Grounds Worker - Term Time

Five Acre Wood School, Maidstone

• Ref:KCC886-7056-848S
• Posted:04/12/2025
• Pay:KSD £25,670.04 inc. FAW Allowance
• Start Date:TBC
• App Close Date:18/12/2025 at 10:00
• Interviews:TBC

Advert

We are looking for a Grounds Worker to join our school. The successful candidate will someone who takes pride in providing a clean, secure, safe and healthy environment for pupils, staff and visitors.  

Five Acre Wood School is based over three sites in the Maidstone area.  This role is primarily based at the Loose site, but duties will also be carried out across all sites.  

Primary purpose of the role:

To upkeep and maintain all external areas and facilities of the school including grass, shrubs, trees, path ways, hard standing, play surfaces, equipment, play equipment, fence lines and gates.

Essential for the post:

Previous grounds work experience.

Full UK driver’s license.

Very good level of physical fitness to cope with the requirements of the role.

Good communication skills.

The successful candidate will be reliable, proactive and responsible for providing a high level of quality workmanship ensuring the grounds, facilities and gardens of the school are maintained to a high standard and are in a good, safe condition for school use.

Desirable requirements include:

MPTC Pesticides PA1, PA6 Spraying License and/or Level 2 NVQ in Horticulture.

Grounds related qualification / accreditation.

Knowledge and experience in relevant areas of health and safety, in particular COSHH would be advantageous.

Reporting to the Facilities Manager your key responsibilities will include (but are not limited to):

Undertake routine preparation and maintenance work on sports facilities and surfaces. Undertake all preparatory and cultivation work to maintain safe quality playing surfaces.

Carry out daily spot checks of all areas of the grounds, acting on defects and reporting concerns.

Recording of health and safety checks, to include perimeter fencing, equipment and play equipment.

Daily clearing of all grounds (to include car park and playground), to include rubbish collection and clearing, debris and animal foul removal, and sweeping.  Use of relevant machinery.

Maintain grass areas and field to include mowing and strimming around curriculum hours.

Maintenance of hedges, verge areas, entrance, clearing of brambles, and general site tidiness.

Maintain fences, ensuring painting and staining is up to date.

Jet wash path ways and hard standing as required, ensuring surfaces are safe and slip free.

Ensure wooden structures and benches are maintained and weather proof.

All outside facilities maintained in a tidy and good working order, including play equipment, sand and bark areas.

Create and review an annual plan to improve the school site – submit to Facilities Manager and SBM for approval.

Snow clearing and grounds preparation in all extreme weather conditions.  Flexibility of hours will be required to ensure the site is safe and clear from snow and ice during extreme weather (early start).

Ensure the site is looking attractive and welcoming.

Please see attached job description for a full range of duties.

Information about the school

Five Acre Wood is an “Outstanding", forward looking school with an international reputation. We are ambitious for our pupils, and we pride ourselves on working with many leaders in the field of special education.

We play an important role in our community and enjoy strong local links which give our pupils opportunities to play active and meaningful roles in their own communities.

We are an innovative school and have worked on a number of unique projects to provide pupils with unique and diverse learning opportunities. These include; FAWrient Express café in a train carriage, giving pupils hands-on experience in hospitality training; 7FAW7 - a library inside a real plane fuselage designed to meet the diverse needs of our pupils; FAWtilus - a dedicated counselling space for pupils and staff; FAWbulous Bus - a soft-play facility that also teaches pupils how to safely board a bus; Platform FAW - our new coffee roastery where pupils can learn to roast and bag their own coffee; Peggy’s FAWtique - a shop space where pupils can develop valuable sales techniques; Radio FAW All - our very own radio station, which offers pupils exciting opportunities to get involved in radio broadcasting and research; FAW Records - our own record label. We have released a number of singles and music videos; Five Acre Woodstock Festival - our annual festival created especially for pupils to experience the sights, sounds and atmosphere of a real performance.

It may need to be seen to be believed! Please click this link to view our videos: https://www.youtube.com/@FiveAcreWoodRecords

Five Acre Wood is committed to the safeguarding of all its pupils, you will therefore be subject to an enhanced disclosure process. As part of our responsibility for safeguarding, in addition to the Kent policy of one employment and one personal reference, the school will request additional employment references.

Job Contact Information

• Name:Nicola Devereux
• Address:Boughton Lane, Maidstone , Kent, ME15 9QF
• Telephone: (01622) 743925
• Email: hr@five-acre.kent.sch.uk

Fax: 01622 744828

Documents

Below are documents that have been added to this vacancy.

• Job Description