Virtual School Personal Education Plan Coordinator - REQ003707

INTERNAL ONLY VACANCY. This post is open to existing Leeds City Council employees only. Applications will not be considered from external candidates.

Job title: Virtual School Personal Education Plan Co-ordinator

Salary: PO3 £42,839 - £46,142

Hours: 37

Contract: Permanent

Location: Tech North

The Virtual School is a team of dedicated education professionals who work with schools, settings, social workers, foster carers, adoptive families, kinship carers and learning inclusion services to ensure that children who have needed the support of a social worker at some time in their lives get the support they need to overcome barriers to their attendance, attainment and achievement so they can thrive at every age and stage of their learning journey.

As a Personal Education Plan Co-ordinator (PEPCo) you’ll thrive on using your skills and knowledge to put plans in place that ensure children can attend, attain and achieve and that their needs are understood and met. You will use your extensive knowledge and understanding of inclusive practice to support schools and settings develop effective provision, tailored to children’s needs, that enables them to realise their potential, enjoy learning and make the progress they need to fulfil their ambitions.

It’s not about on-line learning or writing up plans: you will be the lead learning professional bringing restorative support and challenge to ensure children have the best possible provision in their learning and education journey.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As a PEPCo, you will bring to the role:

Experience of developing high quality, personalised plans that bring together key stakeholders to deliver accelerated progress in learning
Knowledge of the impact of early childhood trauma, abuse and neglect on a child’s learning
Excellent communication skills with the ability to form positive relationships
A high degree of sensitivity to the lived experience of care for children and young people
Knowledge of how progress and attainment in learning are measured across all ages and stages and what services are available to support children to learn

About the role

Working with the Virtual School team means that you will be actively making a positive impact on the learning experiences and outcomes for children whose experiences in life, through no fault on their own, can mean they face persistent challenges in achieving their potential. You will have a trauma informed lens throughout your work and will use this as a tool to break down barriers and hold high aspirations for our children and young people and expect other adults in their lives to do the same. That means working in partnership, bringing teams and services together and being an advocate for our children, every day and in every meeting.

As our next PEPCO, you’ll be joining a passionate and hard-working team, and be helping us strive for better outcomes across all the cohorts for who we have a responsibility. That could mean children in care, adopted children, children with a child in need or child protection plan or children living with kinship families.

The role is integral to our Virtual School team and you’ll be joining a small group of PEPCos who work closely together, providing a shared sense of belonging, purpose and continuous drive to improve practice. You will also benefit from the supervision and support of our experienced Education Consultants.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidancefor further advice on completing your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Lisa Clark, Education Adviser, email lisamarie.clark@leeds.gov.uk

ADisclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visaroute before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job purpose

To enable the local authority and the Virtual School fulfil their responsibilities to ensure children that are looked after (CLA) have a high quality personal education plan (PEP)
To ensure that high quality, effective PEPs are contributing to the local authority and the Virtual School’s statutory functions in promoting the educational attainment and achievement of Leeds Children Looked After (CLA).
To enable the local authority and the Virtual School to demonstrate the progress children make in learning from the day they become looked after
To contribute to improving educational outcomes for CLA by working in partnership with birth families, designated teachers, inclusion learning services, foster carers, social work services and IROs.
To ensure that regardless of the outcome of the care plan e.g. return to parent/s, kinship care, long term fostering or adoption, special guardianship or child arrangement, parents and carers have a robust plan to enable their child to attend, attain and achieve

Responsibilities

The main duties of the Virtual School PEP Co-ordinator will be:

To ensure that care planning and PEP processes comply with the statutory duty of the local authority to promote the educational attainment of CLA.
To work with designated teachers, services for children looked after, foster carers to ensure that all CLA have a quality Personal Education Plan that supports them to fulfil their educational potential.
To gather in-depth, qualitative and quantative information from a wide range of sources, setting and services about a child’s learning at the point they become looked after e.g. their current attainment and progress, attendance, exclusion, provision type, special educational needs and disability, engagement with other services, the birth family’s ability to engage with their child’s learning e.g. educational psychology services, SENIT, previous schools attended, individual school support plans, prior attainment data and social, emotional and mental health needs
To work closely with the Virtual School consultant, social workers, carers and designated teachers to ensure that all CLA have a school place or provision in settings that are good or outstanding including those CLA who are educated out of authority.
To assist schools and social workers in the completion of high quality PEPs.
To advise schools on the effective use of CLA Pupil Premium Plus, based on the overall assessment of the child’s needs to have the greatest impact on progress, attendance, attainment and achievement.
To ensure that CLA have a voice in planning their education and the services that support them.

Qualifications

QTS / HLTA / Educational Psychology and/or a range of other teaching/learning/education qualifications/experience
Relevant technical qualification and membership of relevant professional bodies (where relevant) and evidence of ongoing professional development.

Essential requirements It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements.

Excellent communication skills with the ability to form positive relationships.
Ability to use qualitative and quantative data about a child’s learning to develop an effective plan to promote and accelerate their progress, attendance, attainment and achievement.
Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team.
Ability to prioritise workload and work with a minimum of supervision.
A high degree of sensitivity to the lived experience of care for children and young people.
Ability to pass on vital information to line manager.

Ability to anticipate issues, plan solutions and make informed decisions by being creative, innovative and forward thinking.
Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.

A clear understanding of the Child Friendly City concept and the importance of the voice and influence of children and young people.
Knowledge of research, policy and developments in best practice and legislation relating to Children Looked After in both care and education.
Knowledge of the impact of early childhood trauma, abuse and neglect on a child’s learning
Knowledge of how progress and attainment in learning are measured across all ages and stages and what services are available to support children to learn
Knowledge of the local authority’s safeguarding framework for children in need of help and protection and those who may need to come into the care of the local authority

Working knowledge and understanding of Outcome Based Accountability (OBA) and Restorative Practice (RP).
Knowledge of how to develop child-centred plans for CLA with complex learning needs.

Experience within the relevant environment; mainly schools and/or other learning environments e.g. children’s centres, colleges or local authority learning support services
Experience of developing high quality, personalised plans that bring together key stakeholders to deliver accelerated progress in learning

Essential Behavioural and other Characteristics

Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct.
Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities.
Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity policies of Leeds City Council.
Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.
The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

Desirable requirements It is desirable that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Ability to use creative thinking/solutions to engage children and young people and families in plans for their learning
Ability to gather a range of information and data from a wide range of sources, services and settings/locations and presenting these in a consistent and coherent manner
Ability to interpret and assess a wide range of data sources, qualitative and quantative to, devise quality plans that capture appropriate information to enable the team around the child to accelerate progress in learning and support the care planning process
Knowledge of the statutory function of the Virtual School
Knowledge of the SEND code of practice, the graduated response and how schools/settings are required to meet their statutory duties to children and families
Knowledge of effective strategies, practice and interventions that are most effective in accelerating the learning of looked after children
Experience of working within or for an educational setting
Experience of working effectively in teams and promoting a ‘can do’ attitude within an environment of continuous improvement and positive outcomes for children and young people

Working within services where conflict might arise or competing priorities can impact on relationships
Persistence and perseverance

Empathy and understanding of the lived experience of care as experienced by birth families, children and young people and their carers
To model unconditional high regard for children and young people looked after in Leeds and to challenge negative stereotypes/language

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