Education Welfare Officer (PO1)

Job Description

Job Category : Education
Location : Lambeth Civic Centre, London Borough of Lambeth
Hours Per Week : 35.00
Start Date : Immediate start
Start Time :09:00
End Time : 17:00
Salary: £20.84

• To act as lead professional for Alternative Provision Settings and Specialist Settings where a family’s presenting needs are around school attendance, using a whole family approach to improve outcomes for the family and tackle the root causes of the child/ young person’s poor attendance or absence from school.

• The post holder will also be responsible for acting as a community connector and capacity builder within their allocated schools and locality, participating fully in Locality Action Panels and supporting colleagues to manage attendance and welfare issues creatively and proactively.

• To conduct direct work with children and young people to improve their school attendance and unpick the issues between the young person and their education provider.

• Ensuring Lambeth Council meets its statutory obligations in relation attendance and support for vulnerable pupils, applying a thorough understanding of the Police And Criminal Evidence Act (PACE 1984).

• To maximise the attendance of pupils at Altnerative Provision and Specialist Settings. To facilitate the attendance and participation of vulnerable children in particular those who experiencing bullying or are on child protection register as well as those children atr risk of missing education as part of the national Troubled Families Programme.

• To ensure a multi-agency approach in meeting the needs of pupils to raise attendance levels by liaising where necessary with other partners including Social Care, Inclusion Teams, Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Youth Justicw Service (YJS) to ensure high levels of education provision are provided.

• To provide expert advice, support and case consultation for Alternative Provision and Special schools where a children was at risk of poor school attendance, persistent absence, missing education or being excluded.

Key Responsibility Areas:

1. To undertake the full range of assessment, planning and reviewing activity in relation to children and families with additional needs relating to education welfare. This will include:
– supporting Alternative Provision and Specialist settings and families to achieve positive outcomes for their pupils/selves
– Co-ordinating work across networks, communities and agencies to support families
– Providing evidence-based support
– Sound decision-making with an appropriate level of independence and autonomy
– Taking the initiative, to form constructive alliances and to act as a change agent
– Modelling good practice for universal and community professionals
– Undertaking direct work with children, young people and their families on an individual or group basis.

2. To be responsible for arranging and facilitating meetings with parents, pupil’s, schools and other agencies, ensure that Lambeth Council is represented to a high standard and operates within the legislative framework.

3. To act as the link between Education and Early Help Services

4. Where there is a contravention of the education act and court action is deemed appropriate, to support in the delivery of the “PACE” caution on the local authority’s behalf.

5. To chair the Borough Court Panels in accordance with statutory duties.

6. To prepare and present evidence to the Magistrates & Family Proceedings Court, as instructed by the Education Welfare and Enforcement Manager.

7. To manage fixed penalty notices in accordance with the Council code of conduct for issuing fixed penalty notices

Qualification

A Recognised qualification in work with children or young. Recognised disciplines include social work, teaching, youth work, health worker, police and probation work.

Relevant Experience

Experience of working with families within schools, local government or other similar public sector agencies.
Experience of presenting to a wide range of audiences.

Experience of casework support with children and families with additional needs within a schools setting or other similar setting.

Experience of writing high level reports that analyses statistical and complex data.

Experience conducting investigations and collating evidence in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE 1984).

Experience of providing expert advice and support to universal and community settings supporting families

Experience of delivering training for schools on the court process and attendance guidelines.

Experience of Chairing Court Panel / School Attendance Panels and Team around the family