School secretaries: pay and what the work involves

Occupation 4213 · Administrative and secretarial occupations

School secretaries

School secretaries provide administrative support in schools by keeping and maintaining school records and performing a range of routine clerical tasks within the school.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements, although many employers expect entrants to possess GCSEs/S grades, and professional secretarial courses typically require GCSEs/S grades. NVQs/SVQs in Administration are available at levels 2, 3 and 4.

What the work involves

sorts, files and otherwise deals with incoming and outgoing correspondence
types directly or transcribes letters, reports and other documents, and prints or photocopies documents as required
maintains administrative records relating to pupils and staff, and generates statistical and other reports
handles enquiries from parents and arranges meetings with members of staff
undertakes reception duties for visitors, handles face-to-face and telephone enquiries and passes on messages
orders equipment and stationery
arranges payment of invoices, handles cash

Also called

Administration assistant (schools) · Clerical assistant (schools) · School administrator · School secretary · Secretary (schools)

What it pays

Measure	Hours	Basis	Period	Value	Source
4213 : School secretaries	None	None	2026-03	43,400.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
4213 : School secretaries	None	None	2026-03	45,700.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
4213 : School secretaries	None	None	2026-03	49,600.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
4213 : School secretaries	None	None	2026-03	1,000.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
4213 : School secretaries	None	None	2026-03	3,900.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
4213 : School secretaries	None	None	2026-03	50,600.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
4213 : School secretaries	None	None	2026-03	2,200.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Region	Measure	Hours	Value	Period
East	4213 : School secretaries	None	1,400.00	2026-03
East Midlands	4213 : School secretaries	None	7,100.00	2026-03
London	4213 : School secretaries	None	4,700.00	2026-03
North East	4213 : School secretaries	None	1,600.00	2026-03
North West	4213 : School secretaries	None	3,600.00	2026-03
Northern Ireland	4213 : School secretaries	None	1,000.00	2026-03
Scotland	4213 : School secretaries	None	3,900.00	2026-03
South East	4213 : School secretaries	None	9,200.00	2026-03
South West	4213 : School secretaries	None	5,100.00	2026-03
Wales	4213 : School secretaries	None	2,200.00	2026-03
West Midlands	4213 : School secretaries	None	4,400.00	2026-03
Yorkshire and The Humber	4213 : School secretaries	None	6,400.00	2026-03

Common questions

Does pay for school secretaries vary by region?

ONS publishes regional pay for this occupation where the survey sample supports it — 12 of 12 cells on this page. The rest are withheld by ONS, and are shown as withheld with the reason, rather than left out.

Where do these pay figures come from?

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, published by the Office for National Statistics. Figures are shown exactly as ONS publishes them — we do not adjust, model or fill them in, and every number on this page carries the series and period it came from.

Classified alongside this

Company secretaries and administrators · Legal secretaries · Medical secretaries · Personal assistants and other secretaries · Receptionists · Typists and related keyboard occupations