Main responsibilities
- Greet visitors and manage sign-in.
- Answer calls and emails and route messages, including safeguarding concerns to the DSL.
- Record absence reasons and make first-day calls under the attendance policy.
- Update pupil records in the management information system.
- Prepare letters, trip consents and payments.
- Support the headteacher's diary and correspondence (PA roles).
Statutory duties and official sources
These duties belong to the school; administrators carry out parts of them. England.
- Attendance must be recorded at each session using national codes; schools should follow up unexplained absence (first-day calling). Source: Working together to improve school attendance, paragraphs 24 and 32–33.
- Hold more than one emergency contact for each pupil where reasonably possible. Source: KCSIE 2026, paragraph 126.
- Staff who do not work directly with children should read KCSIE Part one; all staff should know how to raise concerns. Source: KCSIE 2026, "School and college staff".
- Written parental consent is always needed for nursery-age children on trips; for older pupils it is usually only needed for higher-risk or out-of-hours trips. Source: DfE, Health and safety on educational visits.
- Charging for school activities must follow the law and the school's charging policy. Source: DfE, Charging for school activities.
- Data protection duties apply to records. Source: DfE, Data protection in schools.
Key dates in the school year (2026 to 2027, England)
- Census days: 1 October 2026, 21 January 2027, 20 May 2027 (census dates).
- 2 November 2026: FSM rechecks and new claims count for the autumn census.
- Weekly: attendance data checked before Friday's DfE share, where required.
Common challenges and good practice
- Interruptions. Agree response times and cover rotas so registers and safeguarding messages are never delayed.
- Consistent attendance coding. Use the national codes and escalate unclear cases rather than guessing.
Common questions
- What does a school administrator do? Handles reception, records, attendance follow-up, letters, trips and payments.
- Do school admin staff need to read KCSIE? Yes. KCSIE 2026 says staff who do not work directly with children should also read Part one.
- Do schools need parental consent for every trip? No. Written consent is always needed for nursery-age children; for older pupils it is usually only needed for higher-risk or out-of-hours trips.
- Is a PA to the headteacher a separate role? It is a local title.
