Job Description

The Service and Team:

We need a team-player who would like to develop their skills in administration, communication and organisation. Team members need to be comfortable working remotely from the team, keeping in contact virtually and meeting face to face at least once a fortnight, with initial training face to face.

You would join the team at the beginning of October 2026 and start the college course in mid October. The role is permanent, subject to a satisfactory probation period. The apprenticeship lasts around 18 months and once completed you would become an Admissions Support Officer.

The School Admissions Team allocates places for school-age children at all of the 267 state-funded mainstream schools in Cornwall – infant, junior, primary and secondary schools. We do this for the normal admissions round (the new intake to schools) and for ‘in-year’ applications (for places during the school year). We process over 16,000 applications each year.

We are in contact with parents and carers, schools, other local authorities and colleagues in Cornwall Council on a daily basis.

We work closely with the Education Welfare Service and Statutory Special Educational Needs Service and have important links with the Transport Coordination Service and Free School Meals Team.

We play a crucial role in identifying children missing education. Safeguarding children, data protection and excellent customer service are key to the work we do.

The Role:

Day-to-day an Admissions Support Officer deals with enquiries from customers including parents, carers, schools and Cornwall Council colleagues. The main function of the role is tasks relating to and supporting the processing of school place applications which involves gathering and analysing information, liaising with schools and communicating with parents and carers. You will be regularly using Outlook, Excel, Teams and our Education Management System. The applications and enquiries we deal with are very varied. There are various tasks to get involved with, such as the administration for admission appeals and waiting lists.

The role suits someone who is goal-driven and enjoys being busy! We have statutory deadlines to meet and our own targets to achieve excellent customer service. Above all, we work together to ensure that the time children are out of school is kept to a minimum.

Some travel will be required: to Truro College for face-to-face learning and to New County Hall in Truro for training, team working and team meetings and as required. Team members work from home but keep in regular contact using Microsoft Teams throughout the working day. However, initial training will take place in our Truro office and we meet in our Truro office once a fortnight including for team meetings. At other times there is also the option to work in the office or another office local to you if that is your preference.

This role is offered as an apprenticeship, so you must be eligible for apprenticeship funding. Your previous qualifications and experience will be considered to ensure the apprenticeship is appropriate for you.

Cornwall Council deliver services to more than half a million local people and over five million visitors a year. Working here - Cornwall Council

We are happy to talk about flexible working options such as part-time or compressed hours. More examples of our flexible working opportunities can be found here - flexible working options

Fairness and inclusion are at the heart of our vision for Cornwall. In order to best serve our communities, we are striving to achieve a diverse workforce that is inclusive of all backgrounds, cultures and identities; e.g., race, disability, sex, gender reassignment status, age, religion and sexual orientation. We are an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer, and we will assess applicants on their merits.

Cornwall Council is committed to safeguarding and following safer recruitment principles to help make sure our staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children, young people and adults at risk. It’s a vital part of creating a safe and positive environment and making a commitment to keeping all service users safe from harm.