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:
  • Having a caseload of children who may be subject to a child in need service, on a Child Protection plan, or Children Looked After.
  • Carrying out assessments in line with local authority procedures.
  • 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 broader ways of working can be at the discretion of the local authority but not at the expense of statutory social
• Examples of this preventative work includes:
  • Working together with the school to build better relationships with families and better understand their needs. This may also lead to families having more clarity of potential concerns and the decision to refer to Children's Social Care if Families would also receive advice and information around this process to support collaborative working.
  • Working with feeder primary schools that siblings attend or multi-agency working to support an integrated family approach.
  • Providing an educative component, where the school learns from the social worker's expertise in terms of safeguarding issues and referrals for example. This could happen through the school welcoming and encouraging the social worker's input in relevant meetings such as inclusion meetings. However, social workers should not be carrying out duties of other professionals, be that teachers or other statutory professionals.

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