Virtual School Lead (Internal Applicants Only)
Ferndown, East Dorset
37 hours per week
Salary £36,648 - £42,403
We are Dorset Council's Virtual School, a dynamic and passionate team of professionals with high ambitions for our children. Our school exists to improve the education and life chances for children in care (CiC). We also provide advice and guidance for children who were previously looked after (PLAC). Our learners range from 3 to 18 years old.
An opportunity has arisen for you to join us in the East Locality as our Virtual School Lead. Your year-round role would be to place getting the best educational outcomes for our children at the top of the priority list.
What you will be doing
You will do this by working as part of a multi disciplinary locality, alongside social workers and other professionals in a collaborative and supportive way. With the support of your Team Manager, you will hold a caseload of children for whom you will:
- ensure PEPs (Personal Education Plans) are personalised, well led and completed in a timely fashion including liaison with wider professionals and that these support the progress of young people
- provide external agencies with a contact point in relation to processes and queries relating to the education of children in care.
- identify implications and resource requirements for the provision for children in care
About you
Applicants for this post will have a proven track record of successful work with children/young people including those with a range of difficulties, such as emotional and behavioural issues, or who, for any other reasons, may not want to engage with education. To be successful, you will need:
- to be a school/education or social care worker and an experienced, flexible team member, committed to supporting some of the most vulnerable and important young people in Dorset
- to have a creative approach in devising Personal Education Plans together with schools and other providers across Dorset such as Learning Centres and Residential Care Homes.
- to be able to work with others involved to deliver coherent support to some of our most valuable young people
A willingness to work flexibly to meet the needs of the Virtual Schools, including working outside normal office hours is important.
Learning and Development opportunities linked to the strategic priorities of the Virtual School will be made available.
As some children are educated outside of Dorset, there is also some requirement to travel and so a full driving licence is essential
Additional information
We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.
We cannot accept CVs in the place of an application form as we need the same range of information from all our candidates.
Closing date for this post is 7th January 2024
Interviews will be held on 18th January 2024
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