Full time
Extensive individual support enables pupils to...develop a breadth of knowledge and enthusiasm for scholarship. This is a significant strength of the school.
ISI Inspection - 2025
Leaders maintain a school culture that actively promotes inclusion and mutual respect highly successfully. This is a significant strength of the school.
ISI Inspection - 2025
Co-education: phased entry from 2027
See our brochure for further details
Thank you for your interest in a position at the Royal Grammar School Guildford.
The RGS boasts a diverse, vibrant community of individuals in both teaching and support roles and we take pride in the success of our School.
The latest ISI inspection report identified two significant strengths within our School; "mutual respect" and "scholarship". We are incredibly proud of this achievement. Not only does it recognise the consistently high efforts by staff across the School, but the award of not just one, but two significant strengths by the ISI is extremely rare.
The academic standards in the School are excellent and are enriched by an extensive extra-curricular programme in which all academic staff are expected to participate; sports and the arts are important elements in School life.
We announced in December last year the exciting news that, beginning with Year 12 in 2027, RGS will become co-educational, offering girls the same opportunities that our boys enjoy. Transition will be phased and will progress organically through the year groups. You can read more in our brochure (see opposite).
The benefits of working at the RGS go beyond those listed in the job description. If you accept an offer of employment, you would be joining a staff body that collaborates professionally and socially across all departments.
The RGS is an exciting place in which to be a member of staff; I look forward to receiving an application from you.
Dr Jon Cox, Headmaster
The school is an inclusive and welcoming environment where pupils succeed academically and make the most of the extensive range of opportunities
Job Title: General Assistant
Responsible to: Assistant Site Manager (ASM)
Responsible for: n/a
Job Purpose
A list of detailed duties is shown below. This list is not necessarily exhaustive and the General Assistant may be called upon to perform other tasks as directed.
The role is multi-sited. General Assistants may be required to work at RGS, RGS Prep or Bradstone Brook.
• Assisting the ASM in their daily duties.
• Assisting the ASM in keeping the schools (both inside and outside) clean and free from litter, cleaning up spillages.
• Locking up and unlocking rooms/buildings when asked.
• Moving furniture around the school as directed by the ASM, setting up chairs and tables.
• Replacing roller towels and servicing soap dispensers when required. Liaising with United services regarding towels and mats.
• Delivering parcels, stationery and other items to departments/store.
• Assisting to set out the canteen and other areas for events/functions as required.
• Undertaking minor maintenance tasks eg:
• Replacing light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, cleaning lights.
• Repairing desks and chairs
• Washing Bins and cleaning windows
• Decoration works as directed
• Escorting contractors around the School.
• Reading and recording monthly meter readings for Gas/Electric and Water.
• Assisting the Site Manager generally and standing in for them as necessary.
• To deputise for the Site Manager on two weekends per year.
• Assisting teachers, administration and support staff when required.
• Any other tasks as directed by the Head of Estates/Deputy Estates Manager/Site Manager
• To act as an out of hours contact for the school in case of an alarm.
• To cover the Site Manager’s duties for two weekends per year.
• The employee will demonstrate experience of carrying out routine activities and maintenance work in a similar environment and be able to work as part of a team or as an individual.
• The Employee will need to be IT literate. Training can be provided.
• It will be a requirement of employment that the employee agrees to apply for a Disclosure Certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service and that such check reveals nothing that would render him/her unsuited to working in a school.
The hours of work are on a rota basis spread over the course of the week at the discretion of the Senior Site Manager, Deputy Estates Manager or Head of Estates: Monday to Sunday (45 hours per week) on a shift pattern with a 60 minute break for lunch and two 15 minute breaks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, each day: 07.00 to 16.00; 08.00 to 17.00; 10.00 to 19.00.
Your career at the RGS begins with a warm welcome and comprehensive induction. You will be introduced to department colleagues, key people within the School and fellow new starters from across the departments.
Opportunities to get involved in wider school activities are many and varied; sporting fixtures, theatre productions and field trips to name just a few. Then there are the social groups set up by and for colleagues which include a running group, book club, theatre trips, football and a wind band. However you choose to get involved, you are guaranteed to find yourself among like-minded individuals.
General Assistant, joined 2023
What's the best thing about working at the RGS? The positivity from the staff and students.
If you could choose any other career, what would it be? Being a music producer full time or working on sound production for films
Billy
Groundsperson, joined 2025
What’s the best thing about the RGS?
There is always a positive and friendly atmosphere.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Going for long walks in the countryside, watching rugby and playing guitar.
Groundsperson, joined 2025
What do you love about your department? How we all get on as a team. And the variety of jobs.
If you could give one bit of advice to your younger self what would it be? Do what makes you happy.
In addition to joining a successful and sociable staff body you will also receive the following benefits:
Hours of work
Remuneration
Fee reduction
Annual Leave
Private healthcare
Pension
Commuting Loan
Gym
Dining
Employee Assistance Programme
Full time
£26,889 per annum
Fee reduction for son(s) of staff is available (after a qualifying period and subject to success at the entrance examination).
28 days leave plus bank holidays to be taken during school holidays.
Private medical cover is available for all staff. This is paid for by the School, but is a taxable benefit so there is an indirect cost to the individual.
All support staff are automatically enrolled into the company pension scheme. The level of contribution by the individual is 5% the School will contribute 10%.
Interest-free loans are available for rail season ticket holders.
Use of on-site gym at certain times of the day.
A choice of hot lunches, a delicious salad bar and range of desserts are provided daily in the staff dining room during term time.
A free, confidential counselling & wellbeing support service that can support you, your partner or spouse, and dependent children over 16 still living at home.
The RGS is a kind, inclusive, tolerant community where diverse opportunity, personal development, high achievement and collaborative partnership define who we are.
Our values of inclusivity, scholarship, integrity, respect, courage and collaboration underpin all we do.
Boys come to the RGS from around 140 different schools in Surrey and the neighbouring home counties and this number is growing each year. We regularly receive four applications for every place.
The RGS curriculum aims to combine breadth with balance. In the first three years all boys study a broad range of subjects, choosing options at the end of their third year which sees them sitting ten GCSE subjects including English Language, English Literature, a Modern Foreign Language, Mathematics, three separate sciences and a humanities subject. From the Third Form, a Tutor Period is introduced during which boys study Information Technology, Problem Solving, First Aid, Health Education and Study Skills. It is also during this time that initial careers and higher education guidance is given which then continues throughout the boys’ time at the School.
The RGS boasts a thriving Sixth Form with all boys studying four subjects in the Lower Sixth and then continuing with three or four subjects to A Level in the Upper Sixth. This is complemented by a range of General Studies courses which are co-educational, organised jointly with Guildford High School.
All boys are encouraged to engage in independent research and activities throughout their time in the School via our Scholarship for all programme. Whilst not curricular, there is an expectation that staff will support this provision as their experience and expertise enables.
All members of the teaching staff help with co- and extra-curricular activities, of which there is an impressively wide range. Music, Art and Drama all flourish with performances, exhibitions and workshops. There is a well-equipped auditorium, a large Art School and a purpose built Music Department. We have a very active clubs and societies programme that takes place before, during and after school each day. All the Third Form take part in our curricular, weekly expedition and adventure programme, EXAD. We have five Field Days per year and also offer overseas expeditions, a large Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Programme and numerous sports tours. Staff are invited to attend and support all of these events.
Guildford is a vibrant and exciting place in which to live. Rich in history, it is a welcoming town with a flourishing and varied cultural life. Entertainment is diverse with a number of lively and nationally renowned venues including G Live, the Yvonne Arnaud theatre and the eclectic Electric Theatre. There are outstanding sport and leisure facilities which include the state-of-the-art training venues and sports complexes of Surrey Sports Park and Guildford Spectrum. Guildford offers one of the south east’s best shopping experiences with the iconic High Street combining exclusive and popular national chains as well as a number of independent retailers. Dining options cater for every taste and budget with local traditional and gastro pubs in nearby Surrey villages drawing customers from a wide area.
Educationally, Guildford is thriving. RGS Guildford and Guildford High School are regularly ranked in the top ten single-sex schools in the country. RGS also enjoys close links with other girls’ schools, Tormead School and St Catherine’s, Bramley. The University of Surrey was awarded ‘University of the Year for Graduate Employment’ by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.
Guildford has the advantage of being very accessible and enjoys excellent transport links. London is just over a 30-mile drive via the A3 and well served by trains (just 29 minutes to Clapham Junction and 39 minutes to London Waterloo). International airports London Gatwick and London Heathrow are only 30 minutes from the town.
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are close by; the Surrey Hills and North Downs are on the School's doorstep and provide opportunities to enjoy the stunning countryside; the south coast is approximately one hour by car.
William Cobbett “
The town of Guildford, which I, who have seen so many, many towns, think is the prettiest, and…most happylooking, that I ever saw in my life.
The setting:
The Surrey Hills
North Downs
South Downs
Picturesque villages
The south coast
Travel by rail:
Clapham Junction 29 minutes
London Waterloo 39 minutes
Portsmouth Harbour 60 minutes
Gatwick Airport 45 minutes
Travel by road:
London 32 miles via the A3; Heathrow 22 miles; Gatwick 34 miles via A3 and M25; Portsmouth 44 miles; Brighton 59 miles
North Downs
The Royal Grammar School Guildford meets the requirements in respect of exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. All applicants who are offered employment will be subject to an enhanced criminal record check from the DBS before the appointment is confirmed. This will include details of cautions, reprimands or final warnings, as well as convictions. It is of fundamental importance to The Royal Grammar School to ensure, so far as possible, that those who take up appointments do not pose a risk to the children in its care.
We are proactively committed to creating a diverse staff body, which reflects the community that we teach. At RGS we value diversity and inclusion; we want to attract the best people for the roles available. This is regardless of age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability, socioeconomic status or religious beliefs.
Please note: applications will be considered on receipt and we reserve the right to close applications early.
