Role Responsibility An exciting opportunity has emerged within the Kent PRU and Attendance Service (KPAS) to recruit a KPAS Attendance Officer to join the North Kent team and help make the difference to the lives of children and young people in Kent. The subject of school attendance has never been higher profile at both national and local level. KPAS has been working hard to ensure the expectations for local authorities within the Department for Education’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, is successfully delivered. As a KPAS Attendance Officer, you will be the named officer for a group of allocated primary, secondary, special and independent schools. You will provide specialist advice and guidance with the key objective of improving the school attendance of children and young people in Kent. This requires the ability to communicate effectively with parents/carers, young people and school staff, including headteachers and to balance advice and guidance with professional challenge where necessary. We are looking for a practitioner who has experience holding challenging conversations and finding positive outcomes. You will be highly motivated, willing to learn quickly and be able to work both autonomously and as a team player. There will be occasions when you are required to conduct legal investigations where parents fail to secure their child’s regular attendance at school so a high standard of report writing, with attention to detail, whilst meeting tight deadlines, is therefore essential. The successful candidate will be able to travel across a wide geographical area within North Kent, including Sevenoaks, Dartford and Gravesham Districts at various times of day in a timely and flexible manner and, on occasion, outside of core business hours. A Full UK driving licence is required as this role will involve visiting schools, family homes and other locations as needed. The council is committed to making reasonable adjustments so, whilst this job requires the jobholder to drive, your application will still be considered if you are unable to drive due to a disability. This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification. This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service.