Advisory Team

NSN’s Advisory Team offers support and guidance to free school applicant groups. This includes researching which groups are best placed to set up specific types of schools, generating leads, engaging with applicants at the earliest stage of their thinking and throughout their journey until they submit their free school application to the Department for Education (DfE).

This role will be based in our London office, but may require travel across England from time to time.

Key responsibilities

Interns work across all areas of the work we do. They have an opportunity to develop a number of key skills, including research, writing and presenting, event organisation and database management. This role will include the following responsibilities:

• Helping to deliver advice to applicant groups, as well as free schools that are open and have been approved to open;
• Researching various topics in public policy, politics and education;
• Helping to organise events;
• Communicating with applicant groups and free schools via telephone and email;
• Supporting the work of each team and the administration of NSN’s work in general.

Candidates need to demonstrate the following skills and attributes:

• Enthusiasm – our interns must be passionate about education, support the free schools policy and be able to thrive in this fast moving policy environment.
• Impressive communication skills – our interns communicate with a great variety of individuals and groups in person, over the phone and in writing, including senior civil servants, politicians and policy makers.
• Excellent organisational skills – our interns need to prioritise their workload and manage their time efficiently.
• Adaptability – our interns are asked to use their initiative and complete a wide variety of projects.
• Attention to detail – our interns will need to complete both written and data-related tasks with precision and clarity.
• Professionalism – our interns need to represent NSN in a professional and appropriate manner in any situation.

Familiarity with Salesforce or other databases would be an advantage, as would experience of the charity and/or educational sector.