Interim Virtual School Secondary Education Advisor– Education

Reference no: N. Somerset RQ779178

Pay rate: £20.02 per hour PAYE

Must hold a full UK driving licence and access to own car for work use.

The post holder will monitor the educational progress and achievement of children in the care of the Council and have a focus of raising the educational achievement of these children and young people, both as individuals and as a cohort.

Key responsibilities:

• Monitor, track and evaluate the attendance, academic progress, attainment, and achievement of children in care through the use of the e-PEP system and other direct interventions particularly, but not exclusively for secondary aged students.
• Work with relevant school-based staff and social workers to ensure that targets identified in the Personal Education Plan are met and that Pupil Premium Plus is effectively allocated and used.
• Work within the Virtual School Team and with schools and other educational institutions to promote and support the educational achievement of children and young people in care.
• Support the schools' responsibilities of identification, assessment, and provision to meet the needs of pupils exhibiting educational difficulties, delay or under-achievement.
• Organise and monitor bespoke packages of support for individual students (e.g., mentoring programmes, 1:1 tuition) under the guidance of the Virtual School Head Teacher.
• Liaise with schools and social workers in relation to providing the appropriate level of challenge regarding the progress of children in care.
• Be expected to work to the Team Plans drawn up by the Virtual School
• Provide ongoing advice and support to teachers and support staff working directly with children in care.
• Lead and participate in school or cluster-based inset and training that seeks to promote educational achievement for children in care and adopted and previously looked after children.
• Contribute any required specialist input to the educational advice for Statutory Assessments.
• Keep abreast of research and local developments in relation to supporting children in care through continuous professional development.

“Specific Role Requirements” – to give yourself the maximum chance of success please try and ensure your CV addresses the following essential criteria:

Experience & Knowledge / Technical skills

• Vocational qualification…QTS or experience to Degree Level or above, relevant to the service user group or equivalent experience to give the same level of knowledge necessary to undertake the role.
• Direct Virtual School experience and /or experience of working with Designated Teachers and other professionals who support children who have social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties or who are disaffected in an education setting
• Proven ability to identify priorities for improvement of children in care/ vulnerable learners and experience in providing advice and support to develop practice through experience of knowing the target setting process in schools
• Excellent understanding of current school improvement programmes
• Approved professional qualification relevant to the area of work and practical experience of working with service user groups giving rise to a variety of technical skills and thorough understanding of the principles of the services available, legal responsibilities, work practices and processes.
• Able to demonstrate the ability to support and challenge schools to make the best use of their resources
• Experience of providing support to schools at an operational level.
• Ability to analyse areas of work and make decision to improve them.
• Knowledge and understanding of safeguarding protocols and the threshold levels for service user groups. Ability to investigate and follow up on potential issues.

Skills & Abilities

• Ability to engage with service users and partner agencies within the relevant codes of practice values (dignity, respect etc)
• Ability to manage/organise own work and that of others to meet agreed deadlines
• Able to demonstrate the ability to support and challenge schools to make the best use of their resources
• Experience of providing support to schools at an operational level.
• Ability to analyse areas of work and make decision to improve them.
• Ability to investigate and follow up on potential issues.
• Ability to engage with service users and partner agencies within the relevant codes of practice values (dignity, respect etc)
• Ability to manage/organise own work and that of others to meet agreed deadlines
• Understanding and recognition of professional & personal boundaries.
• To be flexible on the times worked as there may be a requirement to meet school staff outside of normal business hours.

To help speed up the process of uploading your CV to the client we would suggest that you send us your CV in Word format (or equivalent) if possible, rather than as a PDF.

NB: Please feel free to apply to us direct via [email protected] by quoting the job reference and job title exactly. SEE DETAILS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS AD.

If you have previously applied to one of our vacancies and have already sent the required supporting documentation to us, please make this clear when you re-apply as this will help speed up your application.

To help speed up the process of uploading your CV to the client we would suggest that you send us your CV in Word format (or equivalent) if possible, rather than as a PDF. 

If you are successful in securing this role, please note that for the entire duration of this contract, regardless of extension you will be working this role at the PAYE rate that has been advertised. For absolute clarity, we only work on a PAYE basis, rather than entertaining umbrella pay terms, we do not offer Ltd/umbrella or outside IR35 rates. If you wish to understand PAYE vs Umbrella more, please let us know and we can send you some additional information for clarity. 

Please quote the Job Title & Vacancy Reference No. in your application, or we will be unable to match your CV to the role being applied for.