Personal Education (PEP) Quality and Compliance Officer

Job Introduction

We're seeking a Personal Education (PEP) Quality and Compliance Officer to join the Milton Keynes Virtual School.

The Virtual School promotes and champions the education of children who are looked after, previously looked after, who have a social worker or who have kinship care arrangements.

We work within statutory and non-statutory frameworks and have an established set of clear policies, protocols and procedures to guide our work and enable us to act as advocates for the children we support. This involves direct work with professionals, supporting children by providing advice and guidance, supporting the completion of Personal Education Plans (PEPs) and the deploying of resources to support educational achievement.

We're a small, focused and dedicated team, providing support, guidance and challenge to colleagues around the city council as well as foster carers, families and educational settings.

Our work is not confined to Milton Keynes as we work wherever our looked after children are placed so some travel will be required, although much of our work is undertaken virtually.

As part of your role, you'll contribute to developing, maintaining and increasing the high standards of education for a caseload of looked after children. Experience in Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 settings is particularly desirable.

This role may be suitable for home working, following an assessment.

Interviews will be held on 23 and 25 April.

Milton Keynes City Council is a modern and friendly place to work. Find out more about working with us here: www.mkcounciljobs.org.uk

Main Responsibility

• Work in an advisory role to secure timely school admissions and/or Early Years educational provision for all looked after children on the allocated caseload.
• Ensure that all professionals work collaboratively so that educational barriers are identified and support is put into place to overcome these for looked after children on the allocated caseload.
• Effectively use data for monitoring and evaluation purposes for looked after children.
• Monitor and maintain an overview of quality of all PEPs on the allocated caseload and where quality is less than satisfactory, take corrective action.
• Contribute to the Virtual School training programme delivered to all stakeholders working with looked after children.

The Ideal Candidate

• Experience of working with vulnerable children, with an understanding of the complex issues facing care experienced children and how this can impact on their learning needs and academic attainment.
• Experience of teaching and learning, ideally with an understanding of children and young people with special educational needs. Experience within the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 curriculums would be an advantage.
• Enjoys managing own caseload, setting own priorities and working to tight deadlines.
• Great communication skills as you'll need to work both as a part of a team and individually to build positive relationships with children, parents/carers, social workers and education settings.
• For this role, the candidate is required to have a full UK driving licence, along with access to a vehicle.
• Evidence of the driving licence and vehicle insurance with business insurance will be required from the candidate should they be offered this position. Without this documentation the candidate will not be appointable.
• DBS Enhanced - should you be offered the role, as part of the pre-employment checks an Enhanced DBS will be actioned for you (unless you are on the DBS Update Service).

Package Description

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of benefits including:

• Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years. In addition, there is a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.
• Excellent pension - everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.
• A full range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support and a childcare subsidy.
• Access to an award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.
• Salary sacrifice car scheme - low-cost leasing of electric and low emission vehicles.
• Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

Why join us? Along with more on our Benefits, discover why Working at the City Council could be the right move for you here: Working at the Council | Milton Keynes

Our roles are either designated 'site based' or 'home based'. 'Site based' roles can include up to two days a week working from home whilst 'home based' roles are based at home four days a week. Of course, managers designate which category roles are in based on the needs of the service and the circumstances.

About The Organisation

Milton Keynes City Council is a large, modern and financially stable employer with around 2,500 people working across our eight areas. Together we provide local residents and businesses with a wide range of important round-the-clock services and aim to make our city a better place to live.

We work hard because of the demands placed on us, like protecting children from harm or preventing homelessness. However, working for the city is always rewarding and everyone has the opportunity to make a real difference.

We're very proud of our diversity and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Whatever your background, you will be welcome here if you share our values of being dedicated, respectful and collaborative.

We offer great training and support and because of the size and scale of the organisation there are always new opportunities to explore when it's time for a new role.

If you'd like to know more about how we do things and what matters to us, take a look at our short booklet What makes us Milton Keynes City Council.