In Brighton & Hove, we recognise that the impact of care does not end when a child is no longer in care. Many children who are adopted or supported through Special Guardianship continue to face challenges in education linked to early experiences.
Our Virtual School is committed to ensuring these children feel understood, included and able to succeed.
We are seeking an Education Support Worker who can bring warmth, insight and professional curiosity to this specialist role. We work relationally with families and schools to make a lasting difference.
Interviews to be held: To be confirmed
There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact
[email protected]
About the role
This is a relationship-based role where you will work flexibly and responsively with children, families and schools.
You will:
Be the lead professional within the Virtual School for a group of children previously in care, maintaining a clear focus on their educational progress and wellbeing
Build trusted relationships with adoptive parents and special guardians, providing practical advice, reassurance and advocacy
Support schools to better understand the impact of trauma and attachment, helping them adapt practice so children can engage and succeed
Work collaboratively with professionals across education and children’s services, ensuring support is coordinated and timely
Identify barriers to learning early and coordinate targeted interventions, including tuition and specialist support where needed
Use insight, experience and available information to monitor progress and respond proactively where concerns emerge
Contribute to the development of training, workshops and peer support opportunities for parents and carers
A key part of the role is helping others understand what works, developing approaches that are consistent, relational and inclusive.
You will bring:
-
Experience of working with children, young people or families facing barriers to learning or wellbeing
- An understanding of how early experiences, trauma or instability can influence behaviour, engagement and progress
- The ability to build strong, trusting relationships with families and professionals
- Confidence in offering guidance and challenge to schools in a supportive and constructive way
- Experience of assessing needs and coordinating appropriate support or intervention
- Ability to use information and professional judgement to identify priorities and track progress
- Strong communication skills, including working with people from a wide range of backgrounds
- You will be reflective, adaptable and committed to learning, with a clear understanding of the importance of equity, inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice.
Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.
Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).
Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
- be connected
- be confident
- be innovative and creative
- be diverse and inclusive
- be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.
How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.
As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.
AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.
We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.
All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.
Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.
Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.
We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.
