Description

This role has a starting salary of £23,322 per annum, based on a 36-hour working week. This role is a 24-month fixed term apprenticeship opportunity.

We are excited to be recruiting a Business Administrator Level 3 Apprentice for the fantastic Surrey Virtual School team at Surrey County Council.

This apprenticeship is ring fenced for Surrey care leavers, reflecting Surrey Virtual Schools commitment towards securing high quality education, employment and training for our care experienced young people. The Surrey Virtual School team are recruiting an Apprentice with experience of accessing services, such as emotional wellbeing and mental health, additional needs and/or disabilities and/or social care services such as being in care. This role is specifically for a looked after child or care leaver to join the team. We support and nurture apprentices over two years to ensure they are ready for their next steps into employment or further education.

Are you care experienced and looking for a new opportunity to start your career? Come and join us to improve outcomes for Surrey's children, young people, carers, and families!

As a Surrey care leaver, you should view the Surrey local offer for care leavers, or speak to your Care Leavers' Service personal adviser to find out what support is available to care leavers completing an apprenticeship.

Rewards and Benefits

• The chance to get paid to learn and use your own personal talents to shape your future
• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 31 days after 5 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Termly team in-person training days and protected CPD time to allow learning and development specific to your role and needs
• As a care leaver, you may be entitled to government bursary of £3000 (paid in 3 instalments of £1,000 over the first year of the apprenticeship). You can find out more about the apprenticeships care leavers' bursary, including if you are eligible on the GOV.UK website. You should speak to your Care Leavers' Service personal adviser if you have any questions.

About Us

The Surrey Virtual School (SVS) works with schools, social workers, carers and a range of services to help improve the educational experiences and outcomes of four groups of young people: looked after children, previously looked after children, children with a social work and those in kinship care. A 'Virtual School' is a way of bringing together the educational information about children and young people who are cared for by the local authority as if they were a single school – no matter where in the country they may live. You can learn more about SVS by visiting our website.

You will be joining a friendly and hardworking team of professionals who are totally committed to improving educational experiences and outcomes of children and young people under the Surrey Virtual School. We aim to have an aspirational and outstanding Virtual School that promotes and supports the education of children and young people within our remit.

Our main office base is located in Woking, and your working hours will be 36 hours per week, normally between 9am and 5pm. Your working location will be split between a minimum of 2 days working in the office and the remainder working from home, with opportunities to work from hub offices in Weybridge and Reigate.

About your Apprenticeship

We want this apprenticeship to be an opportunity for you to gain experience across a wide range of duties putting you in the best position to succeed in your apprenticeship qualification and take the first steps on your career journey! In this role, you will:

• Support the SVS team to plan, advertise and evaluate a wide-ranging programme of high-quality online or in-person training and information events. You will be part of this process from beginning to end, supporting the team with analysing and assessing the impact of the training events offered.
• Managing our training inbox and supporting the delivery of training sessions, including welcoming those attending, housekeeping and facilitating some elements of the training delivery, for example, break out rooms and screen sharing.
• Work with the SVS team to develop communications to be promoted internally to staff in SCC, and to our partners such as schools and other education settings through Surrey Education Services.
• Alongside other team members, you will support with content creation for the SVS website and other material to promote the work of SVS.
• Over time, you will have opportunities to lead and play a key role in supporting with specialised events which will in include participation events and activity days for children and young people, team training days and conferencing and more.

We won't be expecting you to jump in and be able to do this all from day one. You'll first go through an induction period allowing you to get used to the office and the team. As you gain more confidence in your role, you'll be supported to do more and more!

The learning side of your apprenticeship will be delivered by Surrey Adult Learning with face-to-face workshops taking place once a month. As you progress through your course, you'll have one to ones with training assessors between once a week and once a month dependant on your needs. On average, you'll spend 4 days a week working and learning on the job and 1 day a week studying and completing work towards your qualification which will be the equivalent of 2 A-Levels.

As your qualification comes to an end and you begin to turn your eye to the future, we have a fantastic support programme in place that will put you in the best position to take the next step on your exciting career journey. Our desire is for all our apprenticeships to be the first step on a long and successful career journey within SCC.

Application Questions

Applying with us is simple! We aren't asking for a CV; all we ask is that you answer a few questions about yourself and the role you're applying for to see if this job is a good match for you! They will be: 

Please note: This apprenticeship is only available for those who will not be enrolled in another government funded programme as of 1st September 2025 and do not possess a qualification at a higher or the same level as this one in the same subject. If you have any questions regarding your eligibility please contact recruit@surreycc.gov.uk.

If you do not hold an English and Maths GCSE graded A-C or 4-9, you will be required to complete these in addition to the apprenticeship. Additional tutoring and support will be provided.

Contact Us 

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment.

For an informal discussion please contact Daniel Lee-Grabowski by e-mail at daniel.leegrabowski@surreycc.gov.uk

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 31/08/2025 with interviews planned for September 2025.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Our Values 

Our values are as important as our abilities and shape who we are as an organisation. Discover more about our values.

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description. Our Life at Surrey handbookprovides insights of the culture at Surrey and how as a valued employee, you can help shape our Council.

Local Government Reorganisation

Surrey County Council is preparing for Local Government Reorganisation which will allow us to implement the Government led policy of devolution, which is all about giving more powers to local areas. 

Currently, Surrey has a two-tier council system, with 11 district and borough councils and a county council, all responsible for different services. All these councils will be reorganised into a smaller number of new unitary councils which will come into effect in April 2027. At this point, this role will be transferred, with all existing terms and conditions intact into one of the new unitary councils. 

Join our dynamic team and shape the future of local government. Make a lasting impact with innovative solutions and improved services for our community. Help us build a brighter future for our residents! Please see more information here: Information for applicants on Local Government Reorganisation - Surrey County Council.

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