POST: Student Integration and School Attendance Officer
REPORT TO: Vice Principal & Attendance Manager
Contract Information – 37 hours per week Term Time + Inset Days
Main Purpose of Job:
School Integration
To improve life chances and outcomes of Children & Young People (CYP) by working with students not currently attending and engaging with school and/or lessons due to underlying emotionally based reasons, delivering 1 to 1 or in small groups. Providing educational and pastoral support to students and families, in a caring constructive and supportive manner, with the aim of facilitating and supporting re-integration into school.
Attendance
To work closely with the Assistant Principal, Attendance Manager, Year Leaders and other pastoral staff to ensure excellent whole school attendance, reduce gaps within the attendance of key sub-groups particularly those experiencing disadvantage when compared with whole school, and reduce whole school persistent absence levels. Raise the profile and importance of excellent attendance to ensure students stay safe and improve student outcomes
Main Responsibilities and Duties:
School Integration
Direct Student and Family Support
- To liaise closely with the Pastoral Team, the student, and their primary carer to build trust and open lines of communication.
- Hold a designated caseload of students, identified by the Vice Principal and Assistant Principal.
- Develop positive, trusting working relationships with students and families, acting as a dedicated advocate for a relationship-based, trauma-informed approach.
- Conduct dynamic risk assessments for home visits to ensure personal safety and compliance with lone-working policies.
Curriculum and Collaboration
- Work alongside pastoral and attendance staff to ensure a comprehensive, wraparound support package is in place for every student on the caseload.
- Attend, lead, advise, and contribute to multidisciplinary reviews and planning meetings for identified students.
Administration, Reporting, and Compliance
- Maintain meticulous records on student engagement, attendance, and academic progress, keeping relevant staff updated in real-time.
- Report bi-termly to the Assistant Principal and Vice Principal with a clear data breakdown of Tier 1, 2, and 3 students and attendance velocity.
- Report to external stakeholders, including United Learning (UL), Ofsted, and the Governing Body, using the school's approved reporting framework and templates.
- Complete all statutory paperwork and facilitate meetings for modified timetables and attendance contracts, ensuring legal compliance.
- Work closely with the Local Authority, making timely and high-quality referrals to Education Engagement Services (EES) and Team Around the Family (TAF) processes.
Wider School and Professional Contribution
- Contribute to the wider attendance strategy of the school, sharing specialist EBSA advice, guidance, and strategies in meetings and with fellow professionals.
- Maintain high standards of behaviour expectations, character, and model professional working practices at all times.
- Participate actively in the school’s CPD programme, leading staff training on EBSA strategies and alternative provision techniques where appropriate.
- Contribute to the development and review of operational alternative provision policies and working practices.
- Comply fully with all school policies and procedures, including health and safety, data protection (GDPR), and equality boundaries.
Attendance Officer Role
Administration
Assist the Attendance Manager in meeting the following:-
- Meet with students regularly to discuss any issues behind attendance concerns.
- Ensure daily attendance registers are accurate and complete and follow up with staff members about any incomplete data.
- Follow up on any unexplained absences with parents/carers, escalating issues as appropriate in line with school procedures. Initiate and oversee the administration of absence procedures, for example letters home, attendance clinics and engagement with the local authority/external agencies and partners.
- Assist with attendance returns for the school census.
- Assist with the process of issuing fixed penalty notices to parents/carers, following agreement from the Assistant Principal.
- Maintain accurate records of communications with parents/carers and relevant interventions.
- Build and update knowledge of the school’s MIS and other relevant systems.
- Assist with the monitoring of term-time absence requests and respond accordingly.
- Attend appropriate pastoral briefings in the morning at 8.00am.
- Assist with attendance challenges and competitions and encourage positive student participation.
- Particular focus on students with Pupil Premium funding, Free School Meals entitlement and Emotionally Based School Absence, to monitor attendance and contribute to identifying and removing barriers to education.
- Ensure that your involvement with students and staff reflects the school’s inclusive ethos and relational approach.
· Any other duties as required commensurate with the role.
Monitoring and Reporting
· Assist with the production and interpretation of attendance reports for school leaders, identifying key statistics, reasons for absence, and any other patterns of concerns.
· Help track attendance of vulnerable groups of students and share information with school leaders.
· Help identify students that need support to improve their attendance.
· Work with Attendance Manager to identify appropriate interventions to improve attendance for particular groups or identified students.
· Implement children missing in education (CME) procedures when appropriate.
- Monitor the effectiveness of attendance interventions.
- Monitor the completion of registers by staff, ensuring accurate and timely completion.
· Monitor the attendance of students engaged in off-site alternative provision.
- Provide tutors with useful attendance data and resources to form part of the tutor programme.
Working with Parents/Carers
· Co-ordinate meetings with students and parents/carers to implement interventions and track progress.
· Build positive relationships with parents/carers to encourage family involvement in their child’s attendance.
· Identify, and where possible, mitigate potential barriers to attendance in partnership with families.
- Make first day phone calls to check for reasons behind student absence.
- Help in the Production of resources and information to promote the importance of attendance at parental events
For Both Roles:-
Safeguarding
To comply fully with all school safeguarding procedures, ensuring student welfare is paramount. Actively apply the latest statutory guidance from Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), identifying and reporting any signs of vulnerability, neglect, or abuse immediately through the school's reporting software.
General
Other general duties appropriate to the role, workload, and grade as directed by the Principal, Deputy Principal, or Vice Principal
Facts and Figures:
Robert Blake School is an 11-16 Secondary School with approximately 1000 students and 140 staff. The school serves an area of high deprivation, with numbers of pupil premium, and SEN students well above Somerset and national averages.
Problem Solving and Creativity:
The post holder must work with extreme flexibility and resilience. Casework will frequently involve complex, deep-rooted emotional barriers where intensive, creative support is required. A proactive, relational approach, strong problem-solving skills, and clear, calm decision-making are essential. The post holder will be expected to advise and support colleagues through potentially challenging and emotionally demanding situations. The role requires an individual who is highly organised and able to use their own initiative to determine the most effective way to support a student within the framework of established school policies.
Deal with tight deadlines, reacting to a variety of requests and frequent interruptions to work, which may result in changing priorities.
Decision Making:
School Integration Role
The post holder will directly affect the life chances, mental health, and educational outcomes of vulnerable young people. In liaison with external professionals and senior school leaders, the post holder's decisions will significantly impact student safety and reintegration success. While complex or systemic decisions (such as long-term curriculum exemptions or legal safeguarding escalations) must be referred to the Vice Principal, most day-to-day operational decisions must be taken by the post holder immediately to manage situations as they present themselves
Attendance
Works within statutory legislation, Somerset Council guidance, and school policies and procedures. Answers routine queries directly, referring more complex decisions to the Assistant Principal or the Attendance Manager, with suggested solutions. Works to deadlines and other reporting requirements.
Makes recommendations for development and courses of action to the Attendance Officer or Assistant Principal
Physical Effort and Working Conditions:
Some of the time will be spent within a normal school working environment, but some time may be within a student’s home. There will be regular use of ICT for learning and office-based systems. The post-holder will largely determine their own timetable, working around the needs of students and families, and some flexibility will be required. All necessary equipment will be provided.
Contacts and Relationships:
Student Integration
The post-holder is expected to develop positive relationships and effective working practices with young people and their families. There is frequent contact with staff, particularly Senior Leaders, Progress Leaders and Student Services staff as well as teachers to receive and provide information and guidance about student behaviour, conduct, attendance, and progress. Maintaining consistent and positive relationships is a key element of the post. The post-holder needs the ability to work independently and as part of a team and will need to attend appropriate meetings regarding CYP in their caseload.
Attendance
Able to maintain positive, purposeful relationships with students, staff, and stakeholders of Robert Blake School at all times. Daily contact possible with a number of school staff to advise, direct, and influence courses of action.
Regular contact with Somerset Council and outside agencies.
Regular meetings with Assistant Principal, Attendance Manager and other key staff.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience:
The post-holder will:
- Have a minimum of 5 GCSEs (or equivalent) at grade 4 and above, including English and Mathematics.
- Possess excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills. A commitment to young people, their welfare, education, and personal development.
- Have good ICT skills.
- Possess adaptability, be able to use their initiative, be reliable, resilient, organised, efficient & keep all administration detailed and up to date.
- Experience of working in a school/education setting is preferred but not essential.
- Be able to work independently and as part of a team.
- Be student focused and able to establish positive relationships.
- An understanding of Arbor software is an advantage although training will be provided.
Pay: £23,536.00-£25,960.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Gym membership
- On-site gym
- On-site parking
Education:
- GCSE or equivalent (preferred)
Work Location: In person
