Academy Liaison Officer

About Us

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace is a mixed Academy for 1,300 students aged 11-18, with a large sixth form of nearly 400 students. The Academy has three consecutive Outstanding judgments by Ofsted, with the most recent inspection in 2025 finding the Academy to be Outstanding in every category. We are a consistently high performing school. Our motto, ‘All Can Achieve’ encapsulates our vision that all members of the Academy community are supported and encouraged to achieve their absolute potential.

We believe that a well-supported and valued staff body is the key to our success.

We are currently looking to appoint a Home Academy Liaison Officer (HALO) to oversee educational welfare across the academy.

At Harris City Academy Crystal Palace, you will join a dedicated team of staff supporting our excellent students. If you are looking for an opportunity to grow, inspire and develop, this may be the role for you.

The actual salary for this role will be £27,901.52 - £28,310.58 (Monday to Friday, 7.45am-4:00pm, term time only).

Your responsibilities will include:

• Overseeing Educational Welfare across the academy.
• Managing a caseload of ‘at risk’ students, where attendance falls below 85% and implement strategies to improve attendance
• Monitoring and improving the attendance of most vulnerable students
• Ensuring compliance with statutory duties, including reporting persistent and severe absenteeism
• Conducting home visits to engage families and address barriers to school attendance
• Maintaining accurate attendance records and preparing reports
• Representing the academy at external meetings e.g. Social Services Case Conferences, Child in Need Meetings, LAC Reviews
• Communicating effectively with all external agencies including possible alternative providers
• Ensuring effective communication/consultation as appropriate with the parents of students
• Leading on legal interventions for non-attendance where necessary
• Co-ordinating appropriate and tailored alternative provision for students unable to thrive in mainstream education
• Supporting the school’s inclusion strategy
• Maintaining the alternative provision tracker and monitoring student progress
• Building and maintaining partnerships with external providers, agencies, and support networks
• Ensuring safeguarding and health and safety standards in alternative provision settings
• Acting as a liaison between the academy, external providers, students, and families to ensure seamless support and transition to alternative placemen
• Ensuring compliance with local and national policies related to alternative provision as well as safeguarding protocols
• Regularly reviewing alternative provision placements and providing feedback to stakeholders.
• Maintaining confidential records of support
• Preparing of reports and maintaining records relating to student referrals and subsequent counselling or support
• Providing support to the attendance team
• Providing administrative support to coordinate internal seclusion

We would like to hear from you have:

• Qualifications to degree level or equivalent
• Knowledge of behaviour for learning policies
• Knowledge of the range of barriers to learning that students face
• Training in child protection and safeguarding procedures
• Basic knowledge of first aid (e.g. emergency first aid course)
• At least three years’ experience of working in an inner city school or educational establishment in a pastoral capacity
• Experience of dealing successfully with a range of issues influencing poor attendance
• Experience of working with staff to ensure excellent standards of attendance and punctuality
• Experience of working with families
• Experience of working with challenging students and parents, and finding ways in which we can meet their needs more successfully

For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.

Our people are at the heart of our success. We have developed a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of…