School Counsellor

Are you an counsellor or have school counselling experience? Support our students. We are looking for a qualified counsellor to provide a counselling service within Harris Academy Clapham, responding to the social, emotional or educational concerns of our students.

About Us

The vision of Harris Academy Clapham is a simple one. From our opening in September 2020, our academy is a place where ‘everything is possible'.

The Clapham curriculum is designed to meet the needs, aspirations and abilities of every one of our students. Our aim is to improve their life chances and enable them to make a positive contribution to the city and world in which they live.

At Harris Clapham, the curriculum is delivered through high-quality teaching. This is codified in our research-informed approach to pedagogy, which we call the Clapham Way. The following principles apply in our curriculum:

• Subject specific knowledge and skills come first
• Embedding and building on the basics – ensuring that every student acquires the vocabulary, literacy and numeracy skills to enable them to fully participate in society
• The curriculum must be rigorous and relevant by engaging with the best of what has been thought and said and acknowledging that knowledge is fluid and can be contested
• The curriculum must prepare for life in modern Britain and beyond, and enable Clapham students to understand their rights and fulfil their responsibilities under the Equality Act.

Through the Clapham academic, enrichment and pastoral curriculum we expect our students to develop powerful knowledge and the following values and character attributes that will enable them to achieve our vision that ‘Everything is Possible'.

Endeavour for excellence

• Learning to work hard and relish challenge.
• Learning to never give up.
• Learning to take sensible risks.
• Learning to always strive for the best for themselves and each other.

Integrity and honesty

• Always acting with kindness.
• Treating others the way they would like to be treated.

Self-belief with a global view

• Growing to have the agency to achieve their ambitions for themselves and the wider world.

Our staff are supported in their work and in developing their future careers via:

• A centralised behaviour system, with each year group supported by non-teaching pastoral leaders
• A programme of instructional coaching, supported by the Step Lab platform
• Access to a wide range of National Professional Qualifications delivered by the Institute of Teaching
• Federation subject consultant support
• Harris Federation professional development training days and networking support.

Main Areas of Responsibility

As our Academy Counsellor, your responsibilities will include:

• Providing a high-quality professional counselling service for students in the Academy who require therapeutic welfare support
• Managing the timetable of counselling support
• Liaising with parents where necessary to ensure the young person is supported well
• Providing a drop-in service at the Academy for all students as means of one-off support or self-referral
• Coordinating where appropriate with external agencies such as CAMHs, GPs and Psychiatrists
• Leading and supporting parent's information and open evenings about the service offered
• Attending and feeding into pastoral meetings as necessary
• Providing a termly impact report on the counselling service
• Maintaining confidential notes on all counselling sessions and completing session notes on the Academy's database system
• Attending external clinical supervision as necessary
• Providing CPD to allow colleagues to understand the emotional needs of students
• Liaising with key Academy staff members in respect of any necessary next steps
• Reviewing the counselling provision on a termly basis and implementing steps to improve the service

Qualifications & Experience

We would like to hear from you if you have:

• Appropriate qualification in child counselling or child/adult Psychotherapy
• Good level of nationally recognised academic qualifications
• Knowledge of what safeguarding and medical for young people means
• Knowledge of the range of agencies that work with students and their families
• Knowledge of many of the social issues facing students from disadvantaged
• backgrounds
• Sound knowledge of Microsoft software
• Experience of or high motivation to work in an educational establishment
• Experience of or high motivation to work with young people
• Experience of working with people from a range of backgrounds

For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.

Next Steps

If you have any questions about this opportunity, please send us an email, or call to arrange a conversation.

Before applying, please download the Job Pack for full details on the job responsibilities and person specification. This will be helpful for you when completing your application, and throughout the recruitment process.

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible as we may interview and offer to a candidate before the closing date. Please note that we only accept applications submitted before the closing date via our careers website.

Professional Development & Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.

In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes our Harris Allowance for teachers on MPS/UPS, a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan and many other benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our website.

Safeguarding Notice

The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.

Equal Opportunities

The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates.

We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment.