Engagement Support Officer

Engagement Support Officer

Scale 4, point 7 – 11 (£24,067- 25,560 actual salary)

36 hours per week, term time only + INSETS 45.05 weeks (Fixed Term until August 2025)

Commencing ASAP

Heathcote School is an 11 – 18 School with an ambitious vision and plans to provide the best possible education for all young people in Waltham Forest – we are highly inclusive and our diversity is our strength.  The school is on a rapid journey of improvement ensuring the ‘good’ status (Ofsted 2018) is retained and for the school to ultimately become ‘outstanding’ in all areas.  This is an exciting time to be at a school in a stunning setting with unlimited potential and a school wide commitment to ensure that the pandemic does not prevent the ambition and success of our pupils and staff, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Staff feedback is very positive about working in our school.

We are looking to recruit a qualified and talented member of staff to our school and OAK provision programme as Engagement Support Officer.  The role will be supporting pupils with significant Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) issues that are specifically referred to the programme to help them reach their potential and focus on learning.  This is an exciting time to join Heathcote to be part of this new provision in partnership with the Local Authority to support pupils, not just within Heathcote, but also within the wider borough.  Pupils that join the programme will be supported for 12 weeks with the aim to support them to be reintroduced to main stream education with improved mental health and wellbeing to enable them to learn to their fullest and achieve their full potential.  The provision is run from a designated area within the new building we have on site whilst still being connected with all the resources available within the main school.  You will support the aims and objectives of the school engagement, learning and achievement of targeted pupils by working with them and their parents/carers individually and in groups. As part of the role you will be required to build good relationships with partners, such as parents and agencies and the referring school to ensure that support is in place and the pupil’s attendance improves longer term.

The successful candidate will have proven experience managing and mentoring pupils with SEMH issues within secondary schools, and an awareness of the range of strategies available to address the differing SEMH issues which exist in the mixed ability classroom, focusing on ensuring barriers to learning can be removed and they can make better progress in school. The role is a fixed term post until August 2025 in line with funding for the provision.

The school puts well-being and development at the heart of its work and we have very talented staff who are encouraged to grow, develop and work collaboratively, within school and with local schools, and to be the best they can be.  We are working to ensure school improvement in a high challenge, low threat way and enable robust systems and structures to ensure consistency in all areas, encouraging the growth and development of all.  We are part of the Seven Kings Teaching Alliance, PixL and the West Essex Teaching School Alliance. The school has excellent resources and a stunning, spacious site on the edge of Epping Forest including a staff car park and surrounding roads that do not require a parking permit.   We are also a 15 minute walk from Chingford Station which has great links into the City.

We aim to ensure our staff body reflects the diversity of our community and use anonymised-recruitment processes in our short-listing. We employ staff with diverse skills and backgrounds and this ensures that our policies and systems are always inclusive of all our stakeholders. We value and respect everyone’s identity and our Equality Information and Objectives Policy confirms our commitment to the 2010 Equalities Act.

If you are interested, please look at our school website www.heathcoteschool.com where you will find application forms and further information.

Completed application forms should be emailed to recruitment@heathcote.waltham.sch.uk. 

Closing date for receipt of applications: 1st March 2024

Interviews to be held on: TBC

Please note: applications will be considered as they are received and we reserve the right to close this position before the date specified above.  We therefore urge candidates to submit an application as soon as possible. 

Heathcote School is committed to safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children.  The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS Disclosure.