Receptionist

OVERVIEW

The Little School is a nationally recognized, relationship-based, inclusive preschool program committed to providing individualized, quality education to young children.

THE OPPORTUNITY: The front desk receptionist is responsible for welcoming families as the first point of contact in the school environment. The receptionist will support drop-off, ensuring that all children are safely signed into school and monitoring traffic as needed. The receptionist presents the public face of the school, responding to family and staff requests for information or help. This role will also provide support to the Administrative Team for tasks and projects as needed. The Little School receptionist is a highly visible role within a fast-paced early childhood school environment. This is a part-time position.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

I. Positive Family Interactions & Greeting:

• Maintaining a welcoming and supportive attitude toward families, visitors, and staff at all times. The receptionist must be warm, relationship-based, inclusive, and culturally sensitive.
• Ability to greet families and visitors in a welcoming and respectful manner, occasionally answering questions and finding lost items.
• Ability to remain flexible, helpful, detail-oriented, and calm under pressure.
• Support with signing children in and out via the attendance system.

II. Receptionist Duties:

• Skill with multitasking at a front desk with phones, computer, security doors, and school pick-up and drop-off tasks.
• Ease with utilizing the phone system to answer incoming phone calls, take and distribute phone messages, and transfer phone calls through the phone system.
• Ability to work pleasantly and professionally with all staff and to show empathy and understanding for young children and their families.
• Accept daily mail (including packages) and distribute to the appropriate staff member or staff mailbox. Confirm school deliveries are complete against packing lists.

III. Administrative & Support Duties:

• Communicating information to families and staff both timely and accurately
• Maintaining a high level of organization and discretion. Able to file confidential and general paperwork.
• Able to use the copy machine.
• Support the administrative team with various jobs and projects, including but not limited to school mailings, lists, and postings.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• At least one (1) year of experience in a front desk or receptionist role, school setting preferred.
• Multilingual skills (Spanish and/or Cantonese) preferred.
• Ability to exercise professional judgment in problem-solving, using discretion, and maintaining confidentiality
• Excellent customer service skills, including a warm and welcoming demeanor
• Strong written, and verbal communication skills VI. Proficient in Google Suite
• Comfortable assisting in Preschool classrooms if needed (under the supervision of a teacher or director)

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: Ability to lift from 25 lbs. (OFTEN) to 50 lbs. (OCCASIONALLY)

WORK SCHEDULE: M-F, part-time, 7:30am-10:30am. Additional hours as needed, not to exceed 20 hours per week.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS: Compensation begins at $21/hour and is dependent upon education and experience. Benefits include paid time off (including 5 weeks of paid vacation), professional development opportunities, and child’s enrollment at the school (if applicable, subject to application deadlines).

TO APPLY: Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to Executive Director Kaile Thomas at staffapplicants@littleschool.org. Please write “Application for Receptionist” in the title of the email.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE SCHOOL

Philosophy At The Little School, we focus on the development of the whole child. We celebrate an individual’s strengths, encourage interests and support challenges. We believe that strong positive relationships and a robust, supportive community, where everyone feels respected and included, are the keys to a successful learning environment.

The pillars responsible for bringing our philosophy to life include:

• Quality Early Childhood Education - Early Childhood Education principles and best practices are the foundation of The Little School. Upon this foundation, the school has created its own inclusive, relationship-based approach. This approach has received local and national attention; has been taught in local and national conferences, workshops and consulting engagements; and has been documented in a training film: “Relationships: The Key to Teaching and Learning in the Early Years” and a book “Including One, Including All: A Relationship-Based Guide to Inclusion”.
• Inclusion - The Little School is committed to serving children with diverse developmental profiles including children with identified special needs. A range of children with unique strengths, challenges and interests both strengthens the social competence and empathy of every child in the school and encourages teachers to develop teaching strategies and learning tools that benefit every child.
• Diversity - The Little School strives to create a community with racial, ethnic, socio-economic and family-structure diversity as well as a range of life experiences and abilities. This rich assortment of families creates the potential for each individual member to stretch their cultural competence and communicate in new ways.
• Excellent Teachers - The school is fortunate to have an outstanding and tenured team of teachers. The success and long tenure of our teachers (approximately one-third have tenure of greater than 15 years and one-third 6-15 years) is due to the individuals themselves, to the school’s commitment to professional development and guidance, to teacher involvement in the program’s development, and to the structure of the teacher work week (e.g. 5-7 hours per week off the floor to support the program, children and families).
• Parent – Teacher – School Partnership - Parents at The Little School are actively engaged in the school community. Parents, teachers and administrators collaborate to support each child and the community as a whole. It is a culture of caring and contribution. Each member of the community assists where possible, whether chaperoning a field trip, attending a family share day, participating on a volunteer committee or serving as a Trustee. Parents also come together for Parent Education events focused on topics central to early childhood and The Little School’s core tenets.