Child Looked After Manager

Contract Type: 37 hours/42 weeks

Contract Term: Fixed Term for one year in the first instance

Salary: Grade 5 £27,803 to £30,296 FTE

Actual Salary: £25,753 to £28,063 (with under 5 years' service)

Start Date: As soon as possible

Closing Date: 28 April 2024

The School

Newfield School is a successful 11-16 comprehensive school that sits at the heart of the locality we serve. We have a diverse community and have an excellent reputation across the city. Ofsted have rated us a good school and we continue to work hard to be truly exceptional. We work hard on behalf of our students and families and often go ‘above and beyond’ through our dedication and commitment to providing a safe and happy learning environment.

We believe that Achievement Leads to Opportunity and Choice and this is underpinned by our values:

• We are high performing because we are curious and have a thirst for knowledge.

• We are considerate and value our community.

• We succeed through commitment and relentless ambition.

In the classroom we follow Rosenshine’s Principles and Teach Like A Champion to guide our pedagogy. We explicitly teach knowledge, interleaving retrieval through our curriculum schema. We therefore look for teachers who are skilled in engaging students though their passion for their subject.

The Role

Newfield School is seeking to appoint a highly motivated and experienced Child Looked After (CLA) Manager starting as soon as possible. As a strong and effective advocate for children who are looked after and care experienced, the Child Looked After Manager will be the trusted and emotionally available adult for all children that are looked after in the school. As a key contact for all professionals working with children that are looked after, the Child Looked After Manager will liaise with internal and external stakeholders and will be responsible for the end-to-end support of the PEP process.

The Candidate

You will have experience of being part of a wider team of trusted emotionally available adults for care experienced children and children with a social worker. Working collaboratively with staff in school and outside agencies you will support the academic progress and emotional wellbeing of looked after children.

The successful candidate will provide academic tutoring and mentoring as part of the role and will have experience of supporting students in the classroom on a 1:1 basis. The Child Looked After Manager will have experience of secondary education and working under a teacher’s direction.

As a key contact in school for professionals who are working with children that are looked after the role will have experience in planning appropriate transition support for CLA children coming to Newfield School or moving onto other provisions.

The successful candidate will have a good understanding of SEND needs and how to support young people with identified needs. You will be able to support the SENDCO and provide information during annual reviews, EHCP requests and extended support plans.

The Child Looked After Manager will have experience of trauma informed practice or have relevant experience in working with children who have experienced trauma. You will be able to provide key worker sessions on an ad hoc basis as well as regular weekly/monthly/termly sessions to all children that are looked after.

You will have relevant experience supporting the attendance team and provide outreach support to children who are looked after and their carers. You will have experience of conducting weekly visits to alternative provisions where any child who is looked after attends. If there is capacity to do so, you will also support the inclusion team to visit AP providers where care experienced and children with a social worker attend.

We are looking for someone who would be to provide ‘keeping in touch’ contact with children that are looked after during school holidays and extended periods of absence from school. This could be daily/weekly/fortnightly contact. The aim would be to provide ongoing support and relationship building to children that may otherwise struggle with these non-school contact times.

The successful candidate will support the Designated Teacher (DT) by attending all the PEP meetings and support the extended role of the DT by attending any planning meetings for children who are care experienced. You will support the DT in collating information for the PEP meeting and support the DT to complete the PEP document putting into action any professional actions and targets.