Home School Link Worker
Woodeaton Manor School, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX3 9TS9 days remaining to apply
Start date details
As soon as possible
Closing date
31 December 2024 at 11:59pm
Date listed
9 December 2024
Job details
Job role
- Pastoral, health and welfare
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Working pattern
- Part time: Up to 30 hours per week, part time, permanent, term time only plus 5 inset days
Contract type
- Permanent
Pay scale
- Grade 9, Point 23 – 26, Hourly rate £17.29 - £18.73, FTE £33,366 - £36,124 based on 30 Hours per week, Actual Salary £23,141.16 - £25,053.98.
What skills and experience we're looking for
Main purpose
To work collaboratively with families, children, and the school to provide early intervention, signposting, support and guidance, the Home School Link Worker will need to have strong links to other professionals and outside agencies and form positive working relationships with families to enable effective support for pupils and their families
They will provide focused family support to parents/carers of children with a range of needs which:
· Empowers parents/carers to support their children and meet their needs · Improves educational attendance of children resulting in enhanced life-chances · Reduces the risk of behaviours which cause risk to children · Facilitates early intervention to avoid escalation of issues The successful candidate will have
- Experience of working with children.
- Pastoral experience / safeguarding experience
- SEN / SEMH experience
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to work with outside agencies & signpost concerns
- Confident, personable, and determined in nature
- Effective behaviour management skills
- A background in education / safeguarding / social work
- De-escalation strategies and techniques
- Some experience of safeguarding protocols
We can offer:
- A friendly work environment and a supportive leadership team.
- A team dedicated to making a difference to pupils who need it most.
- Employee Assistant Programme.
- Continuous CPD opportunities.
This is an outstanding opportunity for someone who wants to join a high performing school and gain significant experience to further enhance their career.
Key responsibilities
- Operating in a family-centred way to support children with a range of needs that are identified by pastoral/safeguarding staff in school or are flagged by other agencies
- Offering emotional and practical support to children and their families both individually and in groups, particularly focusing on parenting skills and behaviour management as well as providing support with form filling, referrals, and entitlements.
- Acting as a conduit between stakeholders, school and other agencies to promote high levels of school attendance and emotional and physical well-being
- Developing trusting relationships with families and students to help alleviate or break their social isolation and/or risky behaviours
- Building up knowledge and understanding of local resources and community and statutory services, including Mental Health Teams, Social Services, Health, CAMHS, Schools and voluntary services, and communicating effectively with them in the best interests of the child and family
- Supporting and upholding WMS values and ensuring personal/institutional compliance with relevant legislation within your relevant area of responsibility
- Working alongside colleagues to assess the needs of the families referred for support and participate in the reviews and evaluation of the work.
- Helping to plan creative and innovative responses to families’ needs, keeping high quality records and assisting with the preparation of reports.
- Leading Early Help Assessments, attending/occasionally leading TAF and EHCP annual review meetings. Attending conferences, supervision and training sessions as required
- Keeping up to date with current support available to families and children through the Local Offer
- Working with other professionals and colleagues such as the Lead DSL, the Out of School Liaison Officer, LCSS and Social care
- Working with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure pupils and their families receive information, advice and guidance on transition options from Year 9 upwards
- Establishing and maintaining positive and trusting relationships with students and families by attending events such as coffee mornings and parents’ evenings
- Providing pastoral support to pupils as required, supporting pupils with their social and emotional development
- Attending in service training after school, whole inset days, parent meetings, staff meetings and other CPD as required.
- Providing training events for families on subjects such as understanding autism and signing
- Having the ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of children and families including responding to emergencies and being able to travel to, and access a variety of, locations including safely transporting children and families
- Being proactive, motivating and creating change within complex family situations. Dealing effectively with challenging situations with resilience, confidence and the ability to listen, mediate and negotiate.
Communicating any concerns through the appropriate channels, playing an active part
- in the team by participating in decision making as appropriate
- Dealing effectively and sensitively with difficult inter-personal and crisis situations creating opportunities to be proactive, motivating and creating change within complex family situations.
- Being committed to working with pupils with special needs who may have a wide range of learning difficulties such as autism, SEMH and challenging behaviour.
- In addition to the above, WMS employees have a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations to take care of their own health and safety, and that of their fellow employees, they also have a responsibility to pupils and ensure this policy to be successfully implemented.
Safeguarding
- To work in accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) safeguarding children policies and procedures and undertake the role, in liaison with the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead.
- Read and follow the relevant school policies
- Undertaking training required to develop in the role
Other areas of responsibility
- Read and follow the relevant school policies
- Undertaking training required to develop in the role
What the school offers its staff
- The opportunity to work with a progressive and forward-thinking multi-academy trust, where you are making a difference to the lives of young people.
- Opportunities for development and career progression
- Extensive induction programme and ongoing CPD and training
- A range of staff benefits including one wellbeing day per term (after a qualifying period, pro rata for part time employees), access to an Employee Assistance Programme and a workplace pension scheme (LGPS)
- Free eye test for DSE users
- Free flu vaccinations
- Free tea and coffee
- Refer a friend bonus (up to £500)
- A positive and friendly working environment
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.
Applying for the job
Please download the application form using the link below, and once completed send to recruitment@woodeaton.oxon.sch.uk
CVs are not accepted.
Upload additional documents
If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.
About Woodeaton Manor School
- School type
- Academy, ages 7 to 18
- School size
- Up to 84 pupils
- Age range
- 7 to 18
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report (opens in new tab)
- School website
- Woodeaton Manor School website (opens in new tab)
- Email address
- recruitment@woodeaton.oxon.sch.uk
- Phone number
- 01865558722
Welcome to Woodeaton Manor School. We are a daytime and residential Foundation Special School that offers a nurturing environment for 84 pupils. All our pupils have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and they have social, emotional and mental health difficulties. We are able to offer places for pupils in Key Stages 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Woodeaton Manor caters for a wide range of special educational needs, including the following diagnosed or described conditions:
Attachment Difficulty
Autistic Spectrum Disorder, including Asperger’s Syndrome
Dyspraxia
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Specific Learning Difficulties, i.e. Dyslexia
Speech and Language Disorder
Tourettes Syndrome
A large proportion of pupils have mental health issues and require extended support from a range of multi-professional services.
Woodeaton has extended its age limits twice since its re-designation. In 2009 Woodeaton established its Sixth Form provision and in June 2012, Woodeaton lowered the age limit to admit six Key Stage 2 age pupils who are taught in ‘The Nest’. Woodeaton also became a Foundation School on 1st April 2008.
Our school at a glance:
Woodeaton Manor School is the first school in Oxfordshire to be awarded the Quality Care Mark for Looked After Children (LAC) at an Outstanding level (January 2017). This mark demonstrates our school has excellent practice around those children in care and those caring for others.
Have a highly experienced and qualified staffing team
Provide high quality teaching and social experiences
Focus on personalised and individual needs of pupils
Work in a multi-professional way
Maximum class size of ten
High levels of staff support
In-house Educational Psychologist
A Readiness for Learning team who support pupils through interventions and/or outreach work. The team will also support pupils who might be struggling during the school day
Regular visits from an Occupational Therapist and a Speech and Language Therapist (one day a week and one day a fortnight respectively)
Provision of play therapy, if required
Regular whole school trips and residential experiences both in the UK and abroad
Specialist rooms for Art (including a kiln room), Food Technology, ICT and Science
Self-contained residential area for boys and girls
Excellent catering arrangements
Our school day starts at 8.20 a.m. every weekday and finishes at 2.30 p.m. every afternoon.
The total time in school for each pupil is 30 hours and 50 minutes.
Arranging a visit to Woodeaton Manor School
To arrange a visit and increase the chance of a successful application email recruitment@woodeaton.oxon.sch.uk.
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