Family Outreach Mentor

Newham PRUs are seeking to employ an experienced, enthusiastic and dynamic Family Outreach Mentor for a 2 year Fixed Term position

This post is being created as part of the Department for Education (DfE) Alternative Provision (AP) Pilot of AP Specialist Taskforce to be co-located within Tunmarsh School.

The pilot will run for 2 years and test the impact of co-locating in PRUs, specialist workers from across health, education, social care, youth services and youth justice. Co-locating this workforce full-time in the PRU should remove the need for referrals to outside services and provide opportunities for practitioners to build trusted relationships with students attending the PRU.

The Taskforce will focus on reducing truancy, NEET rates, involvement, in serious violence and improving mental health and well-being.

OBJECTIVES

To support the complex needs of pupils in AP by providing specialist support on site.

1. To bring together local partners drawn from across health, education, social care, youth services and youth justice to create the specialist taskforce in the AP school.
2. To rigorously test the quality of implementation and impact on pupil outcomes such as truancy, NEET rates, behaviour and mental health and wellbeing over the 2 years of the pilot and beyond.
3. To run the pilot with the largest AP schools in 20 serious violence hotspots with the ambition of safeguarding pupils in AP from serious youth violence.

Working as a member of Newham PRUs staff and as part of the Multiagency Specialist Taskforce, the successful post holder will:

• Work together with young people attending Newham PRUs, their families and professionals from across education and other involved agencies to develop and implement support plans for young people attending Newham PRU which will assist them in progressing within their educational journeys
• Be responsible for seeking and identifying appropriate interventions and access to resources which may support young people and their families in making progress and mitigating perceived risk
• Lead on the development of the Newham PRUs Parental Engagement calendar of events, implementing a parental engagement programme across the school to ensure parents and carers are involved in school life and provided opportunities to access additional support and information regarding their child’s education.

ABOUT THE JOB

With the support of Newham PRUs Senior Leadership Team, you will provide direct services to young people and their families, working collaboratively to promote continued positive and supportive professional working relationships between Newham PRUs and families, which are based on mutual respect. You will work towards identified aims of support agreed with families to help them to overcome any barriers that may be affecting their child’s ability to access education and encourage families to widen their network of relationships enabling them to access the support and services available in the community.

You will be required to provide case management, supervision and interventions

You may be required to complete accurate and thorough assessments of students’ needs. They will ensure that plans are coordinated, innovative, and creative and centred around the young person’s and family’s needs and risks. You may be required to provide written and verbal reports to partner agencies to support both statutory and non-statutory intervention.

Candidates will have the skills to work effectively in assessing young people within a multi-agency setting to safeguard children, support engagement in learning and sustainable transitions; as well as embedding a trauma informed approach to ensure we obtain meaningful outcomes for children and their families.

The role operates within a diverse borough, with children and young people who demonstrate a complex range of needs; showing empathy and understanding are a daily part of the job.

ABOUT YOU

Applicants will have experience and knowledge of working within an educational setting, and working closely with complex and vulnerable students both within school and extending to community settings

The post holder will have:

• Experience of writing reports
• Experience of working in a multi-agency/public/voluntary setting
• Knowledge of safeguarding and child protection procedure.
• A good understanding and knowledge of community support and statutory services and their role.
• Experience of performing case management tasks including assessment, intervention planning and delivery

For more information about who we are looking for, please refer to the person specification (within the job description).

OUR OFFER

Newham PRU is a great place to work. We will offer you:

•  A competitive salary package
•  Excellent transport links to the rest of the capital.
•  Supportive and established senior leadership with a consistent vision.
•  Access to Schools Advisory Service (SAS) providing healthcare benefits and overall Wellbeing support.
•  Access to cycle scheme and pension.

Closing date 08.11.2021

Interviews taking place w/c 15/11/2021

TO APPLY

Please apply through jobs go public to ensuring that you complete an application form including a supporting statement.

The supporting statement should demonstrate how you meet the relevant requirements listed in the person specification.

Shortlisting decisions will be based on candidates' relevant experience and on candidates' suitability for the role in line with the person specification, as described in their supporting statement.

Please view Family Outreach Mentor Job Description

Additional Information

The London Borough of Newham is a Disability Confident employer. Candidates who declare that they have a disability in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and meet the essential criteria as specified in the Job Profile will be guaranteed an interview.

Priority consideration on all advertised roles will be given to London Borough of Newham Redeployees.

The London Borough of Newham is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable groups and expects staff and volunteers to share this commitment. 

Please be aware that a Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS) check will be required for any position with access to these groups under the provision of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

In addition, the Authority reserves the right  to request employees undertake a basic disclosure check (Disclosure Scotland) where required for the role this includes  anyone who has access to (or information obtained directly from) a government database, or has a GCSX account. These posts will be required to have a Basic Disclosure Scotland check as per the requirements of BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standards).