The starting salary for this position is £40,136 – £49,714 per annum (Soulbury Salary Scale A 2-7) plus up to 3 SPA points.

This role is open to remote working meaning you aren't required in the office 5 days a week. We’re less about you driving to work and more about us collectively driving down our carbon footprint. We care about how you work rather than where you work; the people rather than the postcode. In support of our people and our greener futures strategies, we’d welcome a conversation with the successful candidate on what remote working may look like for you.

About Us

The Surrey Virtual School (SVS) works with schools, social workers, carers and a range of services to help improve the educational experiences and outcomes of children and young people in the care of Surrey. A ‘Virtual School’ is a way of bringing together the educational information about children and young people who are cared for by the local authority as if they were a single school – no matter where in the country they may live. Each Virtual School has a Headteacher and together with the team, supports and challenges to ensure children and young people looked after are prioritised within all education services, in line with our shared corporate parent duty. You can learn more about SVS by visiting our website.

You would be joining a strong and stable team of professionals who are totally committed to improving educational experiences and outcomes of children and young people in the care of Surrey.

We work together with schools, carers, social workers and a range of other stakeholders and professionals to improve outcomes in line with our statutory duty and role as educational advocates of children looked after. The SVS has been on a development journey following the 2018 inspection of children’s services (ILACS) and has secured significant improvements across a number of key areas, particularly the quality and timeliness of personal education plans (PEPs), better school attendance and reducing the number of children awaiting a school place. We aim to have an aspirational and outstanding SVS to promote and support the education of our care experienced children and young people.

About You

We are seeking a knowledgeable and experienced Educational Psychologist to join us in a new specialist role with the Surrey Virtual School. The DfE has introduced an extended duty to Virtual Schools to promote the education of children with a social worker. This is an exciting opportunity to work in partnership with our Deputy Headteacher for children with a social worker (CWSW) to deliver the extended duty as outlined in DfE guidance. 

You will be creative and innovative in your approach resulting in better understanding of the experiences, characteristics and key factors affecting the educational outcomes of children with a social worker together with the range of partners and stakeholders who support and influence their education and outcomes. 

In so doing you will promote practice that supports children’s sense of belonging in their school communities, supporting better engagement and attendance, reducing the use of exclusion and support schools to understand their role as providers of stability and permanence for CWSW 

You will provide expert advice, guidance and training around the multiple impacts of childhood trauma on children's engagement and learning and collaborate closely with the Virtual School's linked EP from the Surrey Educational Psychology team and wider service to help influence practice and thinking in relation to all children in scope of the Virtual School.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 11/10/2021.

Interviews will take place week commencing 01/11/2021.

This position is initially offered on a fixed-term or secondment (for internal staff) basis until July 2022.

We very much look forward to receiving your application. 

Benefits

For more information about the wide variety of benefits you can take advantage of please visit MyBenefits for Surrey County Council staff.