The Role
As a local authority we believe school attendance is everyone’s business.
The Family Early Help (FEH) are a service within Children’s Services, which, as well as providing other help and support, is responsible for delivering the council’s statutory duties in relation to school attendance and exclusion/inclusion support. This means providing advice, support and interventions when significant concerns about attendance arise.
Oversight and delivery of the council’s duties are led by the Education Inclusion Team (EIT) embedded within FEH. EIT work with families, schools and practitioners to implement guidance around legislation with the aim of improving children and young people’s attendance and access to education, and to reduce the risk of exclusion.
The specific duties outlined in the updated Working Together To Improve School Attendance guidance, and the rise in children and young people not attending school, and experiencing different forms of exclusion, requires us to review resources and design a sustainable response if we are to meet these requirements as a LA.
The role:
As Service Manager for Attendance and Inclusion you will provide the leadership for developing a strategic partnership response to attendance and inclusion. Leading on Southwark’s commitment to promote 100% school attendance as set out in the Working Together To Improve School Attendance statutory guidance by working in strong collaboration with families, schools and other stakeholders. As well as reviewing resources, this new position will provide direction in the development, implementation and evaluation of complex systems to gather and rigorously track local data for the department that prioritises children and young people and schools on which to provide support to.
The Service manager will hold responsibility for strategic and operational management of the Education Inclusion Team promoting the principle that keeping children in education is everyone’s business through the governance of excellence in practice within the team, the wider children’s system, sharing effective approaches with school leaders.
About you:
This is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic manager who will provide exemplary leadership and who is social work qualified or holds a related professional qualification.
An individual who has experience of strategic planning and a proven record of influencing and motivating others. Someone who is skilled in strong collaboration with partners in order to formulate a strong strategic partnership response to attendance and inclusion.
We are looking for a candidate who has extensive experience and advanced knowledge and understanding of the underlying causes of poor school attendance and exclusion. An individual who holds expertise in education legislation, statutory guidance and best practice in respect of promoting attendance and inclusion.
Contact details:
If you are interested in the role and would like to find out more details please contact Vicky Agnew, Head of Family Early Help via Victoria.agnew@southwark.gov.uk, or by telephone 07395 372584 or 0207 525 0763
Additional information:
- 36 hours per week
- Fixed term contract until 30th September 2025 (to be reviewed dependent on future funding opportunities)
- Open as a secondment opportunity
- DBS check required
- JNC benefits package
Please note that this is an internal only advertisement, and we will only consider applications from internal candidates who are current employees or agency workers on an active assignment.
Benefits and more information:
https://jobs.southwark.gov.uk/why-us/
Recruitment timetable
- Closing Date: 11:59pm on Wednesday 31st July 2024
- Shortlisting Date/s: Week beginning 5th August, 2024
- Interview Date/s: Week beginning 12th August, 2024
We are an organisation who is passionate about our people and understands that richness of diversity is a requirement to provide the best possible services to our communities. This is demonstrated through our council-wide ambitious commitment to tackle racial inequality in our communities and workforce through our Southwark Stands Together initiative. We particularly welcome applications from members of the black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.
Guaranteed Interview Scheme
As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:
- Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
- Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
- If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition
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