Home Academy Liaison Officer

Teaching Vacancies; Greater London; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading educational institution in Greater London seeks a Home Academy Liaison Officer (HALO) to oversee the educational welfare of students. The role involves managing attendance for at-risk students, conducting home visits, and collaborating with families and external agencies. Applicants need a degree or equivalent and should have substantial experience in a pastoral capacity, alongside a commitment to safeguarding and supporting student needs. Join a team dedicated to enhancing educational outcomes and supporting our diverse student community.

Benefits

Performance and Loyalty Bonus

Pension Scheme

Wellbeing Cash Plan

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• At least three years' experience in a pastoral role in an educational setting.
• Experience of working with students facing challenges in attendance.
• Strong communication skills to liaise with families and external agencies.

Responsibilities

• Oversee educational welfare across the academy.
• Monitor and improve attendance for vulnerable students.
• Conduct home visits to engage families in their child's education.

Skills

Behaviour for learning policies

Child protection and safeguarding procedures training

First aid knowledge

Experience dealing with attendance issues

Ability to work with families

Experience with challenging students

Education

Qualifications to degree level or equivalent

Job description

What skills and experience we're looking for

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.

We would like to hear from you have:

• 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
• Experience of working with challenging students and parents, and finding ways in which we can meet their needs more successfully

For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.

What the school offers its staff

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.

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.

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 and many other benefits. Learn more about our benefits on our website.

Further details about the role

Your responsibilities will include:

• Overseeing Educational Welfare across the academy.
• Managing a caseload of ‘at risk' students, where attendance falls below 85% and implement 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 as appropriate 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 of 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

Commitment to safeguarding

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.