Community Liaison Officer

Knockhall Primary School; Greenhithe; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Knockhall Primary School is seeking a motivated Community Liaison Officer to strengthen home–school partnerships and support attendance and safeguarding. You will be a trusted point of contact for families, working with children, parents, staff and external agencies.

You will lead attendance and punctuality work, analyse patterns, and collaborate with the Inclusion Team and Educational Welfare Officer to provide timely support.

Qualifications

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with parents, carers and staff.
• Experience of multi‑agency working and safeguarding awareness.
• Ability to manage priorities with resilience and professionalism.

Responsibilities

• Lead on attendance and punctuality, promote good attendance and identify concerns early.
• Maintain and analyse attendance data; provide clear information to leaders.
• Work with Inclusion Team, Educational Welfare Officer and professionals.
• Undertake home visits and support families to access services.
• Support safeguarding and act as Deputy DSL with appropriate training.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Organisational skills

Relationship-building

Team collaboration

Empathy

Problem solving

Education

Experience in schools/education settings

Job description

Are you passionate about making a difference to children and families? Are you someone who builds positive relationships, communicates with warmth and confidence, and believes that strong partnerships between home and school can transform outcomes for children?

We are looking for an enthusiastic, compassionate and highly organised Community Liaison Officer to join our primary school team. This is an important and rewarding role at the heart of our school community, working closely with children, parents and carers, school staff, external agencies and community organisations.

Our Community Liaison Officer will be a welcoming and trusted point of contact for families, helping to strengthen relationships between home and school and ensuring that families are able to access the right support at the right time. You will work as an integral part of our Inclusion Team, supporting the welfare and safeguarding of children and helping families overcome barriers that may affect their child’s wellbeing, attendance or engagement with school.

A key aspect of the role will be taking a lead on attendance and punctuality. You will work proactively with children and families to promote excellent attendance, identify concerns early and provide appropriate support and challenge. Alongside this, you will maintain accurate attendance information, analyse patterns and trends and work with school leaders, the Educational Welfare Officer and other professionals where further intervention is required.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who wants a varied role where no two days are quite the same and where your work can have a tangible impact on children and their families.

The successful candidate will:

Build warm, professional and trusting relationships with children, parents, carers and the wider school community.

Be highly visible and approachable, helping families to feel welcomed, listened to and supported.

Proactively encourage parental engagement and strengthen the partnership between home and school.

Work sensitively with families experiencing challenges, helping them to access appropriate school, community and statutory support.

Ignite the spark, reveal the champion

Lead the school’s day-to-day work around attendance and punctuality, identifying concerns early and working with families to secure improvement.

Maintain and analyse attendance information, identifying patterns and providing leaders with clear and accurate information.

Work collaboratively with the Inclusion Team, DSL, SENDCo, Educational Welfare Officer and other external professionals.

Undertake home visits and work directly with families where additional support is required.

Support safeguarding across the school, including undertaking the role of Deputy DSL, with appropriate training and development.

Develop positive relationships with community organisations and external services to broaden the support available to our children and families.

Communicate confidently and sensitively, including when conversations may be challenging.

Demonstrate excellent organisation, attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities.

Treat confidential and sensitive information with the highest levels of professionalism.

Be resilient, flexible and solution-focused, with a genuine commitment to improving outcomes for children.

Share our commitment to inclusion, equality and ensuring that every child and every family feels that they belong.

The person specification particularly highlights strong interpersonal and communication skills, resilience, professionalism, the ability to work with people from a range of backgrounds and experience of collaborative multi‑agency working.

We are looking for someone who will do much more than manage processes: we want someone who will know our families, champion our children and become an important part of our school community.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be required to undertake an enhanced DBS check.