Location: Aylesbury
Overview
Do you enjoy working with children and their families?
Are you able to work with children and families from a range of backgrounds in a variety of settings within school, at home or in the community?
Have you got a ‘can-do’ approach and outlook?
At Green Ridge Primary Academy, we are seeking to appoint an Attendance & Family Liaison Officer/Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, to oversee all aspects of attendance management within the school and assist in executing our safeguarding responsibilities who will have a wide range of skills and experience to fulfil the role and responsibilities of this position.
We are looking for someone who is up for getting stuck into all aspects of academy life!
Term time only: Yes
Salary details: Bucks Pay Ranges 3-4, Scale Points 16-25 (£27,310 - £31,645) FTE Actual salary between £23,631 - £27,370
Contract type: Permanent
Hours: 37 hours per week, 40 weeks per year (term-time + INSETs + 5 days during school holidays)
Closing date: 07/10/2024 12:00
Interviews to be held: Friday 11th October 2024
About us
Green Ridge Academy is a new primary school built on Berryfields. From September 2024, the academy will be three-form entry from Nursery through to Year Two, taking children from aged 2-11, and two-form entry in Key Stage 2 as we continue our preparations to become fully three-form. Whilst the school currently has the capacity for over 500 children, this is an exciting time at Green Ridge, as we continue to grow our site is being expanded with the additional capacity so that by September 2024, our building will be able to accommodate over near 700. Exciting!
The academy is now looking to appoint an ASFLO to meet the needs of the children within the academy. You will be part of the team which has the unique opportunity to build and grow the school from its infancy. There is no doubt about it, setting up the academy from scratch will take vision, dedication and hard work, but being part of that exciting and rare journey will be very rewarding to see the academy take shape over the next few years.
About the role
At Green Ridge, we rightly pride ourselves on the high expectations we place on the academic achievements and behaviour of all children, whatever their need, as well as a broad, diverse and engaging creative curriculum which underpins all that we do. Green Ridge is an inclusive setting, valuing all children’s achievements, ensuring that each child is given every opportunity to meet their full potential. There is no doubt that Green Ridge is an exciting place to be – for children, staff, parents and the local community!
The role of the ASLFO will be to have responsibility for three broad but significant areas of the academy, including:
• Attendance
• Day-to-day operational safeguarding and responding as required
• First aid and medical needs
The job description gives further information about the types of requirements for each part of the position, but we are clear that the role will be flexible; no two days will ever be the same at Green Ridge, and we really need someone who will remain flexible, calm and most importantly, champion our children and their families to give them the support they need at different times. The role will work alongside the leadership team within the academy and report directly to the Assistant Headteacher for Behaviour & Attitudes.
Candidates should also note that although this is a full-time/term-time post, there will be an expectation that the appointed candidate will work flexibly and be able to manage their own time to ensure that those urgent and important tasks are undertaken to safeguard pupils. This may mean that additional work will be required outside of the operating hours to facilitate this, and five additional paid days (during school holidays) will be included in the contract to help support this.
The general duties for this role (as outlined above in the broad areas of responsibility) are to:
1) Attendance
• Be responsible for the daily oversight of all attendance, absence and lateness
• Monitor and track attendance across the academy, including identified pupils who are of concern
• Support parents with attendance strategies (this may include home visits to support positive attendance)
• Attend review meetings with the Assistant Headteacher for Behaviour and Attitudes to review whole-school attendance and identify strategies to improve this.
• Carry out parent contract meetings where pupils are persistently absent
• Support pupils with medical needs and other issues which prevent full-time attendance by liaising with staff, parents/carers and other professionals to provide pupils with missed schoolwork.
• Attend relevant meetings regarding the wellbeing of specific pupils
2) Day-to-day operational safeguarding and responding as required
• With and under the direction of the Designated Safeguarding Leader and team of Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leaders, co-ordinate systems for the day-to-day triage and response to safeguarding concerns, including ensuring accurate recording via CPOMS
• Ensuring accurate record keeping for safeguarding across the academy and consistency
• Co-ordinate the operational response to safeguarding concerns with and via the team of Safeguarding Leaders
• Support the DSL in preparing reports as required for the trust and Local Authority for safeguarding
• Lead on and co-ordinate the compilation of reports/requests for information to safeguarding concerns (e.g. S17/S47) in conjunction with the safeguarding team and staff as needed.
About you
The successful candidate will assist the Designated Safeguarding Leader and safeguarding team and other pastoral staff in taking a lead on operational safeguarding across the academy (acting as a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader), co-coordinating referrals, arranging action, managing safeguarding records and reviewing services for children and families. Candidates should be suitably qualified and/or have experienced of safeguarding issues and procedures, which ideally includes supporting cases and managing caseloads, working together with multi-agencies to support the needs of the individual or groups of young people and be able to meet the criteria detailed on the person specification.
We are looking for someone who is unflappable and can deal with things coming at them thick and fast on a daily basis and prioritise as needed. An eye for detail is essential in this role with record keeping and documentation, and as such the person appointed needs to be a strong user of IT as this will be required for a significant part of this role.
The role is going to be fast paced, varied, and demanding, and so it is paramount that the person appointed can think on their feet, work on their own within a supportive team, and can ask for help or advice when they need it. We also need someone who can work with and liaise with parents/carers in a personable and supportive way, but challenge as required to ensure that the children’s safety and attendance is prioritised.
The successful candidate will have:
- The motivation to achieve the very best for the children in our care and be relentless in the pursuit of excellence
- Excellent inter-personal skills
- Experience with supporting children and families
- Excellent communication skills and a good sense of humour
- Excellent organisational skills
- High levels of confidentiality
In return we can offer:
- A firm commitment to you and your professional development
- Friendly, supportive, enthusiastic and hardworking pupils, staff and Governors
- A growing learning community
- Encouragement to develop new ideas and the opportunity to make a real difference
- Coaching and mentoring from the academy’s Senior Leadership Team
- Fantastic trust-wide CPD opportunities
- Vast opportunities for career progression