City Road Primary School   

(part of the Inspire Education Community Trust)

Reporting to: Head of School

Location:  In school but may be required to work off-site when undertaking home visits               

We have an exciting opportunity for an Attendance Champion for our team at City Road. We are seeking a dynamic individual to play a key role within the school, promoting high expectations for attendance. 

 We are looking for a person with the appropriate expertise and experience who can demonstrate vision, resilience and empathy and can evidence the capacity to deliver both high support and high challenge.

A full Vehicle Driving License is required.

Essential:

• Have knowledge of current attendance guidance from both the DfE and local authority
• Be able to demonstrate excellent communication skills
• Have good numeracy, literacy and IT skills
• Have good skills in the use of school management information systems e.g. Arbor
• Have excellent interpersonal and organisational skills
• Be able to and/or have experience of supporting and promoting high levels of attendance
• Work closely with parents/carers and children to improve levels of attendance
• Form strong relationships with parents/carers
• The ability to work effectively as part of a team
• NVQ Level 3 in school relevant qualification or higher

Core Purpose:  The Attendance Champion will work with pastoral colleagues and the Head of School to improve school attendance through the effective use of our tracking and monitoring processes. This role may include working off-site to engage with children and families in order to promote high levels of attendance.

Key requirements of the role are to:

• Have working knowledge of best practice in improving attendance and the awareness of and implementation of DfE and local authority guidance
• Promote and support high levels of attendance
• Monitor the attendance of specific year groups by liaising with colleagues and the head of school
• Keep track of the staged approach to intervention processes
• Manage daily home visits to address poor attendance and where appropriate address any safeguarding concerns with our team of DSLs
• To support students in achieving their full academic potential
• Promote a culture of positive attendance and punctuality
• Form strong relationships with students/parents/carers
• Identify and work with individuals and groups of students, using regular attendance checks
• Work closely with parents/carers and students to improve levels of attendance
• Collate information with regard to the attendance of students who may be experiencing attendance difficulties in order to inform LA, school and parents/carers
• Provide weekly, monthly and half-termly attendance reports for school staff.
• Full Vehicle Driving License

Specific responsibilities of this role:

• Liaise with the external Attendance Officer regarding daily absences.
• Support the Attendance Officer in assisting with taking the daily absence phone messages off the system and recording absences.
• Manage the ‘late’ system and follow-up actions
• Make first day contact. Follow up calls for non-response/unsatisfactory reasons for absence.
• Conduct home visits.
• Check and chase AM and PM registers.
• Monitor and follow up with children who are missing from lessons.
• Monitoring of Persistent Absence against targets and administration of school and BCC stage letters
• Provide weekly/monthly/termly data on attendance for the Head of Schoo within identified time frame of the request.
• Ensure stages of intervention are followed rigorously and outcomes recorded accurately and in a timely manner on CPOMS for the individuals on a report, ready for discussion with the Head of School in the timetabled weekly meeting schedule.
• Work closely with the parents/carers of targeted pupils, forging positive and constructive relationships in order to engage parents/carers and provide support to get pupils to return to school at the earliest opportunity.
• Contact parents/ Contact parents/carers where absences have remained unexplained despite previous intervention seeking and securing relevant evidence to ‘authorise’ the absence.
• Work with targeted pupils identified by pastoral staff to improve attendance through parental contact, accurate monitoring and reporting, populating attendance reports, generating short-term targets and coordinating rewards with pastoral staff.
• Attend training that is identified as essential professional development.
• Always be alerted to safeguarding and welfare issues through the course of your duties, reporting any concerns immediately to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) or deputy DSLs. Concerns should be logged on CPOMS.
• To assist with other reasonable duties as directed by the Head of School.
• Any other duties as commensurate with the grade/salary in order to ensure smooth running of the school.

Responsibilities for all staff:

• Promote the values and aims of the school
• Follow all relevant school policies
• To be aware of, and assume the appropriate level of responsibility for, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and to report any concerns in accordance with the school’s safeguarding policies
• Create and maintain effective partnerships with students and staff
• Treat children, parents and colleagues fairly, equitably and with dignity and respect.
• To comply with the school’s Health & Safety policy and statutory requirements

Other Responsibilities

• Assist with duties as appropriate
• Responsible for children's behaviour and welfare during breaks, lunch, beginning and end of school day as directed
• Attend meetings as required
• Participate in professional development opportunities, willingness to develop additional skills and expertise
• Keep up to date with current educational developments and legislation affecting your area of responsibility
• Contribute to school development through identified communication and consultation channels
• Treat children, parents and colleagues fairly, equitably and with dignity and respect
• To respect the confidential nature of information relating to the school, pupils and the school community
• Be aware of and support difference and ensure equal opportunities for all
• Contribute to the overall ethos/work/aims of the school
• Develop constructive relationships and communicate with other agencies/professionals
• Be aware of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and to report any concerns in accordance with the school’s safeguarding policy
• To comply with the school’s Health and Safety policy and statutory requirements
• To undertake any other duties not detailed above commensurate with the level of the post.