Attendance Manager

Todmorden High School, A SHARE Academy; Lydgate; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 36,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

CPD programme

Career progression

Staff support

Job summary

Todmorden High School is seeking an Attendance Manager to support students' academic and personal development by improving attendance and punctuality across all year groups.

You will work with Learning Managers, pastoral staff and external partners to deliver targeted interventions, monitor outcomes, and promote safeguarding compliance throughout the school.

The role offers strong CPD opportunities and alignment with Share MAT values, with potential career progression within the trust.

Qualifications

• Maths and English to grade C, GCSE or equivalent.
• Experience of working with young people in a school environment.
• Experience of developing and implementing attendance improvement plans.
• Safeguarding trained.

Responsibilities

• Devise, develop and maintain an attendance strategy and action plan to continuously improve attendance.
• Liaise with Learning Managers to identify students and groups to improve attendance and punctuality.
• Prioritise attendance for disadvantaged, SEND and low-attendance students for bespoke support.
• Oversee targeted strategies to support Pupil Premium students' attendance.
• Communicate attendance strategies and updates to all staff.
• Monitor attendance data and report progress to Senior Leadership Team.

Skills

Attendance management

Data analysis

Communication with parents

Safeguarding awareness

Education

A-level or equivalent

GCSE Maths and English

Job description

Overall Purpose of the Role

The Attendance Manager plays a key role in supporting academic, personal and wider spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of Todmorden High School's students. The successful candidate will be consistent and have high expectations at all times whilst applying appropriate policies, procedures and initiatives.

The Attendance Manager manages individual cases of poor attendance across all year groups, working with Learning Managers to positively intervene in order to achieve improved attendance. As an Attendance Manager you will be required to meet the general requirements of this post. In addition, you will be required to fulfil any reasonable expectations from the Headteacher. The post will require you to work with pastoral staff to ensure the continuous improvement of students' attendance. You will be responsible for specific tasks and the development of attendance initiatives, which will be determined in consultation with the Senior Leadership Team.

You would join the school at an exciting time, the school has academised and joined Share MAT and we are part of the new schools’ building programme. We value our staff, and we know Share MAT does too. Our staff voice is strong and colleagues like working here. We have a strong CPD programme and there are often chances for staff to progress their careers and develop. This has been enhanced with recent support from Share MAT (who are the Teaching School Hub for Calderdale and Kirklees).

We’d love to hear from you if you share our belief in ‘enabling individuals to unlock their unique potential’ and the MAT’s belief in ‘Valuing People, Supporting Personal Best’.

There has never been a more exciting time to join our incredible community. In this role you will have a direct impact on the life chances of our students and open doors to their futures. Together, we unlock unique potential.

Academy Information

Todmorden High School is a medium sized secondary academy in Todmorden. The academy is committed to creating a culture where all students and colleagues at all levels can feel proud of who they are and their achievements. In keeping with our values, we strive to create a school that celebrates difference. Ambition, Respect, Care and Honesty remain at the forefront of everything we do; we are trusted to do the right thing for each other, our students and the wider community.

The academy is a proud partner of the well-regarded and high-performing SHARE Multi-Academy Trust and is part of the Teaching School Hub for Kirklees and Calderdale. Todmorden High School provides staff with a wealth of support and a wide range of opportunities to collaborate, network, and share best practice.

Todmorden High School has a wonderful academy community and is a great place to work, where all team members play a vital role in making a positive impact on the life chances of others.

The academy is proud to offer:

• A supportive and ambitious environment where all students are encouraged to go beyond what they think they can achieve and to enjoy learning, helping them to lead successful, healthy and happy lives
• A vibrant place to work which equips staff to deliver their best every day, under the strong belief that Valuing People, Supporting Personal Best is the key
• A commitment that staff are happy, engaged and well supported at work, taking pride in students' attendance, behaviour, progress and development as well as their own
• Excellent training and guidance relevant to individual job roles, so expectations are understood and staff are motivated
• Great benefits, as an employer of choice, including outstanding CPD, supportive line management, and meaningful networking opportunities across the trust to aid personal development
• Supportive leadership, encouraging healthy work-life balance
• A high-quality teaching and learning environment, alongside good facilities
• A culture where children are happy, settled and confident, accessing a broad and balanced curriculum which provides a memorable educational experience for pupils and staff.

The Ideal Candidate Will

• have a commitment to promoting the ethos and values of the school and getting the best outcomes for all pupils.
• have experience of working with children or young people in a school setting.
• be committed to delivering high standards of work, supporting colleagues, and contributing to continuous improvement.
• champion our values of Ambition, Respect, Care and Honesty

This is an opportunity for you to have a direct impact on the life chances of some of our most vulnerable students. We are looking for someone who can be a positive role model, be innovative and creative to give our students an opportunity to shine. The role will be demanding but there is the opportunity for significant reward as you see the students you have supported, flourish and realise their potential.

Key Outputs

• To devise, develop and maintain a clear attendance strategy and action plan in order to continuously and consistently improve attendance levels, reporting all key outcomes to the Senior Leadership Team, as required.
• To liaise with the Learning Managers in order to identify key students and groups, in order to help encourage high levels of attendance and punctuality across all year groups.
• To ensure that the attendance of vulnerable groups, particularly disadvantaged and SEND students and those with low historical attendance, are prioritised for bespoke individual support in order to improve attendance.
• To oversee the use of targeted strategies to support Pupil Premium students' attendance.
• Undertake home visits using own vehicle and adhering to SHARE's lone worker policy and collect students where there is an identified need and during the exam period, using own vehicle or school transport, with a second staff member if deemed necessary.
• To support the Headteacher in establishing the vision and strategies for excellent student attendance across all years.
• To communicate attendance strategies, updates and expectations effectively to all staff.
• To develop strategies to help students and families overcome obstacles which may hinder them in achieving high standards of attendance.
• To monitor attendance outcomes and progress of key identified students and provide regular updates for the Senior Leadership Team.
• To be able to confidently use appropriate and relevant data in order to provide rationale, evidence and information around progress for key performance indicators pertaining to attendance.
• To work with other key staff in order to ensure attendance and punctuality have a high profile throughout the school.
• To work with the school's Careers Lead to identify external opportunities and strategies that could be implemented in order to improve key students' attendance.
• To interrogate data to identify specific cohorts and/or individual students in need of intervention or additional support.
• To confidently, sensitively and appropriately communicate with parents/carers as required relating to attendance concerns.
• To develop effective working relationships with outside agencies to best support students' attendance.
• Monitor and analyse the attendance data of the whole school, specific cohorts and individual students.
• Process term-time absence requests from parents/carers.
• Produce high quality penalty notice and prosecution documentation as required.
• Liaise closely with the Local Authority, particularly in relation to penalties, prosecutions and Elective Home Education.
• Work collaboratively with attendance staff at feeder schools to aid transition to secondary school and to jointly implement strategies for shared families.
• Be responsible for safeguarding monitoring during home visits, liaising with the Safeguarding Team and contacting outside agencies if necessary, upholding the school's safeguarding policy at all times.
• Ensure knowledge of national and local attendance guidance and statutory legislation is kept up-to-date and is disseminated to other staff as appropriate.
• Promote attendance to students, parents/carers and staff, using assemblies, notice boards, the school website, and at appropriate events including parents' evenings.
• To undertake any other duties associated with the role, as may be decided by your line manager or the Headteacher.

Safety

• Contributing to ensuring that Todmorden High School is safe for all students and staff.
• Contribute to actively promoting the health and wellbeing of all students encouraging all staff and volunteers to share and demonstrate this commitment.
• Contribute to ensuring that the school complies with any local safeguarding arrangement

Employees will be expected to comply with any reasonable request from the Headteacher to undertake work of a similar level that is not specified in this job description.

Essential Criteria

• Maths and English to grade C, GCSE or equivalent
• Educated to a minimum standard of A-level or equivalent
• Experience of working with young people in a school environment
• Experience of being actively involved in the development and implementation of attendance improvement plans
• Experience of promoting high standards of attendance
• Experience of dealing with sensitive issues
• Safeguarding trained
• Understanding of relevant policies/code of practice and awareness of relevant legislation
• Strong understanding and knowledge of the Department for Education document Schools Attendance; guidance for schools
• Experience of providing support and advice to students and their families
• Experience of planning, monitoring and evaluating work
• Experience of short, medium and long-term planning at an operational level
• Ability to work as a member of a team and/or independently
• Ability to work on ones’ own initiative, balancing competing priorities

Other

To be willing to work flexibly within scope of overall hours - early morning visits and occasional evening meetings.

Safeguarding requirements:

This post requires the post holder to work in settings with children and young adults. Any employment offer is therefore subject to the results of an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). People who may have contact with younger children (i.e. primary school age) are also required to complete a declaration about family or other members of their household. Offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references. For applicants who work or have recently worked in a school, one of the references must be from the Headteacher.