• General upkeep of natural and artificial playing surfaces and sports pitches including cricket, football, rugby, hockey and athletics.
• Using ride on machinery and pedestrian powered machinery to produce the best possible playing service for the players to use.
• Mowing, divioting, collecting debris and watering sports pitches.
• Marking out, match set-up, nets and goals.
• Fertilising, verti-draining, replacing and fixing any irrigation issues,
• Maintaining artificial pitches, brushing, grooming and cleaning when needed.
• Maintaining and monitoring machinery for safe use
• Digging, forking, mulching, watering, raking, weeding, edging, pruning, preparing flower and shrub beds and planting.
• Maintaining lawns and borders.
• Using and maintaining hand tools and basic light machinery.
• Using cylinder and rotary mowers, strimmer, leaf blower etc.
• Keeping borders, thoroughfares, car parks and footpaths clear and free from litter at all times.
• Clearing and maintaining woodland, ditches and ponds.
• Gritting, salt spreading and snow clearing when required.
• Car parking duties.
• Complying with all relevant national and local regulations including Health and Safety, First Aid, COSHH, and environment management.
• Supporting the wider Estates Team as necessary.

About You:

We are looking for someone to join our team who

• is enthusiastic about working outdoors and has an interest in the natural environment
• takes pride in their work and maintains high standards
• works well as part of a team and understands the need to able to work with a diverse range of people
• has a qualification or significant experience in sports turf management
• has experience working with and maintaining grounds machinery
• has a working knowledge of relevant Health and Safety legislation and how to apply it

It will be an advantage if you:

• have a qualification (NVQ Level 2) in Sports Turf or Horticulture
• have relevant pesticides training (PA1, PA2 & PA6 Certificate) or will be prepared to undertake training
• Experience in a school environment

Hours: 7.00am – 4.00pm Monday – Friday inclusive. Occasional weekend working may be required and paid as overtime.

Lunch provided when on-site during term time.

Application end date: We will close applications when a suitable candidate has been appointed.

SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION

As a result of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, employers now have to verify that new recruits who are not British nationals are eligible to work in this country. Therefore, any applicant who is offered an interview will be asked to provide official documentation to verify their ID, address and right to work in the UK. It is also normal practice for the School to ask for original qualifications and professional membership documents to be presented at interview as detailed on the application form. Crosfields School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young people, and applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening, including online checks, checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Job Type: Full-time

Benefits:

• On-site parking

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Work Location: In person