Education Progress Officer

There has never been a more exciting time to join Wirral Council. We’ve got ambitious targets to meet and to achieve everything we have promised to our residents, we need people who are ready to deliver the very best for our communities and show how they can #BeTheDifference. Our vision is to secure the best possible future for our residents, defined by the community prosperity we create and supported by our excellent people and services. If you strive to #BeTheDifference and want to be at the heart of our change and improvement journey, then this could be the perfect job for you.

We are seeking to recruit an Education Progress Officer (EPO) for The Virtual School in Wirral Authority. In this role, you will work as part of Wirral Virtual School to provide challenge and support to school and social care professionals to improve the quality and completion of Personal Education Plans (PEPs) and ensure Government Funding (Pupil Premium Plus) is used effectively to improve outcomes for Wirral Children in Care. You will ensure we have robust PEPs in place for all children in care from 0 - 18 and those plans include aspirational targets to accelerate educational progress and enable all children in care to close the education gap with peers and achieve the best outcomes possible. You will have a real desire to support vulnerable children and enable them to achieve their goals and obtain the best life chances possible.

You will deliver advice and guidance to Social Care colleagues, Designated Teachers and Foster Carers regarding trauma and attachment and how this can manifest as challenging behaviour together with strategies that can support them to be able to manage this. You will need a good knowledge of all relevant educational legislation especially in relation to children in care, attendance and exclusions and strategies to accelerate progress. Together with evidence of an understanding of the range of difficulties experienced by children in care and how these can impact on their personal learning and the whole school learning environment. We are looking for someone who has experience of working in schools or colleges with a good understanding of the difficulties faced by looked after children particularly in relation to Social, Emotional and Mental Health. Your knowledge should include the effect of trauma in the developing years and how this impacts on learning, and how to overcome barriers to learning and support progress.

You will be able to implement and manage tracking and monitoring systems to record the attainment and attendance and school progress of children in Wirral’s care through regular contact with schools, designated teachers, and multi-disciplinary teams. You will use the tracking and monitoring information to ensure that all Wirral Looked After Children are in appropriate educational establishments and we are effective in promoting the achievements, attainments, and potential of looked after children.

Ideally, you will need a proven track record of success in education, excellent time management and working to deadlines. You will manage your own cohort and work with multi-agency teams to ensure all statutory processes are in place and we are compliant in our duties. 

Above all you will be looking to improve the way we engage with our schools, settings and colleges and therefore our looked after children to ensure they are at the heart of everything we do.

Interviews are planned for the week beginning 9th October

Working at Wirral

You’ll also want to know what it’s like to work here so, as a start:

Our values are more than just pieces of paper on our walls! We’ve all played a role in developing these, so they reflect the immense pride we have in what we do, what matters to us, what inspires us and inform how we think, approach things and behave.

We believe in ensuring staff are well looked after, staff wellbeing is a priority for us. We’re serious about recognising and rewarding people for the great things they do. You’ll benefit from our track record of developing, growing and investing in our people.

We have a range of staff benefits including staff discounts, an excellent pension scheme which includes a generous employer contribution rate, immediate life cover and ill-health protection. We have a strong flexible working approach, hybrid working, family-friendly employment initiatives and an annual leave package starting with 28 days leave plus public holidays.

We have an inclusive, engaged culture, everyone has a voice, everyone is valued for their contribution and understands the role they play in delivering our strategic priorities.

Each voice is heard, each contribution valued. We embrace diversity in our workforce and recognise it is critical to our success. We support an inclusive culture that champions differences and nurtures a sense of belonging. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds, who share our values and our commitment to inclusion to apply for roles with us.

We want you to be your best at work, we create the conditions to help you thrive and we mirror this in our recruitment process. If you’d like us to do anything differently during the recruitment process to make it barrier-free and as accessible as possible please contact recruitment@wirral.gov.uk

Please note that in accordance with the Council’s policy, employees who are in a formal redeployment situation will be considered in the first instance for all vacancies.

It is Council policy not to re-appoint any employee who has left under the terms of the Council's Early Voluntary Retirement (EVR) scheme or who have left with a voluntary severance (VS) package, unless in exceptional circumstances.

Applications will be accepted until midnight on the closing date.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than the specified date should we receive sufficient applications.

Applications can only be accepted through the Jobs page following registration.  Forms received via the post will not be processed.

All applicants invited to interview must evidence their right to work in the UK.  Details of required documents can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of the Jobs page.

The job description and other supporting documents will not be accessible once the vacancy closing date has passed so if a copy is required you should download it now.