Senior Attendance Specialist

Job summary and Responsibilities

Essex County Council (ECC) is one of the largest and most dynamic local authorities in the UK, serving a population of 2 million residents, and has a very successful track record of delivering transformational change.  ECC anticipated change was needed in the public sector and has worked to deliver better quality at lower cost.  We have an ambitious transformation agenda – one with the scope to reach every part of the council.  We are changing the way we think, the way we work, and the ways in which we deliver our services.  We are committed to becoming a place where individuals, partners and communities feel proud to play their role and genuinely want to belong.  We’re immensely proud of our flexible working options.
 
ECC is transforming how it delivers education services across one of the largest counties in the country in order to continue to improve and to ensure the best possible outcomes for every single child and young person.  We are determined to build on our journey of improvement which has seen 94% of schools now being rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, and to focus more effectively on areas such as our more vulnerable children and young people to ensure Essex provides a wholly inclusive education which can meet the needs of all of our children and young people.
 
ECC is responsible for ensuring that children and young people at risk of missing out on education are supported in being able to access suitable high quality education provision.
 
This role works with individuals and groups of schools to develop strategies, initiatives and incentive programmes to raise attendance and supports schools to achieve performance targets.
 
Acting as a subject matter expert, this is a consultancy/advisory role helping schools to develop policies and work in a planned way to raise the positive image of high attendance.
 
This role is responsible for working with schools to improve attendance, providing advice and guidance on potential actions and ensuring that these are implemented. In understanding underlying issues further, investigation may be required to work with parents and schools to gain greater insight on individual cases and agree next steps whilst providing clarity on the legal consequences of non-compliance for all parties.
 
The role requires knowledge, experience and expertise in dealing with improving levels of attendance. As a confident and assertive individual, the role utilises expertise to address concerns on attendance issues ensuring plans are developed to deliver improvements on attendance levels, recognising the risks of not initiating plans before they escalate.

Key Accountabilities

• Responsible, as lead, for reviewing the work of Attendance Specialists to ensure advice and guidance on potential actions or development of plans to address issues are sufficiently robust, setting out the consequences of inactivity or improvement expected.  
• Responsible for providing effective advice, challenge and support to attendance teams
• Ensure quality provision and positive outcomes, and assist schools and academies in developing effective programmes which reduce the number of persistent absentees. 
• Work collaboratively with stakeholders to define school requirements and deliver timely, quality value for money services.
• Responsible for providing expert advice and guidance to schools and families to ensure all parties have a clear understanding of the impact of non-attendance and how such risks can be mitigated, challenging current approaches from a legal perspective.
• Responsible for investigating reasons for school absence and assessing appropriate action including legal intervention to protect children’s education.
• Responsible for safeguarding children’s welfare through the development of positive attendance strategies. 
• Responsible for providing regular progress reports clearly demonstrating improvements across schools, highlighting barriers and recommending solutions to evidence achievement of positive outcomes.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Educated to A level, or equivalent, by experience and LDSS qualification.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area. 
• Significant experience within a school environment and/or working in an enforcement environment.
• Experience of delivering public services in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Good communication and negotiation skills, sufficiently confident and resilient in challenging existing policies and practices. 
• Experience and evidence of familiarity with attendance issues with examples of situations managed and where they have overcome obstacles to achieve successful outcomes.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service.  The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate.  This is an annual subscription and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained.  For further information on the DBS update service please visit:  https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Benefits

For more information about the benefits of working for Essex County Council please go to our careers website

Closing Date: 31/08/18 

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
 
We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.
 
If you have any queries regarding this role, or require anything further, please contact the Essex Recruitment Team on 033 005 83330* 
*Calls to this number are charged in the same way as calls to numbers starting 01 or 02, please check with your service provider