Virtual School Advisor

We are seeking to appoint experienced, innovative and enthusiastic people with knowledge of the education and care systems, and how they impact on children's education.

You will be contributing to raising the standards of educational attainment, achievement and attendance of children looked after to Staffordshire including:

• maintaining effective monitoring and tracking systems for Looked After Children’s educational attainment.
• responsibility for implementing the Virtual School new to care process.
• attend and contribute to Personal Education Plans for C&YP as directed by the education coordinator and ensure SMART aspirational target setting for looked after pupils.
• respond to identified areas of educational need within schools and settings for young people in public care under the direction of the education transition co-coordinator e.g.:

1. Where there is danger of exclusion.
2. Where the young person has been out of school.
3. Where there is poor or non-attendance.
4. Where the young person is under achieving educationally as indicated by test scores, key stage results etc.

You will need to be passionate about working with young people, with excellent communication, interpersonal and organisational skills and have experience of working with both teaching and social care professionals.

You'll also be able to respond flexibly to meet the individual needs of children and young people and have:

• experience working directly with vulnerable children in an education setting.
• Knowledge and understanding of the education system and services,

• Experience of strategies to motivate and engage vulnerable children and young people.
• Experience of supporting multi-agency partnership working.
• An understanding of the effect of trauma and attachment on the education of looked after children. 

Shortlisting - along with your application please submit a supporting statement. This should not be longer than 500 words and should refer to the person specification and detail what relevant skills and experience you bring to the role to include why you feel you would be an ideal candidate.

Interviews will be held on Friday 4th July 2025 

If you would like an informal chat about the role please contact Paul Wilkie, Education Coordinator, paul.wilkie@staffordshire.gov.uk   

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.