Calderdale Council Hiring for Fair Access Officer (Education and Inclusion) Job at Halifax, England Full Time

Post Ref: CC419

Please note: Priority applicants will be seen in the first instance.

Calderdale’s School Organisation and Access Team is part of the Education and Inclusion Service for the Children and Young People’s Service’s Directorate. The team deals with a broad range of school admission, school organisational and planning issues. The team ensures that enough places are available to accommodate all Calderdale pupils and that there is fair access and opportunity for all pupils to secure these places.

The post holder will report to the School Organisation and Access Manager and be responsible for the successful day to day management of a range of processes aimed at ensuring that all pupils have equal and fair access to a quality education.

They will have a particular focus on securing educational provision for vulnerable or hard to place children and will champion the needs of such pupils and their families. This includes pupils returning to mainstream school from alternative provision or those that might be vulnerable or challenging for other reasons such as periods of missed education or asylum seeker families. The successful candidate will advise and guide parents and carers through the application process, managing expectations and ensuring the best possible outcome for pupils in this process.

The post holder will also support planning and the development of policy in a number of areas including sufficiency of provision (pupil place planning) and admission policies that ensure fair access for all. They will be involved in consultation processes with elected members of the council and the wider learning community and will have a role in ensuring that policies and processes comply with statue, regulation and guidance.

Close collaboration will be required with other departments within the council in order to collate and process data required for statutory returns (School Capacity), plans and reports.

The post holder will represent the Local Authority at independent appeal hearings when defending decisions not to admit challenging or hard to place pupils to a particular school.

Attendance at bi-weekly Fair Access Panel virtual meetings and occasional attendance at committee meetings and stakeholder discussions will be required.

The ideal candidate will have excellent communication and negotiation skills. These are essential when providing challenge around unfair or unlawful decisions whilst maintaining positive working relationships. The candidate will possess outstanding organisational and record keeping skills and be able to manage strict and sometimes conflicting deadlines. They will demonstrate a strong technical knowledge of the field that they work within and be able to keep up to date with developments and change. They will demonstrate a degree of independence in problem solving as well as working effectively as an integral part of a wider service.

Closing Date: Tuesday, 3rd January 2023

We will utilise digital interview methods.

As part of our Vision (https://www.calderdale.gov.uk/vision/) we aim to be a talented, resilient and inclusive community. We welcome applications from all and offer a variety of flexible working / job share opportunities for both full and part time staff.

On 30 January 2019, the Council declared a climate emergency in a bold move to step up its action to tackle climate change.

Calderdale Council embraces the positive benefits of a diverse workforce and we are committed to providing an environment that is inclusive. We encourage applications from people who share our commitment to challenge inequality and promote diversity across Calderdale. We particularly welcome applications from communities that are currently under-represented in our organisation, including Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic applicants. All applications are anonymised before being seen by the selection panel.

For support on your application please read our Application Booklet or visit our Employment Hub.

We reserve the right to close vacancies prior to the advertised closing date, an early submission is advised.