School Attendance Support Officer

West Northamptonshire Council; Northampton; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 36,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Generous annual leave

Local Government Pension Scheme

Learning and development opportunities

Health and wellbeing support

Employee discounts

Job summary

West Northamptonshire Council is seeking a School Attendance Support Officer to collaborate with schools, families and partner agencies to improve attendance and educational outcomes. You will identify barriers, provide guidance and help ensure timely support, while navigating complex cases with professional curiosity and problem solving.

The role involves relationship building, investigation and case management across a varied caseload, with resilience and organisational skill required to

Qualifications

• Experience working with children, families and schools in attendance or safeguarding roles.
• Ability to review attendance data, identify patterns and provide guidance.
• Strong organisational and case management skills with evidence-based decision making.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with schools to review attendance data and discuss cases.
• Meet with families, conduct home visits and coordinate support with partner agencies.
• Provide guidance on attendance, inclusion and educational entitlement.
• Influence decision making to ensure appropriate support is in place.
• Balance support with accountability and follow statutory processes when needed.

Skills

Communication

Relationship-building

Case management

Organisational skills

Analytical thinking

Education

Experience in education settings

Attendance/education welfare background

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

About the role

Education plays a vital role in a child's future, and this role sits at the heart of helping children and young people access the education they're entitled to.

As a School Attendance Support Officer, you'll work alongside schools, families and partner agencies to identify barriers to attendance, navigate complex situations and help improve educational outcomes for children and young people.

Working across a varied caseload, you'll support schools to fulfil their responsibilities, provide guidance around attendance and educational entitlement, and help ensure children receive the right support at the right time.

No two days are the same. Some cases will require careful relationship building, others will involve challenge, professional curiosity and problem solving. If you enjoy working with people, making sense of complex situations and helping move things forward, you'll find plenty of variety and purpose in this role.

You'll be joining a supportive and experienced team that works closely together, sharing knowledge, supporting one another and keeping children and young people at the centre of everything we do.

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore subject to an enhanced DBS certificate. It is also a regulated activity and will be subject to a Children and Adults Barred List check. West Northamptonshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

What will you be doing?

You’ll work directly with schools to review attendance data, identify patterns and trends, discuss individual cases and provide advice and guidance around attendance, inclusion and educational entitlement. You’ll also meet with families, carry out home visits and work alongside partner agencies to understand the barriers affecting a child's attendance and education.

While you’ll spend time working with children, families and schools, this isn’t a direct intervention role. Rather than providing ongoing support yourself, you’ll work alongside schools and partner agencies to identify barriers, influence decision making and make sure the right support is in place for children and young people. You’ll often be the person bringing professionals together, offering guidance, challenging where needed and helping move situations forward.

You’ll be comfortable having constructive but sometimes challenging conversations, whether that’s supporting a family to improve attendance or holding schools to account where practice isn’t meeting expected standards.

You’ll need to balance support with accountability. There will be times when you’re helping families access support and times when you’ll need to follow statutory processes where attendance concerns remain.

The role combines relationship building, problem solving, investigation, case management and partnership working. It’s rewarding work, but it can also be demanding, so we’re looking for someone who is resilient, organised and confident managing competing priorities.

Why Join Us?

School attendance sits at the centre of so many positive outcomes for children and young people. When attendance improves, opportunities improve too.

You’ll join a knowledgeable and supportive team who are passionate about the work they do and genuinely support one another. The service has evolved significantly in recent years, with clear expectations, strong leadership and a real commitment to delivering the best outcomes for children, young people and schools.

Alongside a rewarding career, we offer:

• Flexible and family friendly working arrangements
• Generous annual leave
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Learning and development opportunities
• Health and wellbeing support
• Employee benefits and discounts

About you

You may already work within education, inclusion, attendance, safeguarding, health, social care or another role supporting children and families and be looking for a new challenge.

You’ll be confident communicating with a wide range of people and able to build positive relationships whilst remaining professional when conversations become challenging.

You’ll be organised, able to manage a busy caseload and comfortable balancing competing demands. You’ll know how to gather information, analyse situations and make sound decisions based on the evidence available.

This role would particularly suit someone with experience in schools, attendance, pastoral support, inclusion or education welfare who enjoys influencing outcomes and working collaboratively to support children and young people. If you’re someone who can see the bigger picture, remain calm when situations are complex and work positively with schools and families alike, you’ll thrive in this role.

We’re particularly interested in hearing from people who:

• Have experience working with children, young people and families.
• Have experience within education, health, social care or a related setting.
• Can build effective working relationships with schools and partner agencies.
• Are confident managing sensitive conversations and challenging situations.
• Have strong organisational and case management skills.
• Share our commitment to improving outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.

Our benefits

You can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site here: Why you should work for us | West Northamptonshire Council

About us

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like‑minded people.

Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner

The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.

If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email [e-mail] for support.

Please note we reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications, so we recommend applying as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

West Northants Council, where careers thrive.