Full Job Description
There are 3 secondary schools, 14 primary schools and one all-through school in our Trust, helping just under 5000 children and over 850 staff to thrive.
On appointment, your main place of work will be at Okehampton College, but you may be required to work at any other premises occupied by the Employer or any of the Employer’s Academies within Devon as directed by the Employer.
This job description is not a comprehensive definition of the post. Discussions will take place on a regular basis to clarify individual responsibilities within the general framework and character of the post as identified below.
Job Purpose:
· To support Heads of Year in their role with all pastoral issues in the school in order to support student achievement and attainment.
· To ensure stability for the students with continued presence to provide emotional, practical and safeguarding support in order that the students can fulfil their maximum potential.
· To work with school staff and other agencies to provide additional support to children who need help to overcome barriers to learning, targeting help to those children who need it most.
· To work within and reinforce all school policies related to the welfare and progress of children.
Main duties and responsibilities:
· To support students who show lack of motivation; disaffection; poor attendance; emotional difficulties; behavioural difficulties; and unsupportive parental/carer attitudes to learning, including being a named key worker for students.
· To work in partnership with other agencies under the direction of the Heads of Year, Assistant Principals or SENDCo depending on the issue.
· To engage and support in processes including Early Help, graduated response and any other support mechanisms for students.
· To develop positive relationships with students and their families to support student welfare and progress.
· To be a named Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
· Liaise with DSL’s in triaging and prioritising cases.
· To deal in a timely way with any incidents including bullying, ensuring all information is gathered and triaged, recorded and actioned as appropriate.
· As directed to collect data and compile reports for Head of Years and External Agencies.
· To follow the direction of the Student Progress Leaders within school to support and develop pastoral systems.
· To support DSL, tutors and Heads of Year with the PEP (Personal Educational Plan) data and information process for Children in Care.
· To support the DSL to prepare for the PEP meeting that the DSL will be attending.
· To attend weekly lunchtime and monthly afterschool pastoral meetings.
· To support the effective transfer of pupil information within school and across schools.
· To join in training opportunities with teachers and other staff as provided and where appropriate in order to support their daily practice.
Safeguarding:
· Day to day operations regarding safeguarding procedures
· To support the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL).
· To respond swiftly and efficiently to safeguarding concerns
· To ensure that all actions are recorded.
· To inform a parent/carer that their child has been/may have been harmed
· To liaise with external agencies, maintaining a dialogue regarding concerns/referrals that have been made
· To negotiate with and inform parents/carers of events and future actions for the care of their children
· To engage parents/carers into Early Help systems.
· To negotiate with a troubled/injured child
· To accompany, if necessary, a child to hospital
Supervision and Management
The Pastoral Support Officer will contribute to the work of tutors and Heads of Year and oversee their work in relation to the welfare of individual students. The post holder will also contribute to the deployment of other support staff through referrals and professional discussions.
Creativity and Innovation
The jobholder will be required to daily manage problems and issues presented to them by pupils, parents and members of staff, in resolving pastoral, safeguarding and behavioural issues.
Students present themselves with a variety of needs, such as needing treatment of first aid, child protection issues, issues within families, issues within class, bullying, curriculum issues, issues outside of school. The job holder is required to help resolve these issues by liaising with parents, teachers, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, multi agencies such as social services and the police.
Jobholder uses initiative to decide which strategy needs to be involved with the student. Job holder will follow school procedures but every pupil issue is taken on a case by case process depending on the particular needs. This requires the jobholder to think creatively about what can be provided for the pupil.
The jobholder is also a support to teachers in lessons and can be called in an emergency to deal with disruptive students in lessons. If the jobholder cannot resolve an issue they need to signpost it to the Head of Year or Senior Leadership Team.
Links with other officers, Service users or Members of the Public
The jobholder has daily contact with Pastoral Team Members, students, and any other parties interested in the pupils i.e. colleagues and parents. There will also be regular contact with multi agencies for example the police, social services and counsellors.
Job holder is required to be involved with Social Services in relation to children in care and child protection issues. They are also required to attend Team around Child meetings, core group and child protection meetings and any meeting around the child that provides support.
The job holder can initiate meetings with parents and multi-agency meetings if there is a need of support for the child.
The job holder may be required to deal with sensitive issues around the family, such as child protection issues. Here there is a need for sensitivity and confidentiality. Jobholder will often be the first port of call for parents who are unhappy with the school or how issues have been dealt with. This requires the jobholder to remain calm and sensitive to the parent and the family.
The job holder can refer pupils for counselling through the Early Help Coordinator if there is a need.
Links can be initiated by the jobholder, or by the external agency.
Levels of Responsibility
Decisions are made within the boundaries of set school/Trust policies, and/or within consultation with the Head of Year and/or Pastoral Leadership Team. Jobholders will represent Okehampton College by attending meetings with external agencies regarding particular students.
More autonomy is held in some areas of the role. For certain periods of a typical day, the jobholder will be available to any pupil in school when pastoral issues arise and are brought to their attention. This could involve considerable flexibility but equally an expectation that the jobholder will resolve a situation or pass it on, ensuring any pupils are safe and comfortable.
Decisions are also made when liaising with parents and when handling complex pastoral issues. This is a regular requirement of the job.
Administration of some aspects of pupil records and handling referrals e.g. counselling, School Nurse Team.
Problem solving in terms of radio call outs.
Effects of Decisions
Work is carried out in accordance with legislation, child protection, behaviour management, policies and procedures.
Impact of service to child or group of children.
The decisions made above have an impact on the wellbeing and safety of children in and out of school e.g. a child who has not been listened to and reassured regarding a bullying incident, may decide to truant and not attend subsequent lessons. This would lead to further work.
A parent whose phone calls are not answered or concerns addressed, may choose to take their child to another school. They would likely become difficult to deal with in the meantime, making the role of staff more challenging.
A good outcome would be satisfaction for staff and parents in terms of having issues promptly addressed.
An impact on parents would be seeing that their children are well supported and the school is approachable and efficient.
The work of the Pastoral Support Officer will have an impact on the efficiency of multi-agency working.
Resources
Learning materials, personal possessions of others, if there is a need to confiscate.
Jobholder is responsible for maintaining their own workstation.
Work Demands
Deadlines are flexible due to the nature of a specific issue. The jobholder will need to prioritise from amongst their own group of tasks on any one day. Some deadlines linked to legal requirements do have to be adhered to i.e. preparing a student file for a governors’ hearing.
The jobholder is subject to interruptions arising from pupil issues arising during the day. i.e. telephone calls, students, teachers ringing for support.
Physical Demands
Physically moving around the school throughout the day, visiting reception, classrooms and other offices.
Working Conditions
Work is carried out within a suitable environment within the school.
Work Context
The jobholder may occasionally experience abuse or aggression from contact with parents and children. The jobholder will always be supported in this.
Knowledge and Skills
The job requires an approachable manner and a resilience to deal with disgruntled parents and pupils. Good organisational skills are needed to handle a variety of tasks and situations, which may arise simultaneously. Knowledge of child protection procedures would be necessary along with an appreciation of confidentiality. Precise and professional record keeping is essential. NVQ 3 qualification or equivalent experience.
Data Protection / General Data Protection Regulations Compliance
The Privacy Notice sets our general principles in relation to Data Protection and the General Data Protection Regulations. You should also abide all Trust policies relating to the use of data including but not limited to:
· Acceptable Use Policy
· Records Retention Policy
· Personal Data Breach Procedure
· Employee Code of Conduct
· E-safety Policy
· Social Media Policy
· Use of Personal Devices Policy
You should note that a duty of confidentiality applies to all personal data they see prior to their first day of employment (for example, pupil lists for the purposes of lesson planning or other activities to support teaching and learning). This reflects the custom and practice of teachers’ contracts of employment starting on the first day of term while recognising the need to be aware of and plan to support pupil needs.
All schools in Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust are committed to safeguarding and Promoting the welfare of children and young people, and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
The successful candidate will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure via the Disclosure Barring Service (DBS).
To apply for this position please visit https://dartmoormat.org.uk/careers-with-us/support-staff-vacancies/
Person specification:
Essential:
° Use of initiative to time manage.
° Proven experience of working with children for at least a year.
° Understanding of safeguarding issues and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
° Level 3 Safeguarding trained, training will be provided to ensure this level is current.
° Good written and oral skills.
° Excellent organisation and administration skills.
° Flexibility in approach to order of tasks.
° Able to carry out the duties of the post with reasonable adjustments where necessary, including walking around a large site with many stairs.
° The ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence and fluency in English.
° An ability to understand the needs of children.
° Discretion and ability to work confidentially with sensitive information.
° Ability to work using own initiative as part of a busy team.
° Competent user of Microsoft Office, email and the internet.
° NVQ 3 qualification or equivalent experience.
° Able to carry out the duties of the post with reasonable adjustments where necessary
Desirable
° An understanding of the secondary education system.
° An understanding of the different barriers to accessing education that children and young people face.
° Experience of CPOMs online logging system for Child Protection.
Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust is an equal opportunities employer.
Job Type: Permanent
Salary: £11.59 per hour
Schedule:
- Monday to Friday
Work Location: One location
Application deadline: 08/03/2023
Click here to apply.
