Every morning Margaret hits the ground running with the phones ringing hot as soon as she starts at 8am, plus a constant stream of parents, students and staff turning up at the front office, all needing help with something.
She assists in running the front office at Holy Spirit College, Bellambi which is on the NSW South Coast in the Wollongong Diocese. Parents arrive for meetings with teachers, to drop off laptops, lunches, sports clothes, sports equipment or any other items their child has forgotten which they need for the day, or to pick up their child from sick bay or for appointments. It is a continual stream of parents all day.
Margaret covers the front office but also assists Student Services. The school’s new office has been designed to be a one-stop shop, with both the front office and Student Services in the one area.
In between breaks from phone calls, front counter or Student Services, Margaret turns to emails and checks the daily bulletin seeing which staff are in or out, or what activity they are doing for the day. This allows office staff to know what is happening in the school when answering the phones and dealing with parent enquiries.
Once the morning rush of phone calls and walk-ins settles down, Margaret can focus on her other role as Curriculum Officer, wrangling data for Semester One and Semester Two reports for all year groups from Years 7-12.
She also manages student requests to change course or subject, ensuring Compass, Edval and NESA databases are all up to date and that all relevant staff are aware of these changes.
She manages excel spreadsheets with up to 15 different subjects depending on the year group. There are columns for Content, Assessment Strategies and Outcomes: these are all transferred to the Compass Markbook, which makes it easier for teachers to put their data entries into the reporting system.
“It must be approached methodically. It’s important to get it right. We must make sure we have the correct subject, grades and data for each student. We have almost 1300 students at the college, each needing a half yearly and yearly report with a minimum of 10 subjects per student,” Margaret said.
“We are all in this for the kids, so I don’t like any mistakes to go out in their reports. It’s not fair on them.”
Margaret administers ‘N’ warning letters. These are sent to students who have not completed assessments. She said it is important to make sure these are sent out correctly.
“Can you imagine a student or parent getting a notification advising they are failing a subject when it is not actually correct?”
At lunchtime, the team has a split shift system to make sure there is always someone to cover the front office, phones and Student Services. This ensures the smooth running and ready availability of a support officer at all times of the day. The office operates from 8am to 4pm.
The students often show their high regard for support staff by bringing in small gifts to the office.
Unfortunately, not all parents are respectful when they interact with the front office staff. Margaret said it is a common occurrence for a parent to become rude or abusive towards support staff, particularly if they’ve been informed their child has been placed on an in-school or out-of-school suspension or the student has phoned the parent themselves about some issue at school.
“It’s water off a duck’s back to me, but for some of the newer staff, it can be quite upsetting. We do get training on how to manage these types of situations. But nothing prepares you for a face-to-face confrontation. It does create a stressful environment and puts the office staff on edge when we are waiting for some parents that are repeat offenders.”
Margaret said all support staff officers stick together and help each other out, no matter what is happening.
At the close of the day, Margaret ensures all shutters and doors are secured and the office is tidy and ready for the next day’s onslaught.
“You never know what’s going to happen when you turn up in the morning, the best laid plans can go awry very quickly. It’s unpredictable and keeps you on your toes.”
