Education Welfare Officer

Brighter Futures Learning Partnership Trust, Doncaster, DN3 2JY

12 days remaining to apply

Start date details
As soon as possible
Closing date
21 October 2024 at 9am
Date listed
7 October 2024

Job details

Job role: Pastoral, health and welfare
Other support roles
Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
Working pattern: Full time: 37 hours per week, term time only
Contract type: Permanent
Full-time equivalent salary: £27,962 - £32,486 (actual salary) per annum

What skills and experience we're looking for

ROLE OVERVIEW:

To provide an education welfare service for children, their families and Academies within the Trust, with a secondary focus, ensuring children receive education appropriate to their needs, and obtaining the maximum benefit from education opportunities, by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

To act as children’s education advocate and to facilitate the educational partnership between home, school, community and Local Authority, by support, liaison and negotiation; and where conflict arises to give paramount consideration to the interests of the child.
To monitor and coordinate day to day Academy attendance: Academy visits, home visits, liaison with outside agencies, learning mentors and pastoral teams.
To identify students not meeting acceptable thresholds and ensure interventions are in place.
To undertake referrals to external agencies (including Early Help) to support students with attendance issues.
To advise and support schools in the implementation of School Attendance Regulations and in the use of attendance statistics for the monitoring and management of school attendance.
To take supportive/remedial action in respect of children with socially related, emotional/behavioural difficulties in school and those with special educational needs; and to provide advice and assistance for parents, carers and students in all matters related to exclusions from school.
To prepare reports on attendance, including statistical analysis termly, annually, and ad hoc as required for the Trust Board and Local Governing Boards.
To support the re-integration of students after long-term absence period or from alternative provision.
To work with Headteachers/Principals and Heads of School to improve and secure high levels of attendance and facilitate best practice.
To assess and verify attendance difficulties including developing parental relationships gaining knowledge and understanding of absences, identifying and providing assistance and advice to parents/guardians, and when necessary, involvement in court proceedings.
To establish constructive relationships and communicate with other agencies/professionals, in liaison with teachers to support achievement and progress of students.
To refer to child protection procedures and escalate cases to the safeguarding team, as appropriate.
To invoke the legal process for absences/court proceedings and to provide training on legal proceedings for Attendance Leads in schools/UTC.
To line manage attendance leads in schools/UTC to ensure that the Trust Attendance policy is being effectively implemented.

SAFEGUARDING

To work in line with statutory safeguarding guidance (e.g., Keeping Children Safe in Education, PREVENT and our safeguarding and child protection policies.
To work with the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) to promote the best interests of pupils, including sharing concerns where necessary.
To Promote the safeguarding of all pupils in the school.
To show support for and uphold our ethos, value, all policies and procedures.
To promote high standards in attendance, punctuality and appearance adhering to Staff Code of Conduct.
To act with professionalism, integrity at all times, promoting the Trust values.
To comply with any reasonable request from a Principal or other Trust Leader to undertake work of a similar level or commensurate with role and level of responsibility that is not specified in this job description.
To comply with data protection legislation and follow the principles of GDPR.
To promote a commitment to equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice adhering to the Trust Equal Opportunities Policy.
To promote a work environment that protects people's health and safety and that promotes welfare, which is in accordance with the Trust Health and Safety Policy and legislation.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITIES

Note 1: The content of this job description will be reviewed with the post holder on an annual basis in line with the performance management cycle. Any significant change in level of accountability that could result in a change to the interim grade must be discussed with the post holder and representative where necessary.

Any other duties as reasonable required by your Line Manager or member of the Senior Management Team

What the school offers its staff

Thank you for considering joining our trust. We are privileged to be the CEOs of the Brighter Futures Learning Partnership Trust (BFLPT) and to be working with like‐minded headteachers, leaders, staff and board members who understand how important education is to life chances and social mobility. The BFLPT Board is determined to see a high‐performing multi‐academy Trust which delivers exceptional and enriching learning experiences for all its children, young people and staff. We believe that by working collaboratively, we will create an educational platform on which to build the strong foundations needed for educational success.

There could not be a better time to join our Trust, which includes a diverse and successful range of schools; four Doncaster primary schools, an infant school, an 11-16 secondary school (Hungerhill) and Doncaster University Technical College. Hungerhill School benefitted from being a Teaching and National Support school for many years; its legacy of strong collaboration is still recognised today both locally and nationally with strong student outcomes above national averages. Doncaster UTC opened in 2020 in a state-of-the-art building which supports the strong employer led curriculum designed to create the engineers and technologists of the future. The school has already won several national and local awards and is recognised by Baker Dearing Trust as being one of its flagship schools. More recently we have been awarded a second Free School Bid and the Trust will open a second Doncaster UTC specialising in Green Technologies and Health Care Sciences. We are excited about the future and the many expanding professional development opportunities for our staff.

In September 2021 we implemented a new Primary Knowledge Curriculum in all primary and infant schools and all our schools are heavily invested in the development of a mathematics mastery curriculum and lead on a number of projects supported by the South Yorkshire Maths Hubs.

We are extremely proud that our Ofsted reports have acknowledged that all our schools are good or better. The reports demonstrate that our schools are delivering better student/pupil outcomes by working together, sharing leadership and teacher knowledge and resources. All of this, of course, could not be achieved without our strong body of exceptionally hard-working and committed support staff. This has been testament to the strong investment in staff and pupils; our standards are high, but we take the investment in our staff very seriously.

We are also part of a network of national schools who are reshaping their curriculum, drawing on research and cognitive based science which will ensure all our children make accelerated progress. We employ a number of Ofsted trained consultants across the Trust who are supporting our subject leaders to design and shape the best learning experiences for our young people and in doing so, we are providing very bespoke support and training for teaching staff who want to invest in themselves. We are very proud of our story so far.

Our robust teacher development programmes and associate staff performance management systems allow for internal recognition and support to help encourage colleagues to thrive and develop within role. We are also very clear about reasonable, professional expectations, so that colleagues understand what is required of them, and are confident in their ability to deliver.

We also have many associate staff who are being supported to develop themselves through additional professional courses as we believe this is the hallmark of an outstanding Trust.

The successful candidate will be based at Central Trust but may be required to work elsewhere within the Trust, as may reasonably be required by the Headteacher/Principal, CEO for the discharge of their duties.

Commitment to safeguarding

Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.

Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.

Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children

You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.