Family Engagement Officer

Family Engagement Officer

Start Date: 1st May, 2024 (or as soon as possible thereafter).

We are seeking to appoint a Family Engagement Worker for the Community Focussed Schools Initiative to start as soon as possible. This is an exciting opportunity to support schools in developing family engagement, community engagement and multi-agency working, through a cluster approach. Effective community focused schools provision reflects the needs of their children, families and communities they serve. This project will focus on Llangatwg Community school and its cluster primaries, finding out the needs of all stakeholders, shaping community-based learning and working with our most hard to reach families. The successful applicant will be based at Llangatwg Community School and will work to provide support to Llangatwg pupil, parents, and the wider family cluster.

The position is ideally suited for candidates who are able to demonstrate the following:

• Ability to promote meaningful and productive relationships with families.
• Ability to develop partnerships that serve community and learner needs.
• Ability to support the alignment of integrated services to support our most vulnerable families
• Good Microsoft Office skills essential such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Ability to communicate effectively with internal and external clients, both verbally and in writing, with the confidence to engage with a variety of people (pupil, families, colleagues and stakeholders alike) and the aptitude to rationally explain, explore and discuss technical issues and capture feedback
• Enthusiastic, hard-working, with ambition and drive
• Ability to structure and prioritise work effectively through close cooperation with the team as a whole
• Ability to work in a team and independently without losing initiative and focus.
  
  

The successful candidate will be responsible for:

To support the delivery of the Community Focussed Schools Project within NPT. This will involve working as part of team of professionals to help develop a framework to support schools in developing family engagement, community engagement and multi-agency working, through a cluster approach.

• To promote meaningful and productive relationships with families.
• To develop partnerships that serve community and learner needs.
• To support the alignment of integrated services to support our most vulnerable families
  
  

Effective community focused schools provision reflects the needs of their children, families and communities they serve. This project will focus on Llangatwg Community school and its cluster primaries, finding out the needs of all stakeholders, shaping community-based learning and working with our most hard to reach families. The family engagement officer will work with a team of four family engagement officers at primary schools, and work within the school improvement service within the authority.

Main Responsibilities

• Engage with schools, through a cluster approach, to develop a shared understanding of effective parental engagement, sharing research and supporting them to develop their own vision for effective working.
• Conduct and participate in regular team meetings and develop effective lines of communication.
• Develop strong relationships with children and young people, parents/carers and school staff to understand their views and experiences. Effectively develop and manage these partnerships with all stakeholders throughout the CFS Project.
• Assist in developing and delivering training, presentations to all partners in the project on the importance of the impact in engaging effectively with parent to improve pupils' outcome
• Assist in preparing reports to the local steering group on project progress and insight
• Work collaboratively with the relevant departments within the Local Authority to share good practice and problem solve issues identified.
• To be responsible for the delivery of the parental engagement and child poverty work, this will involve working with local partners, including project management, professional networks and in-service training.
• Developing plans to support activities with schools and ensuring that work undertaken generates the learning and evidence required.
• To carry out data, research and evaluation tasks to support the generation of the evidence and learning required to fulfil the national change strategy, including responsibility for the high quality implementation of agreed monitoring and evaluation activity. (Professional Learning Networks)
• To support influencing for local and national change, and sharing of our learning, including supporting the creation of resources, organising events and developing case studies.

You will have experience in/of:

• working with parents and children, assisting in their development.
• working as a part of team.
• organizing and promoting events in line with the Council's norms and practices.
• Recent and appropriate experience of enabling families/carers to access support agencies.
• Significant experience of managing and supporting staff working with children and families, within the family home and community settings.

Ideally you will have 5 GCSEs / 2 A levels / NVQ 3 or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline.

This is an innovative pilot project that promotes a community focused schools approach to family and community engagement. Would you be interested in using your expertise in working with families within their communities to development effective family engagement? Might you enjoy working within innovative environment that promotes mulita agency working across Neath Port Talbot? Interested? Want to find out more? We are looking for an effective, creative practitioner with a track record in the successfully working with our most vulnerable pupils and their families through multi agency working. Though the role might seem daunting, enthusiasm and professional empathy are the main requirements and this post offers a unique form of professional development. If you think that you have the necessary experience and qualifications for this role, we would love to hear from you.

Your workstyle will be a mobile hybrid worker in this role which gives you the flexibility to work from home and from a variety of Council workplaces.

For an informal discussion, please contact Jonathan Roberts on

Phone: 07565702606 or

Email: j.roberts3@npt.gov.uk

Closing date required: 12 th April, 2024

This post is subject to an enhanced adult and child DBS disclosure.

Neath Port Talbot Council is totally committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Our schools are equally committed to ensuring the safety and protection of all children and young people and will take action to safeguard their wellbeing.

The recruitment process for this post will be underpinned by rigorous safer recruitment assessment to ensure that children and young people are protected.

Welsh Language skills are not required.

Additional Information:

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, applications submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates who have a disability and armed forces veterans.

In support of employees of Tata Steel who are at risk of redundancy, or have been made redundant in 2024, Neath Port Talbot Council is offering a guaranteed interview for jobs across the Council. Applicants must meet the essential criteria for the post to qualify for this. If you are or going to be affected by the job losses at Tata Steel then we would welcome an application from you. Just make it known on your application form that you are currently at risk of redundancy or you have been made redundant.

At Team NPT, we all work together to serve the people, communities and businesses of Neath Port Talbot.

We are committed to providing training opportunities and the professional development of all our employees.

We look forward to welcoming you to Team NPT.