Virtual School Education Advisor
| Posting date: | 26 August 2025 |
|---|---|
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 25 September 2025 |
| Location: | Leicester, LE3 8RA |
| Company: | Leicestershire County Council |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 5971 |
Summary
Organisation: Leicestershire County Council
Work Location: County Hall, Glenfield, LE3 8RA
Worker Category: Hybrid Worker
Salary: £35,451 - £39,165 per annum (pro-rata for part-time)
Working Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract Type: Fixed term / Secondment for 1 year
Closing Date: Sunday 7th September 2025
Interview Date(s): TBC
About the Role
The Leicestershire Virtual School supports our looked-after children and care leavers to access high-quality education and achieve their potential. We are firmly focused on raising aspirations and narrowing attainment and progress gaps to improve outcomes and life chances. https://resources.leicestershire.gov.uk/leicestershire-virtual-school
Due to the promotion of a current Education Advisor to work on a one-year secondment project within the Virtual School, we wish to appoint an Education Advisor to promote the education of looked-after young people by working collaboratively with a range of partners and agencies, including social workers, education settings, and foster carers. You will coordinate the statutory Personal Education Plan process across age ranges, thereby ensuring good quality planning leading to positive educational outcomes.
Understanding the barriers faced by children in care and care leavers is key to the successful delivery of duties. The Leicestershire Virtual School is at the forefront of promoting understanding of attachment theory and trauma-informed practice which will enable you to support, challenge and advocate on behalf of a caseload of children and young people in care. In addition, you will be supported to acquire in-depth knowledge and understanding of DFE statutory guidance as it relates to the education of looked-after children and previously looked-after children.
You will be confident in communicating effectively and accurately both in writing and orally, chairing and attending meetings delivered online or face-to-face. You will be efficient and organised yet keen to bring innovation and creativity to deliver service improvements. You must be able to work on your own initiative, but with the support of our caring, supportive, and committed team.
A DBS enhanced check for a regulated activity is required for this post.
For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.
About You
To apply for this post, you must have a Level 6 qualification Or Demonstrable experience identified below:
- Experience of working in a school/college / alternative curriculum environment / local authority supporting vulnerable learners
- Knowledge of attachment and trauma theory and/or practice
- Excellent understanding of the barriers children in care may experience in accessing educational opportunities
- Knowledge of legislation and guidance relating to education and specifically to children in care, e.g. School admission, SEND procedures and processes
- An understanding of the current UK qualification system, data analysis and its uses.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, across the full range of audiences
- Able to self-organise and meet strict deadlines
You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion.
In addition, we expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to provide evidence when you demonstrate them during the interview process.
Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.
Interested in Flexible Working?
We are keen to support employees in balancing their working lives with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual’s personal circumstances while still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc.
Every role within the Council has a defined working style that determines where it can work. The worker category applicable to this post is detailed in the above advert. You can find out more about our worker categories on the Our Working Styles page on our career site.
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:
Donna Chapman - Virtual School Head and Service Manager
Telephone: 0116 305 2174
Email: Donna.Chapman@leics.gov.uk
How to Apply
Leicestershire County Council is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services, we offer our communities. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the communities we serve. Applicants with a disability who meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above will be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme.
To apply for this job, please click on the apply button. You will need to upload a supporting statement as part of your application, which explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. For more information, see the How to Apply section on our career site.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
If you have any technical issues when applying for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.
By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme