Elective Home Education Visitor

Are you passionate about making a difference to the lives of children & young people in the city and helping to improve their outcomes?

Inclusion Services is a multi-disciplinary team that delivers both statutory and non-statutory duties on behalf of Southampton City Council covering Elective Home Education, Children Missing Education, Exclusions, Children with Medical Conditions and the Speech and Language Service.

We are looking to recruit a self-motivated, enthusiastic individual to join our team to engage with parents/carers who may be considering Elective Home Education and those who have already chosen to educate their children at home, offering advice and guidance.

Your role will be to develop respectful and supportive relationships with families, ensuring that parents/carers are aware of their rights and responsibilities as home educators and also those of the Local Authority. You will also work collaboratively with partners and colleagues to ensure that children and young people known to be Electively Home Educated are in receipt of an education. To do this effectively you will need to:

Develop an understanding of the different approaches to elective home education and a comprehensive knowledge of resources and opportunities available to home educators.
Use your professional skills, knowledge, or experience of education to assess, advise and promote the development of children’s education, within the full range of abilities including any special educational needs.
Signpost families to the support or resources they may need.
Possess excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to manage complex and challenging situations.
Carry out visits to families and provide visit reports.
Be adept at working in partnership with multi-agency colleagues from schools, statutory and voluntary agencies to ensure that the best possible service is provided for children and young people, including attending relevant meetings as required.
Understand wider Education Law and Statutory Guidance, as well as school systems and practices.
Provide support in cases where mediation with schools is requested.
Be able to confidently discuss Post 16 options with families.
Effectively manage a varied caseload.
Understand when support is needed and when challenge may be required.
Deliver the Local Authority’s duty to intervene if it appears that a child or young person is not receiving a suitable education.
Follow Southampton City Council processes and procedures where the education, following appropriate support and guidance, is found to be unsuitable and/or there are safeguarding concerns.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced, child-centred practitioner who possesses an overarching awareness of age-related academic development as well as excellent oral and written communication skills.

You will also need to be a problem solver, experienced in working to secure the best outcomes for children. Experience of working with an education setting is essential.

The post holder will be a contractual car user and an enhanced DBS will be required.

If you feel you have the necessary background, experience and skills to undertake this role we would like to hear from you. For further information about this role please view the job description.

We aim to conduct interviews on Friday 7th January 2022.

Additional information:

• This post requires an Enhanced DBS check.
• For any posts that require a DBS check, if you have lived outside the UK within the last 5 years, you will be required to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct or a police certificate from the country/countries you have resided in. Kindly note that this is at the expense of the candidate, as well as any costs involved for translating into English.
• This role is full time (37 hours per week).
• It is usual for successful candidates to start at the bottom of the pay grade.

The supporting statement section of the application form must be completed. Unless there are specific criteria questions for you to evidence against. Applications are shortlisted against the essential and desirable criteria found within the job description for the post. Please refer to the job description when completing your application form and evidence how you meet the required criteria/questions. A CV on its own will not be considered.

Recruitment contact details: recruitment@southampton.gov.uk

To apply for the position please select the’Apply for this job’button at the bottom of the page.

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