Client Services Advisor – Attendance in Oakham

Support Staff Scale 4, points 19‑22 inclusive. £32,766 to £34,516 pa FTE. 37 hours per week term‑time only (37 weeks pa) + 6.5 hours for the all‑staff training day = 83.67% of FTE. Actual Salary: £27,415 to £28,880 pa pro rata. Start date: September 2026 or earlier by negotiation.

Are you passionate about supporting young people to overcome barriers to learning and achieve their full potential?

Job Purpose

We are seeking a committed and compassionate Client Services Advisor (Attendance Manager) to play a key role in improving student attendance and engagement. This role is central to supporting students whose attendance is impacted by a range of factors, including anxiety, mental health needs, and complex family circumstances. Working closely with a Vice Principal and wider pastoral team, you will provide high‑quality administrative and operational support, including the monitoring and analysis of attendance and engagement data, maintaining accurate records, and coordinating meetings and reviews. You will be a key point of contact for parents and carers, working collaboratively to identify concerns, arrange meetings, and offer guidance and support to help remove barriers to regular attendance. The role also involves direct work with individual students and small groups, supporting them to develop resilience, confidence, and strategies that enable them to re‑engage successfully with learning. You will liaise with internal staff and external agencies where appropriate, ensuring timely and effective communication to support positive outcomes for students. Flexibility, empathy, a sense of humour, and the ability to communicate calmly and effectively with young people and adults are essential. The successful candidate will join a strong, supportive, and committed team who take pride in working creatively and persistently to achieve the best outcomes for all students.

Benefits

• Ongoing training and professional development
• Access to the Local Government Pension Scheme
• Staff gym and free parking
• Subsidised restaurant and complimentary lunch on training days
• Priority admission for children of staff to Catmose College
• A supportive, inclusive working environment

Team Duties

• Support the vision and ethos of the College.
• Set a good example in terms of dress, punctuality and attendance.
• All Pastoral Client Services Advisors (CSA) will undertake the key worker role for one or more students as determined by their line manager.
• CSAs will lead on one or more specialist areas including attendance, intervention, reception and medical needs, dependent on their experience and working hours.
• CSAs will lead the support for specific groups of students, for example, those offering mutual support through peer mentoring, armed services families, young carers and student council.
• CSAs are expected to work flexibly to support out of hours events such as progress and open evenings as required.
• Ensure all practice aligns with College policies, health and safety guidance and Federation procedures.
• Uphold the College’s routines for learning and uniform.
• Contribute to monitoring and evaluating the success of the College, considering the views of parents, students and staff in relation to behaviour and attitudes and learning.
• Proactively respond to issues identified in the College Transformation Plan to bring about sustained improvement.

Key Worker (All Pastoral CSAs)

• Act as a key worker for students identified through the Catmose College Behaviour Policy as requiring additional pastoral and behavioural support to prevent their conduct from negatively impacting on the learning and behaviour of others.
• Build strong, professional and trusting relationships with allocated students, acting as an advocate to support positive behaviour change and improved engagement with College life.
• Support and facilitate restorative conversations between students and staff, ensuring that issues are resolved constructively and relationships are repaired in line with restorative practice principles.
• Monitor and review daily report cards and behaviour targets, providing feedback to students and staff and intervening promptly where concerns arise.
• Impose and oversee appropriate sanctions, including catch‑up and supervised interventions, ensuring these are applied consistently and support behavioural accountability rather than punishment alone.
• Attend and support students in behaviour, pastoral and reintegration meetings, ensuring the student’s voice is represented and that agreed actions are clearly understood and followed up.
• Develop, implement and regularly review Pastoral Support Plans (PSPs) or equivalent behaviour plans, in collaboration with students, families, teaching staff and senior leaders.
• Maintain accurate and detailed records of behaviour incidents, interventions and outcomes, including monitoring behaviour logs to identify patterns, triggers and areas requiring further intervention.
• Work proactively with parents and carers, establishing effective home‑College links through regular communication, meetings and updates regarding behaviour, progress and support strategies.
• Liaise with external agencies and support services as required (e.g. behaviour support, mental health services, social care), contributing to a coordinated approach around the student.
• Lead and contribute to staff ‘spotlights’, briefings or guidance sessions relating to individual students, ensuring a consistent, informed and supportive approach is taken across teaching and support staff.
• Work closely with form tutors and the Pastoral Senior Assistant Principal to share information, review strategies and ensure that pastoral and behaviour support is aligned and effective.
• Regularly review the impact of interventions and adapt approaches as necessary to secure sustained improvements in behaviour, attendance and engagement.

Attendance (Specialist Role)

• Take a proactive role in monitoring and improving student attendance and punctuality, with a particular focus on students for whom attendance is a barrier to learning.
• Analyse attendance data and patterns to identify students at risk of persistent or severe absence, and to contribute to the identification of underlying barriers, including anxiety, mental health needs, medical issues, or family circumstances.
• Work closely with the Pastoral Lead, Intervention Team and Vice Principals to plan, implement and review targeted attendance interventions.
• Act as a key point of contact for parents and carers in relation to attendance concerns, including making telephone calls, arranging and attending meetings, and providing advice and guidance to support improved attendance.
• Maintain accurate and up‑to‑date attendance records, ensuring all interventions, communications and outcomes are logged appropriately and in line with College procedures.
• Support individual students and small groups through pastoral intervention, helping them to develop confidence, resilience and strategies to re‑engage with learning and College life.
• Liaise with external agencies and services, where appropriate, to support students and families experiencing complex barriers to regular attendance.
• Contribute to attendance reviews, readmittance meetings and pastoral meetings, ensuring that agreed actions are followed up effectively.
• Collaborate with the local authority in processing formal procedures such as penalty notices and maintain records of those students who are educated under Section 19, on reduced timetables or access alternative provision.

Medical Needs & Health Support (Specialist Role)

• Act as a named point of support for students with medical needs, ranging from short‑term conditions to long‑term or life‑limiting conditions, including chronic illness and cancer.
• Provide calm, compassionate and professional support to students and families, recognising the emotional impact that medical needs can have on attendance, behaviour, learning and wellbeing.
• Develop, implement and regularly review Individual Healthcare Plans (IHPs), working in close partnership with parents/carers, healthcare professionals and relevant College staff to ensure students are safe and appropriately supported in College.
• Liaise effectively with parents, health services and medical professionals to share information, clarify guidance and ensure care arrangements are accurate, current and compliant with College policy and statutory guidance.
• Communicate clearly with teaching, pastoral, intervention and academic staff regarding students’ medical needs, ensuring reasonable adjustments and agreed strategies are consistently applied in lessons and across College life.
• Maintain accurate, confidential and up‑to‑date records of healthcare plans, medical documentation, risk assessments and communications, ensuring information is stored and shared appropriately.
• Monitor medical plans and support arrangements, updating them promptly in response to changes in a student’s condition, treatment or medical advice.
• Support students returning to College following illness, hospitalisation or medical treatment, working with the pastoral and intervention teams to plan reintegration and reduce anxiety or barriers to learning.
• Support students and families experiencing serious or long‑term illness with sensitivity and discretion, signposting to additional support where appropriate and ensuring the student feels safe, understood and included.
• Support vaccination teams and other health related matters affecting our students.
• Work closely with the wider pastoral team, intervention staff and senior leaders to ensure a coordinated, whole‑College approach to supporting students with medical needs.

Intervention (Intervention CSA)

• Support individual students and small groups through targeted interventions designed to overcome barriers to learning, progress, attendance and engagement.
• Work with the Senior Assistant Principal for Intervention to plan and support assessment, intervention and progress evenings.
• Identify students requiring intervention through the analysis of academic, behaviour and attendance data, alongside referrals from staff and discussions with pastoral and senior leadership teams.
• Plan, deliver and review a range of interventions that support academic progress, emotional wellbeing and positive engagement with learning.
• Work directly with students on a one‑to‑one and small‑group basis, using structured and relational approaches to build confidence, resilience, motivation and effective learning behaviours.
• Develop and maintain individual intervention plans with clear targets, regularly reviewing progress and adapting support to ensure interventions remain effective.
• Liaise closely with teaching staff and form tutors to ensure intervention strategies complement classroom practice and are applied consistently.
• Work collaboratively with parents and carers, sharing information about intervention strategies, progress and ways to support learning at home.
• Contribute to multi‑disciplinary meetings, working alongside pastoral staff, attendance leads, behaviour leads and external agencies where appropriate.
• Track and evaluate the impact of interventions using quantitative data and qualitative feedback, reporting outcomes to relevant staff and senior leaders.
• Maintain accurate and up‑to‑date records of interventions, progress and communications, ensuring accountability and continuity of support.
• Support students returning to learning following periods of absence, suspension or disengagement.
• Work with pastoral and academic staff to facilitate successful reintegration.
• Promote a positive, inclusive and aspirational approach to intervention that supports high expectations and improved outcomes for all students.

Reception (All Pastoral CSAs)

• Act as the first point of contact for parents, carers and external callers, responding to telephone and in‑person enquiries in a professional, calm and supportive manner.
• Manage incoming calls from parents and carers, triaging concerns appropriately and ensuring information is passed promptly to relevant members of the pastoral, intervention or senior leadership teams.
• Support students who present to Client Services feeling unwell, carrying out initial assessment and decision‑making in line with College policy.
• Manage the daily operation of the First Aid room, monitoring student wellbeing and determining whether students are well enough to return to lessons, require parental collection or need immediate medical attention.
• Respond calmly and compassionately to students experiencing anxiety, distress or the impact of pastoral incidents, providing reassurance and ensuring appropriate support is accessed.
• Liaise closely with pastoral staff, intervention managers, key workers and senior leaders to ensure students receive timely and appropriate support.
• Maintain accurate records of student visits, first aid incidents, parental communications and actions taken, ensuring information is logged appropriately and confidentially.
• Communicate effectively with teaching staff regarding students temporarily withdrawn from lessons, supporting smooth transitions back to learning where appropriate.
• Support the wider safeguarding culture of the College by identifying concerns, sharing information appropriately and following College and Federation procedures.
• Contribute to a welcoming, organised and purposeful Client Services environment that supports student wellbeing, safety and positive engagement with College life.
• Demonstrate flexibility and resilience in responding to high‑volume, emotionally sensitive and sometimes urgent situations throughout the College day.

External Agency Liaison (As Appropriate)

• Liaise with health services including school nursing teams, NHS services and emergency services to support students presenting with illness, injury or ongoing medical needs.
• Support communication with mental health and wellbeing services, such as CAMHS and counselling services to ensure coordinated support for vulnerable students.
• Coordinate practical arrangements linked to external agency involvement, including relaying messages, arranging meetings and maintaining accurate, confidential records.
• Work closely with pastoral, safeguarding and senior staff to ensure external agency involvement forms part of a joined‑up support approach for students and families.

Safeguarding, Health and Safety

The Federation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all students in our care and expects all staff to share this commitment. We provide safeguarding training to all staff on an annual basis, and all staff are responsible for ensuring safeguarding, health and safety policies are implemented in line with Federation policy and current legislation. Please familiarise yourself with our Safeguarding Policy, available online at www.rutlandfederation.com/policies. This position advertised is a ‘regulated position’ which means it will involve regular contact with children and young people; under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 it is an offence to apply for this role if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children. This position is also ‘exempt’ from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. All staff are responsible for ensuring safeguarding, health and safety policies and procedures are enforced in line with Federation policy and current legislation.

Person Specification – Client Services Advisor

Experience and Knowledge (Essential / Desirable)

• At least two years’ experience of working with children or young people in an educational, pastoral, health, youth or support setting.
• Supporting students who face barriers to learning, including behaviour, attendance, wellbeing, anxiety or medical needs.
• Safeguarding responsibilities and the importance of confidentiality and professional boundaries.
• Liaising with parents/carers and maintaining positive, professional relationships, including in challenging or sensitive situations.
• Keeping accurate record‑keeping and the use of data or logs to monitor student progress, behaviour or wellbeing.
• At least 5 GCSEs (C or 4+ including English and maths).
• At least two years’ experience of working in a school or college setting.
• Behaviour management approaches, restorative practice or pastoral intervention.
• Supporting children with medical needs and/or contributing to healthcare or pastoral support plans.
• Liaising with external agencies such as health services, mental health teams, social care or behaviour support services.
• Relevant qualifications or training in areas such as safeguarding, mental health, behaviour support, first aid or medical needs.

Skills (Essential / Desirable)

• Excellent communication and listening skills, with the ability to adapt style when working with students, parents, staff and external professionals.
• Ability to remain calm, compassionate and professional when responding to illness, distress, anxiety or behaviour incidents.
• Strong organisational and administrative skills, including accurate note‑taking and record management.
• Ability to triage situations effectively, make sound judgements and prioritise competing demands during a busy school day.
• Confident use of ICT systems (e.g. databases, email, spreadsheets and school information systems).
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a multi‑disciplinary team.
• Confidence in leading or contributing to meetings involving students, parents, staff or external professionals.
• Ability to analyse behaviour, attendance or intervention data to inform next steps.

Essential Personal Qualities

• Calm, empathetic and compassionate approach when supporting students and families.
• Resilient, flexible and adaptable, with the ability to manage emotionally demanding situations.
• Ability to build positive, trusting relationships with students, including those who are vulnerable or reluctant to engage.
• Professional curiosity and a solution‑focused approach to problem‑solving.
• High levels of integrity, discretion and reliability.

Essential Working Practices

• Commitment to promoting the safety, wellbeing and inclusion of all students.
• Willingness to work flexibly to support the needs of the College, including responding to urgent pastoral or medical situations.
• Commitment to the values, ethos and expectations of the College.