Student Welfare Officer - Exeter

Job Description

We are seeking to appoint a Student Welfare Officer to join our school in Exeter. The successful individual will have a great awareness and understanding of the educational risk factors that lead to exclusion or poor attendance, and what the statutory responsibilities of the school and Local Authorities are in responding to these, as well as a passion to enhance the life chances of young people and an ability to relate to children, young people, parents and professionals with clarity and sensitivity.

You will have experience of working as an Educational Welfare Officer for either a local authority or other setting and be able to demonstrate the skills and confidence to work proactively with families that are vulnerable and/or hard to reach.

What will you do?

• Provide each school with a termly report, highlighting key information/trends and advice on next steps
• To make arrangements for, and to lead on, meetings with regards to individual pupils experiencing attendance issues whilst adhering to the requirements of the Local Authority's formal processes (e.g. Fixed Penalty Notices; parenting contracts, stage 3 referrals etc).
• To plan and implement regular meetings to support, advise, evaluate and challenge Senior Leaders on the effectiveness of school procedures for the monitoring of overall and persistent absence rates for different groups of learners.
• Work with parents to help them understand and fulfil their legal responsibilities in respect of attendance under the Education Act 1996.
• Maintain high quality working relationships with staff, students and parents/carers that contribute to creating a productive and happy working environment.

For a more comprehensive list of the job responsibilities, please download the Job Description.

What are we looking for?

• Educated to A level standard or NVQ3
• Understanding of factors that impact on attendance, including CME, CSE, exclusion and other barriers to learning.
• Experience of working within an educational context as an Educational Welfare Officer
• Ability to plan and implement effective actions to support students with poor attendance or punctuality
• Adaptability and flexibility in working practices and the ability to use their initiative
• Displays commitment to the protection and safeguarding of children and young people

Please see the Job Description for more information on the essential criteria and skills required for the role.

Why should you apply?

You will be working in a fantastic environment. Avanti exists to help each person become a well-rounded human being through intellectual, moral and spiritual growth, and so make the world a better place.

• You'll be entitled to 25 days’ annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• LGPS pension scheme
• Development opportunities

Further information

Pre-employment checks
Avanti Services Limited is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All successful candidates are required to have an Enhanced DBS check unless internally appointed and still within the cycle of DBS re-checks.
Any appointment subsequently made will be subject to the receipt of satisfactory references and other pre-employment checks.

Diversity and Inclusion
We want to make sure we are attracting the widest possible range of people and ensure that they are accepted, understood and treated equally when they work here. This means we will work hard to understand that each employee is unique and ensuring that individuals or groups are not treated differently or less favourably on the basis of specific characteristics.
Such characteristics include (but are not limited to) age, disability, gender including transgender, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, and how the school supports pregnant women and new parents.