School Liaison Officer

Role Responsibility

Fixed Term until 31st March 2025, Term Time only for 40 weeks per year

An opportunity has emerged to recruit a School Liaison Officer to join the PRU, Inclusion and Attendance Service (PIAS), part of Integrated Children’s Services, on a secondment until 31^st March 2025 covering Ashford, Dover and Folkestone & Hythe districts.

The subject of school attendance has been very high profile over the past year following the Covid-19 pandemic and has been a regular feature in the media across the country.

You will support a group of allocated primary, secondary and special schools, working in partnership with staff, families, and a variety of professionals within and external to KCC to address and reduce persistent absence.

You will represent the service and contribute to a range of forums such as Attendance Improvement Meetings, District Contextual Safeguarding Meetings and Child Protection Conferences. You will be skilful in balancing advice and guidance with professional challenge where necessary to ensure statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education is followed.

There will be occasions where you will conduct investigations where parents fail to secure their children’s regular school attendance which may lead to legal intervention being pursued by the Local Authority in the Magistrates Court.

You will already have knowledge and experience working in or with schools and the education field. Being highly motivated, willing to learn quickly and self-sufficient are key qualities being sought. You will be a strong team player, resilient when challenging situations arise and ultimately represent KCC’s values with the highest level of professionalism.

This role will require visiting family homes, therefore there will be an expectation to travel across a wide geographical area in a timely and flexible manner at various times of the day, and on occasion outside of core business hours.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. KCC therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English / Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are outlined in the Job Description / Person Specification.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

If you are applying for this post as a secondment, please ensure you have agreement from your line manager and confirmation you will be released for the full duration if you are successful at interview.

As this post is term time only please note the salary stated will be pro-rata.

Interviews will be held week commencing 25^th April however this may be subject to change.

Contact Details

Lee Kennedy | Education Inclusion Manager – South Kent | PRU, Inclusion & Attendance Service | Integrated Adolescent Service | Kroner House, Eurogate Business Park, Ashford, TN24 8XU | T: 03000 418658 | M: 07717 853550

About the Company

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county's working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds and faiths, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.