BESPOkE EdUCATlON

Lead Pastoral Support Assistant (LPSA) and Attendance Officer Job Description

The School

Ballard is a thriving co-educational day school from Nursery to GCSE, set in 34 acres on the Dorset/Hampshire border. Ballard’s dynamic leadership has turned ‘excellent & outstanding’ (ISI) into exceptional. Putting families first, Ballard offers wrap around care and has been helping families with the VAT on school fees - paying it all in 2025 and paying 14% this academic year. With lots of exciting plans in place, there has never been a better time to join.

Ballard is a multi-award winning school - crowned Co-educational School of the Year Award 2024/25 in the Independent School of the Year Awards, having reached the finals for Sport in 2023 and Performing Arts in 2022. In 2025, we won the ISA Award for Fine Arts and Design, were awarded the coveted Eco Schools Green Flag with Distinction, retained our School Games Mark Gold status, and were finalists for the MTI Award for Musical Theatre Provision. We have recently passed our latest ISI inspection with flying colours.

Ballard offers an all-round education within a nurturing and supportive environment. We believe that children flourish and achieve if kept happy, fulfilled and stretched through a wide range of activities including sport and the performing arts.

Job Purpose

At Ballard we believe that to enable our pupils to learn effectively, they need to feel safe in their environment and be both socially and emotionally ready to learn. We understand the importance of holistic development and offer nurturing and enriching experiences to enable the development of the whole child. We recognise that some of our pupils require an increased level of support for them to reach their potential.

We aim to:

Encourage the development of positive social relationships with both peers and adults.

Provide opportunities to understand emotions and develop pupil’s self-worth, confidence, motivation, trust, self-esteem and adaptability.

Provide a safe, calm and nurturing environment, alongside a programme of activities structured to the emotional, social and intellectual needs of each pupil.

Support pupils to understand their behaviour and that behaviours generally have a consequence and to develop strategies to self-regulate emotions and anxieties.

Support the development of a whole-school nurturing ethos.

Job Description

Job Title: Lead Pastoral Support Assistant and Attendance Officer (LPSA). This is a position created to respond to specific needs within pastoral care.

Responsible to: Deputy Head Pastoral (the Designated Safeguarding Lead - DSL).

Main Purpose: To enable all Ballard pupils to engage in education by providing support around pupil welfare, behavioural and attendance issues. This will involve working with pupils, parents and staff to address pastoral issues and barriers to learning whilst helping ensure effective policies and procedures are put in place.

Overview: This role is for a PSA to work across different sections of the School. This is a permanent role. The hours are flexible but to be spread over five days a week, term-time only, plus INSET days and a couple of Saturdays. Payment for the Saturdays will be paid in addition to your normal salary.

Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Working with pupils

• Assist with transition periods in School, e.g., from Year 5 to Year 6, Year 8 to Year 9

Support the transition of new pupils and transition process for changes of section

• To assist with preparation of individual pastoral support plans for new and existing pupils

Encourage excellent pupil attendance at School, providing a link between home, School and pupil and by regularly analysing attendance data and working with the Deputy Head Pastoral and Heads of Section to improve attendance when needed

Provide support for pupils with reduced timetables when appropriate, liaising with key staff over subjects and form times

• To be an advocate for vulnerable pupils

To meet with prospective pupils and parents as requested by the Registrar and/or Deputy Head Pastoral / Head of Section, providing feedback for taster days as needed

To lead ELSA sessions for pupils in the relevant section; invite pupils for ELSA lessons and liaise with teachers

Write ELSA lesson plans, be creative and record work in memory books. Encourage pupils to share with teachers and parents (and liaise with teachers over support). Implement group interventions and activities

To carry out weekly wellbeing one-to-one sessions with pupils to enable their emotional wellbeing in School

Support the School’s zero tolerance with regard to bullying and ensure all incidents and outcomes are recorded on MyConcern for presentation to Heads of Section / Deputy Head Pastoral for involvement when necessary.

2. Working with staff

• Attend staff briefings and relevant Insets and occasional assemblies

Close liaison with relevant Head of Section and the Deputy Head Pastoral at all times in relation to pastoral matters

Attend Pastoral Team meetings

• Assist the Deputy Head Pastoral and Heads of Section with child protection cases,

disclosures, updating policies and provide data and information for Safeguarding Governors

• To develop and oversee the wellbeing zone with other PSAs

• Attend meetings with respect to any referrals, contact with home / staff, availability to

support pupils (including those on our vulnerable pupils’ list)

• To be part of a staff duty team (inc. break and lunch supervision)

Liaise with teaching staff in the relevant section to support monitoring activities on individual pupils’ behaviour

Promote high standards of behaviour and consistently implement the School’s Behaviour Support Policy

May be invited to attend SMT / LT on occasion.

3. Working with parents / carers and external agencies

Assist Deputy Head Pastoral and Heads of Section with meeting parents / pupils and taking notes

Build positive relations with parents to encourage family involvement in their child’s progress, behaviour and attendance

• Assist parents with any information they need to support their child

Liaise with external support agencies and professionals as required, to cater for pupils’ individual needs

4. Attendance

Administration

Following liaison with reception team, review the previous day’s attendance registers for P1 & P5 and liaise with Deputy Head Pastoral who follow up with staff members about any incomplete data

Liaise with Heads of Section/Deputy Head Pastoral in escalating issues as appropriate in line with school procedures.

Liaise with Registrar to initiate informing Local Authority when pupils reach 15 days cumulative absence due to illness or 10 consecutive days unauthorised absence or fall below the 90% attendance threshold

Maintain accurate records of communications with parents/carers and relevant interventions

Monitoring and reporting

Interpret less than 90% attendance reports for Heads of Section, identifying key statistics, reasons for absence and any patterns of concern

Track attendance of vulnerable groups of pupils and share information with Heads of Section

Identify pupils that need additional support to improve their attendance

Work with Heads of Section to identify appropriate interventions to improve attendance for particular groups or individual pupils

Co-ordinate check-ins to review progress and the impact of support/interventions

• Work with school leaders to develop and revise the school’s attendance policy

Liaise with Deputy Head Pastoral to Implement children missing education (CME) procedures when appropriate

Working with parents/carers

Coordinate meetings with pupils and parents/carers and support Heads of Section to implement interventions and track progress

Build positive relations with parents/carers to encourage family involvement in their child’s attendance

Identify, and where possible, mitigate potential barriers to attendance in partnership with families

Carry out home visits with Heads of Section/Deputy Head Pastoral, where necessary, to address attendance concerns for individual pupils

5. Administration

Assist the Deputy Head Pastoral and Heads of Section in overseeing the vulnerable pupils’ list and ensure that pupils are allocated to relevant staff

Attend the relevant Pastoral Team meetings and take minutes

• Assist the Deputy Head Pastoral and relevant Heads of Section with administration.

6. Other areas of responsibility

Safeguarding:

• Work in line with statutory safeguarding guidance (e.g., Keeping Children Safe in Education, Prevent) and our safeguarding and child protection policies

• Form a part of the safeguarding team, working with the DSL and Pastoral Team to promote the best interests of pupils, including sharing concerns where necessary

• Promote the safeguarding of all pupils in the School

• To communicate pastoral needs of all pupils to staff

• Attend DSL training

• Continue with training courses and personal development (CPD).

This job description is not necessarily a comprehensive definition of the post. It will be reviewed regularly and may be subject to modification or amendment at any time after due consideration.

Person Specification

• Someone who wants the very best outcomes in terms of the overall wellbeing of our pupils

• A good sense of humour

• The ability to be flexible and accommodating when required

• ELSA trained or willing to be ELSA trained

• Able to meet the requirements of the job description (above)

• Able to create good relationships with children, staff, parents and external agencies

• In sympathy with the aims and ethos of the school (see the ‘aims and objectives’ paper)

• Able to complete the staff application form in full and to comply with all the necessary requirements therein

• Able to work under pressure and prioritise effectively

• Organised, good time management, proactive and self-motivated

• Patient and calm

• Committed to safeguarding, equality, diversity and inclusion

• Will have qualifications and experience relevant to this position

• Comfortable working with teenagers (up to the age of 16 years).

Working Hours and Rate of Pay

The hours for this position are ideally around 30 hours per week, although we would consider applications for more or less hours. The role is term time only, which is 35.4 weeks per year including Inset days, in addition, you will be paid 5.6 weeks holiday.

We are open to agreeing a working pattern that suits both you and the School but ideally are looking for coverage across 5 days. The maximum daily working window is 8:30am to 5:00pm, with a one-hour unpaid lunch break.

• Full time equivalent salary of up to £28,489.50 per annum dependent on experience. (Hourly rate of £14.61).

• Defined contribution pension scheme – employer contribution of 10.5%.

• Staff are welcome to have a school lunch and refreshments in term time and parking is available on site.

Applications

How to apply:

Applicants are asked to fully complete a Support Staff application form, and send it, along with their letter of application addressed to the Deputy Head Pastoral to recruitment@ballardschool.co.uk.

Application deadline: 9.00am on Monday 11th May 2026

Interviews: Flexible by mutual agreement

Start Date: As soon as possible

Early applications are encouraged. We will be reviewing applications as they are received and reserve the right to appoint before the closing date.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to the School for interviews.

Ballard School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all employees to share this commitment. The successful applicant must be willing to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service (Enhanced Disclosure). As part of the referencing process, the School will undertake digital screening, including online searches of candidates and any potential matters of concern will be discussed with the candidate.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

The successful candidate will be required to complete and sign a medical form.

Ballard School is committed to Equal Opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

For further details and an application form, please visit: www.ballardschool.co.uk/vacancies