School Liaison Officer

Role Responsibility

Term Time Only - 40 weeks per year

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the PRU, Inclusion and Attendance Service (PIAS).

The subject of school attendance has never been higher profile at both national and local level following the Covid-19 pandemic. PIAS has been working hard 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.

As a School Liaison Officer, you will be the link officer for a group of allocated primary, secondary, special and independent schools. You will provide specialist advice and guidance with the key objective of improving the school attendance of children and young people in Kent. This requires the ability to communicate effectively with parents/carers, young people and school staff, including headteachers and to balance advice and guidance with professional challenge where necessary.

We are looking for a practitioner who has experience holding challenging conversations and finding positive outcomes. You will be highly motivated, willing to learn quickly and be able to work both autonomously and as a team player. There will be occasions when you are required to conduct legal investigations where parents fail to secure their child’s regular attendance at school so a high standard of report writing, with attention to detail, whilst meeting tight deadlines, is therefore essential.

This role will require visiting schools, family homes and other locations as required. The council is committed to making reasonable adjustments so, whilst this job requires the jobholder to drive, your application will still be considered if you are unable to drive due to a disability. The successful candidate will be able to travel across a wide geographical area at various times of day in a timely and flexible manner and, on occasion, outside of core business hours.

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.

The closing date for this vacancy is 31 March 2024. Interviews for successful candidates will take place on 8 and 9 April 2024.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council 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 set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

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