Home Academy Liaison Officer

About Us

Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich is an outstanding place for students and staff alike. We pride ourselves on helping our students to be incredibly successful and we are as driven to support our staff, with an excellent CPD programme and development opportunities for all staff at the academy. We encourage our students and staff to live our core values of character, courage and conscience in our community and beyond. We have an excellent staff who are highly motivated, committed and happy.

Summary

We are currently looking to appoint a Home Academy Liaison Officer (HALO) to oversee educational welfare across the academy on a fixed-term contract to February 2027. At Harris Lowe Academy Willesden, you will join a dedicated team of staff supporting our excellent students. If you are looking for an opportunity to grow, inspire and develop, this may be the role for you. The actual salary for this role will be £30,407.72 - £32,234.36 (40 weeks per year, 37.5 hours per week).

Main Areas of Responsibility

• Overseeing Educational Welfare across the academy.
• Managing a caseload of ‘at risk’ students, where attendance falls below 85% and implement strategies to improve attendance.
• Monitoring and improving the attendance of most vulnerable students.
• Ensuring compliance with statutory duties, including reporting persistent and severe absenteeism.
• Conducting home visits to engage families and address barriers to school attendance.
• Maintaining accurate attendance records and preparing reports.
• Representing the academy at external meetings e.g. Social Services Case Conferences, Child in Need Meetings, LAC Reviews.
• Communicating effectively with all external agencies including possible alternative providers.
• Ensuring effective communication/consultation as appropriate with the parents of students.
• Leading on legal interventions for non-attendance where necessary.
• Co-ordinating appropriate and tailored alternative provision for students unable to thrive in mainstream education.
• Supporting the school’s inclusion strategy.
• Maintaining the alternative provision tracker and monitoring student progress.
• Building and maintaining partnerships with external providers, agencies, and support networks.
• Ensuring safeguarding and health and safety standards in alternative provision settings.
• Acting as a liaison between the academy, external providers, students, and families to ensure seamless support and transition to alternative placements.
• Ensuring compliance with local and national policies related to alternative provision, as well as safeguarding protocols.
• Regularly reviewing alternative provision placements and providing feedback to stakeholders.
• Maintaining confidential records of support.
• Preparing reports and maintaining records relating to student referrals and subsequent counselling or support.
• Providing support to the attendance team.
• Providing administrative support to coordinate internal seclusion.

Qualifications Experience

We would like to hear from you if you have:

• Qualifications to degree level or equivalent.
• Knowledge of behaviour for learning policies.
• Knowledge of the range of barriers to learning that students face.
• Training in child protection and safeguarding procedures.
• Basic knowledge of first aid (e.g. emergency first aid course).
• At least three years’ experience of working in an inner city school or educational establishment in a pastoral capacity.
• Experience of dealing successfully with a range of issues influencing poor attendance.
• Experience of working with staff to ensure excellent standards of attendance and punctuality.
• Experience of working with families.
• Experience of working with challenging students and parents, and finding ways in which we can meet their needs more successfully.

Professional Development Benefits

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level. In addition to the opportunities for career development and progression, we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package which includes a Performance and Loyalty Bonus, Pension Scheme with generous employer contributions, a Wellbeing Cash Plan, electric car scheme, 26 days' annual leave (plus bank holidays) for staff who work across the full year, and many other benefits.

Safeguarding Notice

The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.

Equal Opportunities

The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates. We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment.

Next Steps

If you have any questions about this opportunity, please send us an email, or call to arrange a conversation. Before applying, please download the Job Pack for full details on the job responsibilities and person specification. This will be helpful for you when completing your application, and throughout the recruitment process. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible as we may interview and offer to a candidate before the closing date. Please note that we only accept applications submitted before the closing date via our careers website.