Job Description

Attendance Specialist

Permanent, Full Time

Up to \xc2\xa330,947 per annum

Location: Harlow

Working Style:

The Opportunity

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.

Supporting the Senior Attendance Specialist, this role works with schools to develop strategies, initiatives, and incentive programmes to raise attendance, providing strong advice and guidance on potential actions. In understanding underlying issues further, investigation may be required to gain greater insight on individual cases and agree next steps for the school to follow through, highlighting the risks of not initiating plans before they escalate and providing clarity on the legal consequences of non-compliance.

This is a strategic role with the main objective to improve whole school attendance across Essex

As a confident and assertive individual, the right candidate will empower schools to confidently address and focus on attendance at a whole school level whilst giving them the tools to be able to address attendance at individual level themselves. Acting as a subject matter expert, this is a consultancy/advisory role, supporting schools to develop robust policies and practices, working in a planned way to raise the positive profile of high attendance and improve school attendance levels, giving actions to help them achieve performance targets and ensuring these are implemented.

Knowledge, experience, and expertise in dealing with improving levels of attendance at whole school level is essential.

Accountabilities

• Ensuring quality provision and positive outcomes, confidently assisting schools and academies in developing effective programmes which reduce the number of persistent absentees and increases overall whole school attendance, raising the positive image of attendance
• Responsible for providing effective advice, challenge, and support to attendance teams, schools, and families
• Responsible for organising and conducting attendance targeted support meetings; working with key parties and senior leaders to strategically mitigate poor attendance
• Ensuring all parties have a clear understanding of attendance, the safeguarding implications, and the impact of non-attendance, supporting them to develop positive attendance strategies
• Positively challenging current practices and policies, using data to identify areas for improvement, and setting targeted actions and following these up
• Responsible for building strong relationships and working collaboratively with multi-agency, key stakeholders across Essex
• Signposting effectively to other services, working collaboratively where required to ensure the best possible outcomes
• Providing expert advice on whole school attendance as well as on pupil level attendance and interventions, including where appropriate legal intervention to protect children\'s education
• Working as part of a small team, sharing positive practice and outcomes, clearly demonstrating improvements across schools, effectively communicating barriers and concerns as well as bringing ideas to help counteract obstacles to support the wider objectives of improving attendance across Essex and delivering timely, quality, value for money services
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework

The Experience You Will Bring

• Significant experience within a school environment to improve whole school attendance, and/or working in an enforcement environment
• Educated to A level, or equivalent, by experience and LDSS qualification
• Strong knowledge and understanding of the law and guidance relating to school attendance
• Evidence of developing programmes to increase whole school attendance and reduce persistent absenteeism, raising the positive profile of attendance across the whole school community
• Experience and evidence of familiarity with attendance issues with examples of situations managed where you have overcome obstacles to achieve successful outcomes
• Evidence of working collaboratively with other services where improvement or progress has been achieved
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills, sufficiently confident and resilient in challenging existing policies and practices
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area
• Knowledge, understanding, and familiarity of attendance statistics and data

To read more about us please visit:

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

Why Essex?

Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England\'s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest - Basildon and Harlow - are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We\'re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We\'re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

What you should do next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.

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 go to

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.

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If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email Laura.O\'Connor@essex.gov.uk

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Essex County Council