School Attendance Liaison Practitioner

East Sussex County Council; Lewes; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 34,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexi-time working

CPD opportunities

Generous leave entitlement

Travel expenses paid

Lease car scheme

Loans at preferential rates

Job summary

East Sussex County Council is seeking a School Attendance Liaison Practitioner to join the Education Division’s Team Around the School and Setting (TASS). The role focuses on improving school attendance, acting as a liaison between home and school, and delivering bespoke family support packages.

You will work with schools, children and families to improve attendance and outcomes for pupils with additional needs, building partnerships with external agencies and maintaining strong communication

Qualifications

• Self-motivation and a passion for inclusion and outcomes for children and young people and ability to communicate effectively with others and provide advice in accurate spoken and written English
• Interpersonal and communication skills and ability to engage with children, families and setting staff and ability to deal with difficult situations
• Ability to carry out person-centred, outcomes based planning and confidently and accurately demonstrate specific strategies when working with individuals, groups or cohorts
• Ability to build and maintain good productive working relationships with colleagues within the team, in settings and across services
• Organisational skills with the ability to effectively manage own workload and balance using own initiative against need to seek management guidance
• Experience of successfully supporting and demonstrating an understanding of the main approaches to working with children with protected characteristics and vulnerabilities

Responsibilities

• Support schools with attendance and liaison between school and home
• Draw up and deliver bespoke packages of support
• Work directly with schools, settings, children and families to support improved attendance and outcomes
• Provide a point of contact for parents to increase confidence and reduce anxiety
• Develop partnerships with outside agencies and form positive relationships with families to enable effective support for pupils

Skills

Self-motivation

Inclusion focus

Communication in English

Interpersonal skills

Person-centred planning

Team collaboration

Workload management

Understanding protected characteristic

Job description

Job Description

Do you want to make a difference to children and young people by helping them to access their education? If you have a passion for supporting schools, families, children and young people, you could be our next School Attendance Liaison Practitioner (SALP) to join the Team Around the School and Setting (TASS), part of the innovative Education Division of Children’s Services.

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to support schools with their work on improving attendance, and being a liaison between school and home.

As part of a team of experienced staff, you will work alongside professionals to draw up and deliver bespoke packages of support. Your primary focus will be to work directly with our schools and settings, children and families to support improved attendance and outcomes for children and young people with additional needs. The practitioner will provide a point of contact for parents to increase parental confidence, reduce anxiety, and support successful inclusion in mainstream settings.

The role of the School Attendance Liaison Practitioner will provide a link between home and school that ensures good, consistent, and effective communication between the two. They will develop strong partnerships with outside agencies and form positive working relationships with families to enable effective support for pupils, and their families to ensure regular attendance at school by working to alleviate barriers to learning and improving communication and links between school and home.

We are looking for a skilled practitioner with a genuine interest in this area, who is experienced in working within an educational setting, to bring about change by supporting attendance and engagement with learning. You will have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to engage with children, young people, families and school staff.

• Self-motivation and a passion for inclusion and outcomes for children and young people and ability to communicate effectively with others and provide advice in accurate spoken and written English
• Interpersonal and communication skills and ability to engage with children, families and setting staff and ability to deal with difficult situations.
• Ability to carry out person-centred, outcomes based planning and confidently and accurately demonstrate specific strategies when working with individuals, groups or cohorts.
• Ability to build and maintain good productive working relationships with colleagues within the team, in settings and across services.
• Organisational skills with the ability to effectively manage own workload and balance using own initiative against need to seek management guidance.
• Experience of successfully supporting and demonstrating an understanding of the main approaches to working with children with protected characteristics and vulnerabilities

We have two posts available - 1 based at County Hall, Lewes and 1 based at Cavendish House, Hastings

Both roles are permanent roles, with some flexibility for some home working as part of a hybrid working model in the office and in schools. The ability to travel is essential. You will be supported through regular line management supervisions, and peer support.

Working within the Education Division is a privilege and offers the chance to support the people of East Sussex to live life to the full. In this job you assist with that every day!

Interviews will take place in person on Friday 13 November 2026 at St Mary’s House, Eastbourne. Candidates who meet certain criteria are given priority when we shortlist. See our priority status page for details.

Benefits

• Opportunities for flexi-time working
• Regular CPD opportunities
• A generous leave entitlement which increases with length of service, with the option to purchase additional leave
• Access to financial wellbeing resources and products
• A wide selection of discounts with high street retailers, holiday companies and more
• Travel expenses paid from allocated base
• Options for lease car scheme
• Loans for certain purposes at preferential rates

About

If you have any questions or would like to have an informal discussion about the role, please email Vidyulatha Narayan, with your questions:

[e-mail]

About Us

Additional Information

This post is subject to an Enhanced DBS check or Enhanced check for Regulated Activity with the Disclosure & Barring Services (previously the Criminal Records Bureau). For further information about what is required in this process please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-check-applicant-criminal-record . Please note that we require evidence of an overseas police check if you have lived or worked abroad.

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is part-time or term-time only.

If you require sponsorship to work in the UK please let the hiring manager know this in your application so we can check eligibility for sponsorship for the role. For further information please go to https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

If you require any reasonable adjustments, due to disability, to enable you to participate fully in the process please contact the hiring manager on the contact details above.