An exciting opportunity has arisen to be a part of a Department for Education (DFE) project to embed social workers within schools (SWIS) to test whether placing social workers in schools reduces referrals to children's social care. This is a part of a wider DFE pilot A total of 21 Local Authorities are involved in this project. The key features of this project include:-
* Social Workers to be based in schools (fully embedded or remote approach with regular visits)
* Project span until March 2021 with a view to extend to March 2022
* Main focus is to undertake statutory work as well as preventative Early Help work emerging from the respective secondary school or feeder primary schools
* The Team will be based primarily in the Early Help Service and matrix managed by the Family Support and Protection Service.

The Role:
* The main focus of the SWIS Scale-up is to carry out statutory social work. Social workers will have an allocated caseload of children who have been referred to Children's Social Care (CSC) and have met the local authority's threshold for a service ranging from those who are children in need to those who are children looked after. However, due to the opportunities that will arise from social workers being based in school there may be an aspect of the role that could be described as Early Help; this may include advising staff, families and young people when they have concerns that they would like to discuss, or working with siblings in the family not considered as meeting threshold. This should not be confused with Early Intervention work which should continue to be provided as a separate service and would include Team Around the Child and completing Common Assessment Frameworks.
* It is envisaged that this will be a blended team, with a mixture of staff both permanent and agency, with various specialism and expertise.
* Statutory social work would include:
o Having a caseload of children who may be subject to a child in need service, on a Child Protection plan, or Children Looked After.
o Carrying out assessments in line with local authority procedures.
o Working with the Youth Offending Team to support children who are involved in antisocial or criminal behavior, if applicable to the specific school.
* Although the role of social workers in schools is not early intervention, in order to achieve the best outcomes for children, social workers are encouraged to work with that child in the context of their family and wider community. These
* work directly with children and their carers using a range of knowledge, skills and interventions as required, in accordance with statutory responsibilities to secure positive outcomes for children.
* Be able to produce a variety of high quality professional written documentation to required quality standards on behalf of the Local Authority
* effectively manage a caseload, with varying degrees of complexity including CIN/CP/LAC and court work.
* Work effectively with partner agencies and represent the Council at a range of meetings, proceedings and reviews as required. You will ensure effective statutory intervention as well engage in preventative work within the remits of this project.

If you are interested in this role please send your updated CV in the first instance.