Facilities Manager Recruitment for Kingsmead School and Sixth Form

Background

Kingsmead School and Sixth Form is a secondary academy in Enfield with more than 1,500 students and over 150 staff. It runs from a single site made up of three buildings dating from the 1960s and 1970s, and the school had been investing in the estate through capital improvement bids and a rolling five-year programme.

It asked Maxwell Stephens to find a Facilities Manager for a full-time, year-round post reporting to the School Business Leader. The post holder leads the site team and the welfare team, and is accountable for keeping the estate safe, secure and compliant so that teaching and learning can carry on undisturbed.

The role matters because a safe, well-run site is the foundation for the school’s teaching, and the post holder works as part of the school's dedicated premises team.

The Challenge

A school facilities role combines more than most commercial posts. The Facilities Manager leads health and safety compliance, oversees planned preventive maintenance, manages premises contracts, runs lettings, delivers first aid training and acts as Education Visits Co-ordinator, all while line managing a site manager, facilities assistants and welfare staff.

The candidate also has to be visible in school life and comfortable around children as well as adults. Strong contractor management and a recognised health and safety grounding were essential, with facilities management or real estate qualifications, IOSH and prior school experience all valued. Few people bring that mix, and fewer want the school day hours.

Timing added pressure. The school wanted the post filled from October 2021 or sooner, so the search had to move quickly while still respecting the school’s safeguarding commitment to children and young people.

Our Approach

• We agreed the brief in detail with the school, including the split between compliance, contracts and people leadership, and the balance of school and commercial experience it would accept.
• We searched across education estates, multi-site commercial property and soft and hard services contractor management, approaching people directly rather than relying on adverts alone.
• We screened each candidate against the essentials: a track record of contractor management, understanding of statutory health and safety duties, leadership of a small team, and a manner suited to a busy school.
• We presented a shortlist with full CVs and our interview notes, supported the school through its selection process and managed the candidate through to offer and acceptance.

The Outcome

Maxwell Stephens made the appointment.

If you are planning a facilities, estates or workplace appointment, talk to Maxwell Stephens about how we would run the search.