Education Lead, Safeguarding & Multi-Agency Team

We have an exciting opportunity, for the right person, to join the Multi Agency Screening Team in a new role of Education Lead.

Here at North Yorkshire Council, we are extremely proud of our Children’s Services, rated Outstanding across all areas by Ofsted. This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced safeguarding professional to play a key role in strengthening the connection between education and children’s services across North Yorkshire.

We are seeking a passionate and knowledgeable MAST Education Lead to join our Multi-Agency Screening Team (MAST). This is an exciting opportunity to represent the voice of education within safeguarding and early help systems, helping to ensure children, young people and families receive the right support at the right time.

MAST brings together Social Workers, Social Work Managers, Early Help practitioners, Business Support, North Yorkshire Police, Safeguarding Health professionals and Probation. The team also works closely with Emotional Wellbeing Services across North Yorkshire. The team consider referrals into Children and Families Service and the most appropriate support for families.

The team is expanding to include two education lead roles; to further embed the voice of education in the front door and throughout service. The timing for this could not be more empirical given the upcoming changes as part of the social care reforms. The successful applicants will be involved in operation and strategic demands becoming a further partner in decision making and influencing service delivery.

As our MAST Education Lead, you will:

• Act as the key link between education settings and Children’s Services.
• Gather, analyse and present safeguarding information from schools and academies to inform decision making.
• Represent education within multi-agency screening, safeguarding and risk assessment processes.
• Provide advice, support and professional challenge to schools and safeguarding leaders.
• Influence threshold decisions and service responses through high-quality analysis and recommendations.
• Support education settings to improve the quality of referrals and safeguarding practice.
• Champion the voices of children, young people and families throughout decision-making processes.
• Contribute to the development of policies, procedures and service improvements across education and safeguarding systems.

You will play an active role in developing and embedding new ways of working which will be instrumental in strengthening the interface between education and safeguarding systems to ensure the voice of children and young people is captured throughout the delivery of service.

• Lead and coordinate the representation of schools across North Yorkshire, bringing a strong education lens into service delivery, and ensuring that the voice of children, young people and families is consistently captured, evidenced and used to influence service planning and decision-making.
• Develop, influence and sustain effective working relationships between MAST and education services, promoting a consistent and shared understanding of roles, responsibilities, thresholds and expectations across the wider system.
• Influence and support education services to understand and fulfil their statutory responsibilities within the Early Help Strategy, Family Help and MACPT, contributing to improved consistency, quality of practice and outcomes across education settings.
• Apply a detailed understanding of safeguarding systems, thresholds and risk indicators to support the identification of vulnerability, including recognising cumulative harm and protective factors within children’s networks.
• Work proactively with partners to identify vulnerable children and families, contributing to coordinated multi-agency responses and securing improved outcomes at both individual and service level.
• Support identification of short-term intervention packages to reduce school exclusions and anti-social behaviour social interaction skills, risky and emotional behaviour, and promote individual and community engagement.

It is an exciting time in Children and Young Peoples Services in North…