Attendance Officer – Good Secondary School – Southwark

Start Date: As soon as possible**
Contract: Full-time, Permanent**
Salary: Paid to scale**

School Information

This Good 11–18 secondary school in the London Borough of Southwark is a supportive, community-focused school with a strong pastoral ethos and an unwavering commitment to safeguarding, attendance, and student wellbeing. Students benefit from a structured environment, clear routines, and strong relationships across the staff body. Attendance is a key priority within the school’s improvement plan, and the pastoral leadership team works collaboratively to ensure every child receives the support and guidance required to attend consistently and succeed academically.

The school’s values centre around inclusion, respect, academic growth, and holistic development. Staff describe the environment as positive, forward-thinking, and deeply student-centered. Strong middle and senior leadership ensure that staff feel supported, processes are clear, and pastoral teams have the resources needed to be effective.

The Role

The school is seeking a dedicated, organised, and assertive Attendance Officer to lead on attendance monitoring, intervention, and reporting. This position plays a critical role in safeguarding, ensuring that students are accounted for, present in lessons, and supported when attendance issues arise.

The ideal candidate will have strong attention to detail, excellent communication skills, and the ability to work with sensitivity yet assertiveness when handling difficult attendance conversations. The role involves daily register checks, first-day calling, home visits (with pastoral staff), data analysis, administrative accuracy, and close liaison with Heads of Year and safeguarding leads.

The Attendance Officer will also take a proactive role in developing strategies to improve attendance, contributing to early intervention programmes, and building positive working relationships with families and external agencies.

Key Responsibilities

• Monitoring daily attendance and punctuality, following up on absences through first-day calling
• Maintaining accurate attendance records on the MIS
• Producing attendance reports for senior leaders, pastoral teams, and governors
• Identifying attendance concerns early and contributing to intervention plans
• Conducting attendance meetings with students and parents
• Liaising with external agencies, including Educational Welfare Services
• Supporting safeguarding processes by escalating concerns immediately
• Conducting home visits (paired) where needed
• Managing legal paperwork relating to penalties, referrals, and attendance cases
• Supporting form tutors and Heads of Year with attendance-related responsibilities
• Promoting attendance incentives, assemblies, or awareness campaigns
• Ensuring student registers are accurate, complete, and compliant with statutory obligations

Person Specification

• Experience in an attendance or pastoral-support role (desirable)
• Strong understanding of safeguarding and attendance legislation
• Excellent communication skills—confident, professional, and calm
• Ability to analyse data and produce clear reports
• Strong administrative and organisational skills
• Assertive, resilient, and capable of handling sensitive situations
• Ability to build rapport with students and families
• Commitment to helping students overcome barriers to attendance

Application

To apply, please send your CV as soon as possible.