The Education Entitlement and Enrichment Service strives to deliver outstanding services for our customers, predominately the children of Coventry, who may be requiring access to education or alternative education provision. We ensure vulnerable children are appropriately supported; have a voice, that hopefully leads to their high achievement and excellent progress. The Team is made up of a diverse range of services all working together to assist children and young people to flourish throughout their education journey and to recognise, support and apply innovative solutions to address the growing issues in relation to trying to educate some of our most vulnerable students in schools. The Children Absent from Education Team is responsible for delivering statutory duties for the Council in respect of:Pupil attendance enforcementChildren Missing Education (CME)6th day provision for permanently excluded pupilsDuties under Section 19; and The administration of the Fair Access and Managed Move processWe value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create a workplace culture that is inclusive, is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias.Our workforce data shows that men, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, have a disability or who identify as being from the LGBT+ community are under-represented at management level and encourage applicants from these backgrounds to apply. This does not prevent individuals with or without other protected characteristics as set out within the Equality Act 2010 from applying for this post.Our ValuesIn line with our One Coventry Values, we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our residents so that equity and respect remains at the heart of everything we do.Our Values are:Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.What is the job role?An opportunity has arisen for the recruitment of a Lead for Children Absent from Education.This is a full-time (37 hours) permanent position. Please note that the advert may close early if we have a significant number of applications. The Education Entitlement and Enrichment Service is seeking to recruit a suitably experienced Lead for Children Absent from Education to support the local authority in ensuring it fulfils its statutory duties and responsibilities for school attendance, inclusion, exclusion, in-year fair access arrangements and Children Missing Education (CME) - securing safeguarding requirements.The role will also be responsible for the promotion of policies and practices which focus on both increasing inclusion and decreasing educational and social exclusion.This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).Who are we looking for?The successful candidate will have experience of advising schools, parents, stakeholders and partners regarding all issues that impact on children and young people’s ability and opportunities to access education and will additionally have knowledge of: the legal framework related to school attendancelegislation relating to Education and Children Missing Educationissues which may cause poor school attendancelegislation and interventions relating to Section 19 safeguarding procedures We continually aim to improve the education experiences of Coventry children and young people, and inclusion and attendance is one aspect of this. To achieve this Coventry City Council and the Coventry family of schools have together forged an education partnership that is based on principles of shared moral purpose and robust accountability. The partnership’s primary aim is to improve the life chances of all children and young people within the city. Partnership success will evidence that all children, young people and adults have access to high quality education and learning, develop resilience, make positive life choices and contribute to a vibrant City of Coventry. The Lead for Children Absent from Education will have responsibility in developing initiatives and interventions with children, young people and parents in order to improve attendance, advise, evaluate and challenge schools on the effectiveness of school’s procedures for the monitoring of overall and persistent absence and producing court files for presentation in the Magistrates Court for cases of non-attendance. Our workforce data shows that men, people from minority ethnic backgrounds, have a disability or who identify as being from the LGBT+ community are under-represented at management level and encourage applicants from these backgrounds to apply. This does not prevent individuals with or without other protected characteristics as set out within the Equality Act 2010 from applying for this post. If you would like further information regarding this post please contact: Faye.Parklen@coventry.gov.uk If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:Members of the Armed Forces and veteransAre currently in care or have previously been in careIf you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health conditionFor full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.Interview date: 4th April 2025 About CoventryCoventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies
