Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Hiring for Elective Home Education Access Officer Job at Southend-on-Sea, England Full Time

Your new Organisation

Southend-on-Sea City Council is a Unitary local authority, providing vital services to meet the needs of the local community. We employ around 1,800 staff who are working alongside our partners and local communities to deliver the Southend 2050 ambition and make lives better for the people of Southend. Southend itself is a vibrant place to live and work, offering coastal living alongside excellent and fast transport links into London.

Working for Southend-on-Sea City Council offers a challenging and rewarding career in local government within a collaborative and innovative environment. As a Unitary Authority we are responsible for all local government functions ranging from regulatory services, transport, public health and parks through to planning, social services, community safety and education, so we offer a wide range of career opportunities. The diversity of our economy and communities and investment in a number of exciting regeneration projects makes our Council a great place to work, learn and make a difference.

Your new role

We are looking to for an Elective Home Education Access Officer (EHEA Officer) to join the Inclusion Team on a full time, permanent basis. This contract is within an established team and is being offered on a hybrid work pattern (blend of working from home, out and about in the community and in the office).

As an EHEA officer, you will provide support and advice to families who are considering Electively Home Educating (EHE) their children, early identification of needs and barriers preventing remaining at school and championing the child and parental voice by attending multi-agency school meetings to increase access to education and remain in school (where desired by parents). You will initiate contact with parents who identify an interest in EHE or who have been removed from school registers and provide advice, support and guidance; in line with Southend EHE Policy & DFE Home Education Guidance for Local Authorities.

You will support parents through the registration process to increase the accuracy and detail of requested information and working in collaboration with the Business Support Team, maintain records to ensure child and parent information remains up to date and accurate. You will remain up to date and aware of local and national safeguarding policies, practice and statutory guidance and report any concerns immediately.

You will carry out any other duties that are consistent with the purpose and grade of the post.

To meet the needs of the service, you will be expected to adopt flexible working patterns to cover some evenings.

To request a copy of the full job description, please contact Uzo Nebechi via email [email protected]

What you’ll need to succeed

To be successful in this role, it is essential that you possess relevant experience of working with schools, children, young people and families. Previous knowledge of the relevant areas within the Education Acts, Children’s Act and relevant DfE statutory guidance, in particular Children Missing Education; Elective Home Education statutory guidance’ and working together to safeguard children will be vital for this role.

Previous experience of building and maintaining positive relationships with families, parents, children, schools and other key stakeholders will be highly desirable but not essential. It is essential that you are able to manage and analyse data and produce clear and concise reports for a range of purposes and audiences. To be successful in the role, it is vital that you can communicate effectively as you will be liaising with different stakeholders at different levels.

The post will require the need to be mobile and move around the Borough so a full clean driving license will be desirable but not essential.

What you’ll get in return

If you join the Council, you will enjoy a range of benefits including flexible working (with a blended approach to office and home working), salary sacrifice schemes, 24 days holiday (excluding bank holidays) and excellent training and development opportunities. A full list of benefits provided by Southend-on-Sea City Council can be found on the Jobs at the council web page under the “Why Work for us Tab”.

What you need to do now

If you’re interested in this role, click ‘apply now’ to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.

“Please note: Applications for this vacancy may close prior to the date advertised above so you are advised to apply as soon as you are able to”.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. All applicants for this role will require an enhanced DBS check.