Finance Graduate

TSAT BAND D, £20,045 – £22,561 FTE

Full time - 37 hours per week, 52 weeks per year

The Thinking Schools Academy Trust is a successful family of schools that work together to improve the life chances of all its children and young people.  It makes fulfilment, personal development and support of its staff a priority. Our Trust currently consists of 17 schools, 12 Primary and 5 Secondary, based across the Portsmouth, Medway & Kent areas.

This position will be based in Medway at the Trust Central offices at New Horizons Children’s Academy.

We have a fantastic opportunity for a Finance Graduate to join the Medway Hub of our Trust’s centralised finance team.  You will be part of a large team providing finance support to the 17 schools in the Trust, located in Medway, Portsmouth and Deal. 

You will develop a sound knowledge of Finance practices whilst building upon your skills and experience. The Graduate Scheme is three years and will involve working towards a qualification to achieve CIMA membership status. The role will develop from fundamental finance in the first year to complex finance controlling roles in the third year. As you progress through the Graduate Scheme, your role will change over time and you will gain more responsibility to reflect this.  Working and studying is challenging but the personal development and skills you gain will be invaluable.  You will be strongly supported by the senior managers who will provide full training and support along with opportunities to gain experience in other areas of the organisation.

The Finance Graduate Scheme at TSAT will give you the opportunity to work in a challenging environment with real responsibilities that provide tangible results, as well as a sense of achievement.

During the three-year scheme, we expect the Graduate to attain qualifications from ACCA/CIMA. You will be supported financially as well as given sufficient study leave.  You will also be required to be committed to complete exams within the 3 years of the Graduate programme.

The structure of the Finance programme could be as follows:

Year 1 – Financial processing and procedures, managing accounts payable and receivables, balance sheet reconciliation and payroll checking 

Year 2 –Management accounting, budgeting and forecasting, understanding and preparing for audit 

Year 3 – Executive Business Management, Financial planning and control of a multi-million pound organisation

The ideal candidate will be:

• Educated to either degree level (2:1 or above) or equivalent within one the following disciplines;
• Accounting & Finance
• Business
• Other subjects would be considered with evidence of relevant experience or strong interest in finance. 

If you are able to work on your own initiative, remain accurate and efficient under pressure and want to be part of a growing Trust supporting around 8,500 pupils, we would love to hear from you.

What we can offer you:

• Discounted gym membership (Gym located on site)
• The opportunity to join a growing organisation during an extremely exciting time, with the opportunity for progression as the Trust grows in size
• Great CPD and exposure to a wide range of finance and business management experiences
• Membership to the Local Government Pension Scheme
• Annual leave entitlement of 26 days, increasing to 30 after 5 years of service.
• We place value on the health and wellbeing of our staff and have a range of packages in place to support our staff, including a 24/7 employee assistance programme which provides counselling and support / advice on a wide array of areas
• Free onsite parking 

If you require any further information please contact us at recruitment@tsatrust.org.uk.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check.