Designated Lead (Looked After Children and Care Leavers) Hours; Full time (37 hours each week, all year-round) Duration; Permanent Salary; £29,455 a year benefitsLocation; Multi site (Dearne Valley College, Rotherham College and North Notts College) in Rotherham and Worksop About the Role Are you a passionate advocate for vulnerable young people? Do you have the drive to break down barriers to education and help care-experienced learners thrive? RNN Group is looking for a Designated Lead (LAC and Care Leaver) to join our dedicated Student Support team. This is a pivotal, highly rewarding role where you will discharge the Group’s statutory responsibilities for our care-experienced learners. Acting as the primary point of contact for multi-agency support, you will ensure that Looked After Children (LAC)—including unaccompanied asylum seekers—Care Leavers (CL), and Previously Looked After Children receive high-quality, inclusive education. You will be the dedicated advocate and bridge connecting students, curriculum teams, and external agencies to ensure these learners are fully integrated into the College community, make exceptional progress, and successfully transition into employment or higher education. Main Duties & Responsibilities Statutory Compliance: Ensure RNN Group remains compliant with all DfE guidance and statutory duties, serving as the lead operational contact for multi-agency support. ePEP Coordination: Schedule, chair, and complete electronic Personal Education Plans (ePEPs), ensuring all documentation is submitted within strict statutory deadlines. Tracking & Monitoring: Proactively monitor the attendance, retention, achievement, and progress of vulnerable students, including collecting destination data. Attendance Intervention: Operate a robust attendance monitoring system, contacting students and support networks early to implement rapid intervention strategies. Reporting: Prepare comprehensive termly and annual reports for college committees and the Leadership Team regarding student performance and unmet needs. Liaison & Partnership: Establish and maintain strong working relationships between the College, Virtual Schools, and Local Authorities. Policy & Admin: Contribute to the review of college policies to ensure they do not unintentionally disadvantage vulnerable groups (e.g., young carers/parents), while managing the administrative systems required by various Virtual School networks. As our Designated Lead, your ultimate goal is to promote the educational achievement and well-being of our students by: Promoting Educational Achievement: Providing targeted pastoral support, mentoring, and advocacy so care-experienced learners achieve on par with their peers. Embedding Trauma-Informed Practice: Providing expert advice and guidance to curriculum colleagues on trauma-informed strategies to support individual students. Fostering Aspiration: Cultivating an environment where vulnerable learners believe they can succeed, encouraging progression into higher education and sustainable careers. Ensuring Emotional Support: Acting as—or facilitating access to—an "Emotionally Available Adult," offering the stability students need to engage with their learning. Continuous Service Improvement: Working collaboratively with the Head of Student Support and the wider Welfare team to constantly elevate our pastoral service. The Challenges You'll Tackle This role is incredibly rewarding, but it requires resilience and excellent organizational skills. You will need to successfully navigate: Balancing Demands: Managing intensive, daily face-to-face operational student support alongside rigorous statutory deadlines and ePEP paperwork. Information Management: Retaining a deep, evolving knowledge of various courses, legislative updates, and external agency offerings. Engagement: Building deep trust and maintaining high expectations with learners who may have complex trauma backgrounds or significant barriers to engagement. You will… Experienced within learner support strategies, working with vulnerable young people specifically ‘looked after children’, ‘care leavers’ and ‘young carers’ to develop positive support strategies, to motivate and inspire others to overcome barriers and succeed. You will be able to work with others both internally and externally through partnership development. You will have strong safeguarding experience, knowledge and be able to manage cases to signpost and offer support to learners. You will hold a Level 2 (or equivalent) qualification in English and Maths (or be willing to undertake), a level 3 (or equivalent) qualification in health and social care, youth work or social studies. Having a Level 3 (or higher) teaching qualification would be advantageous. We understand that no candidate will perfectly match every qualification or criterion listed. If your experience differs from what we've outlined but you believe you can contribute to this role, we encourage you to apply! Department Info You will be joining a forward-thinking, collaborative team reporting directly to the Director of Safeguarding and Student Support. Working alongside Safeguarding, Student Support, and Curriculum teams, you will be part of a joined-up ecosystem entirely focused on student success. If you are ready to make a tangible, lasting difference in the lives of young people who need it most, we want to hear from you. Our excellent benefits and rewards package: Access to local government pension scheme (with employer contributions from 15.6%) Up to 41 days annual leave per year including closure during Christmas period Access to our gyms, restaurants and salons Staff health & wellbeing and benefits schemes including in-house Occupational Health service Extensive wellbeing support through a digital Wellbeing Hub that offers a broad range of support for physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. Full, part time and flexible working hours available in many roles Free Parking available at all of our sites Fantastic career development opportunities including funding for teacher training, apprenticeships and various other industry recognised qualifications New FE teachers can also apply for grants of up to £6,000 in STEM subjects (conditions apply) through the teacher retention initiative Recruitment Referral Scheme for all employees, worth £200 per referral made What is the RNN Group? RNN Group’s main goal is to be an ‘outstanding’ education and training provider and this is at the heart of everything that we do. To help us achieve this we are looking to recruit highly motivated, innovative and dynamic individuals to join our existing teams. To be a part of the team at RNN Group we will expect you to be committed to our values too; We are Inclusive, We have Integrity, We Deliver, We are One Team. We are OFSTED ‘Good’ (November 2022) We celebrate diversity and are proud to be recognised as Investors in Diversity for our commitment to the FREDIE (Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement) model, fostering a supportive environment for all. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of background, proudly participating in the Disability Confident Scheme, and provide reasonable adjustments. The RNN Group is proud to be part of the South Yorkshire Institute of Technology (SYIoT). As a newly designated Defence Technical Excellence College, RNN Group is proud to support the UK’s defence sector by developing the next generation of highly skilled technical talent. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, vulnerable adults and young people. All new employees will be required undertake a DBS check and other associated checks in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education Guidance. The Group’s core operating hours are 8.30am-5.00pm (9pm on a Tuesday and Thursday during term time). You may be expected to work at any time during these hours to ensure business needs are met. All candidates must have the legal right to work in the UK.