Home Academy Liaison Officer

HARRIS ACADEMY BATTERSEA; Greater London; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading secondary school in Greater London is seeking a Home Academy Liaison Officer to oversee educational welfare for students. The role involves managing attendance for at-risk students, conducting home visits, and ensuring effective communication with families. The position is ideal for candidates with a degree and experience in an educational setting. The salary ranges from £29,641 to £30,516, covering 39 weeks per year with 37.5 hours per week. This is a great opportunity for those looking to make a difference in students' lives.

Benefits

Performance Bonus

Pension Scheme

Wellbeing Cash Plan

Electric car scheme

26 days' annual leave

Qualifications

• Qualifications to degree level or equivalent.
• At least three years’ experience in inner-city schools.
• Basic knowledge of first aid.

Responsibilities

• Oversee educational welfare across the academy.
• Manage caseload of 'at risk' students.
• Conduct home visits to engage families.

Skills

Knowledge of attendance strategies

Communication skills

Child protection training

Behaviour for learning policies

Experience working with families

Education

Degree level qualification or equivalent

Training in child protection

Job description

About Us

Harris Academy Battersea is a mixed state secondary school serving a truly comprehensive community in the heart of London. We are an Ofsted ‘Outstanding' school with a track record of delivering fantastic outcomes year on year for our students. In 2023, Ofsted visited the academy and judged us as remaining ‘outstanding', commenting on our “highly ambitious curriculum”, the “exceptionally high quality of education” provided and noted that “behaviour in the school is very strong”. Nevertheless, we are extremely ambitious for our school and as we seek to continue to grow and develop, we are looking for more brilliant people to join us.

Our Academy is centred on the values of Knowledge, Integrity and Resilience and these underpin the way we work for both students and staff. Our staff are inclusive, diverse and committed to our mission: we develop aspirational young people to thrive in a changing world.

HABS offers a broad, academic and challenging curriculum founded on six key curriculum aims :

• To develop deep, long-lasting knowledge
• To develop students into accomplished readers, writers and orators
• To provide experiences within and beyond the classroom that enrich learning and ensure students can make informed choices about their futures
• To equip students to challenge injustice in all its forms
• To enable students to understand how they learn
• To support students to reflect on their choices and values to improve themselves and their community

These aims underpin all elements of our curriculum, and we see our core academic curriculum and wider personal development curriculum as intrinsically linked. All staff at the Academy contribute to the personal development of our students through their roles as tutors and through their contributions to the wider life of the academy.

A thriving school can only function with fantastic staff, and our vision is to make teaching at HABS both enjoyable and sustainable. The wellbeing of staff underpins every decision we make, and we seek to ensure that every member of staff can enjoy a work‑life‑balance enabling them to bring their best to work each day.

At HABS, professional growth and development is central to our mission. Our professional development motto is ‘improve, not prove' and leaders are relentlessly focussed on supporting staff in getting even better through a wide range of internal and external training opportunities.

As a part of the Harris Federation, all staff in the Academy benefit from being part of our network of more than fifty primary and secondary academies across London. Vibrant networks of subject experts meet regularly and teachers can access bespoke support from our central teams of consultants.

For more information about what we do and who we are, we encourage you to visit our website here as well as our careers page here and explore!

Summary

We are currently looking to appoint a Home Academy Liaison Officer (HALO) to oversee educational welfare across the academy.

At Harris Academy Battersea, you will join a dedicated team of staff supporting our excellent students. If you are looking for an opportunity to grow, inspire and develop, this may be the role for you.

The actual salary for this role will be £29,641-£30,516 (39 weeks per year, 37.5 hours per week)

Main Areas of Responsibility

• Overseeing Educational Welfare across the academy.
• Managing a caseload of ‘at risk’ students, where attendance falls below 85% and implementing strategies to improve attendance.
• Monitoring and improving the attendance of most vulnerable students.
• Ensuring compliance with statutory duties, including reporting persistent and severe absenteeism.
• Conducting home visits to engage families and address barriers to school attendance.
• Maintaining accurate attendance records and preparing reports.
• Representing the academy at external meetings (e.g. Social Services Case Conferences, Child in Need Meetings, LAC Reviews).
• Communicating effectively with all external agencies including possible alternative providers.
• Ensuring effective communication / consultation with the parents of students.
• Leading on legal interventions for non‑attendance where necessary.
• Co‑ordinating appropriate and tailored alternative provision for students unable to thrive in mainstream education.
• Supporting the school’s inclusion strategy.
• Maintaining the alternative provision tracker and monitoring student progress.
• Building and maintaining partnerships with external providers, agencies, and support networks.
• Ensuring safeguarding and health and safety standards in alternative provision settings.
• Acting as a liaison between the academy, external providers, students, and families to ensure seamless support and transition to alternative placement.
• Ensuring compliance with local and national policies related to alternative provision, as well as safeguarding protocols.
• Regularly reviewing alternative provision placements and providing feedback to stakeholders.
• Maintaining confidential records of support.
• Preparing reports and maintaining records relating to student referrals and subsequent counselling or support.
• Providing support to the attendance team.
• Providing administrative support to coordinate internal seclusion.

Qualifications & Experience

• Qualifications to degree level or equivalent.
• Knowledge of behaviour for learning policies.
• Knowledge of the range of barriers to learning that students face.
• Training in child protection and safeguarding procedures.
• Basic knowledge of first aid (e.g. emergency first aid course).
• At least three years’ experience of working in an inner‑city school or educational establishment in a pastoral capacity.
• Experience of dealing successfully with a range of issues influencing poor attendance.
• Experience of working with staff to ensure excellent standards of attendance and punctuality.
• Experience of working with families, challenging students and parents, and finding ways to meet their needs more successfully.

Professional Development & Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top‑quality training programmes delivered at every level.

In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan, electric car scheme, 26 days' annual leave (plus bank holidays) for staff who work across the full year, and many other benefits. Learn more about our website.

Safeguarding Notice

The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.

Equal Opportunities

The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates. We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment.

Next Steps

If you have any questions about this opportunity, please send us an email, or call to arrange a conversation.

Before applying, please download the Job Pack for full details on the job responsibilities and person specification. This will be helpful for you when completing your application, and throughout the recruitment process.

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible as we may interview and offer to a candidate before the closing date. Please note that we only accept applications submitted before the closing date via our careers website.