New to Care PEP Co-ordinator - REQ000229

Job title: Virtual School Personal Education Plan Co-ordinator (PEPCo)

Salary: Grade PO3 £40,221- £43,421

Hours: 37 hours p/w

Contract: 3 x Fixed Term Contracts (12 months from start date)

Location: Tech North

As a PEPCo you’ll thrive on helping children and young people benefit from the transformational power of learning and education. All our cohorts have, at some stage in their lives, needed a social care intervention to help keep them safe. You will be deploying your skills to support the best possible learning and education outcomes for children whose life experiences can be barriers to them achieving their potential and thriving in learning at every age and stage.

It’s not about just producing a piece of paper, it’s about making sure that children in a range of vulnerable contexts get the best possible support from the adults around them in schools, settings and services. We are passionate that learning and education must be given a top priority as a lifelong protective factor in the processes and planning that support our cohorts.

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:

Qualified Teacher Status and/or a range of other teaching/learning/education qualifications required
Knowledge of the impact of early childhood trauma, abuse and neglect on a child’s learning
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
Experience of developing high quality, personalised plans that bring together key stakeholders to deliver accelerated progress in 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

About the role

As our next PEPCo you’ll be helping us support a range of statutory and non-statutory functions for children in a range of contexts that mean they have or had a social work intervention. They might be children living in residential, fostering or kinship care, care leavers, have a child in need or child protection plan, be adopted or have a special guardianship order. You will make sure these children’s learning and education needs are supported in the most relevant plan for example personal education plan, adoption support plan, child in need/child protection plan. You will ensure that schools, settings and services are appropriately identifying children’s needs and putting in place the most appropriate provision/intervention so they can attend, attain and achieve their potential. You will be an advocate for the voice and influence of all our children and young people and use the wishes and the Promise as your guiding principles.

The role is integral to our Virtual School team and we hope you will share our passion that learning and education can be a lifelong protective factor for children and young people. We use the knowledge and skills across the team to ensure children are able to access, attend, enjoy and engage with learning and education so they can attain and achieve their potential. Whilst not all the children we have a responsibility for are in care, we think that the corporate parenting test, “would this be good enough for my child?”, is a good standard to hold to and we work restoratively and tenaciously to get the support our children need. We support designated teachers, designated safeguarding leads, social workers, youth justice, learning inclusion and all services to develop plans that enable children to overcome barriers to their progress in learning and we ensure those services hold high aspirations and ambitions for these children.

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 guidance for further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact us at virtualschool@leeds.gov.uk

We promote diversity and want a workforce that reflects the population of Leeds and the communities we serve. Leeds City Council is recognised in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index 2024. We are also an Age-friendly Employer, a Mindful Employer and a Disability Confident Leader.

All new Leeds City Council appointments are made subject to the satisfactory completion of a six month probationary period.

This role is based in the UK. Employment is conditional on confirmation of the right to work in the UK - 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 and the role does not meet eligibility for sponsorship, please consider carefully whether you meet the eligibility to apply.

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

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.
The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.

Qualifications

Qualified Teacher Status and/or a range of other teaching/learning/education qualifications
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.

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
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.

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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