Leadership
Communication Skills for Frontline Admin & Support Staff
The first voice a parent hears is often yours, so learn how to leave callers and visitors feeling welcome and listened to.
- 27 minutes
- 6 modules
- 0.5 CPD hours
- Certificate
Members
14 days free, then £70 a year or £7 a month.
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What you'll learn
- Make visitors and callers feel welcome, adapting the usual phone rules when needed
- Listen actively, with open questions, summaries and comfortable silences
- Keep promises about call-backs and follow up to check they happened
- Spot barriers to communication, including cultural differences, without taking them personally
- Notice when a pupil seems troubled and pass concerns to the right person
About this course
Reception and office staff deal with the parent in a hurry, the one who's upset, the colleague who needs something now and the pupil who looks like something's wrong. How those conversations go shapes how people feel about the whole school.
It's worth rethinking the phone rules you were given, like "be brief, be firm, be gone", and asking when they help and when they get in the way. You'll pick up active listening, why a misunderstanding usually isn't personal, and the value of taking 30 seconds to find the right answer rather than a quick wrong one. One habit worth copying: if you promised someone a call back by four o'clock, follow up afterwards to check it happened.
It's presented by a former headteacher. There's also advice for the pupil who seems worried: ask twice if they're all right, and know when to pass it on.
- For support staff. All phases.
6 modules
Open in order
- 3 min
Introduction
- 6 min
Creating a warm and welcoming environment
- 6 min
The importance of listening
- 4 min
Building relationships
- 7 min
Barriers to communication
- 4 min
Communicating with learners