School Liaison Officer

Role Responsibility

Term Time Only - 40 weeks per year

An exciting opportunity has arisen to recruit a School Liaison Officer to join the PRU, Inclusion and Attendance Service (PIAS) situated within the Children, Young People and Education directorate.

The subject of school attendance has never been higher profile at a national and local level following the Covid-19 pandemic, and the service has been working robustly to ensure the expectations for local authorities in the Department for Education’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance published last summer are successfully delivered.  

You will be the link Officer for a group of allocated primary, secondary, special and independent schools. You will work in partnership with staff, families, and a range of services within and external to Kent County Council with the key objective to reduce levels of persistent and severe absence for individual pupils and cohorts of pupils where English is an additional language, Gypsy Roma & Traveller, and who may have special educational needs.

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

Representing the local authority and contributing within a wide range of forums such as Attendance Improvement Meetings and Child Protection Conferences is key. 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 when you will conduct investigations where parents fail to secure their children’s regular school attendance in accordance with statutory legislation which may lead to legal intervention being pursued by the Local Authority in the Magistrates Court to try to improve a pupil’s attendance. Therefore, attention to detail and the ability to meet deadlines are essential requirements. 

This role will require regular visiting of schools, family homes and other locations as required. The successful candidate will need to be able to travel across a wide geographical area at various times of the day in a timely and flexible manner and, on occasion, outside of core business hours.

The closing date for this vacancy is 28th September 2023. Please note – if you are interested, it is advisable to 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. Interviews for successful candidates are likely to take place week commencing 9 October but this may be subject to change.

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.

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

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.

Contact Details

For further information, please contact Education Inclusion Manager for East Kent,

Melanie Higgins on 03000 418641

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.