School Place Planning Lead Officer

We are a large County Council with a population of 750,000 and c. 155,000 children. We have 287 schools and settings across a varied demography from rural primary to inner-city secondaries schools and post 16 colleges. We understand that education and our settings are the greatest universal service we have to provide equality of opportunity and to support personal and social development for our children and young people. Safeguarding and supporting schools to deliver quality first teaching is at the heart of what we do.

Schools and Settings (Sufficiency) is part of the Children, Education, & Families Directorate, where we want every child to have the best possible education and with this goal in mind, we’ve set out to improve and transform our services.

We’ve been consistently rated as “good” by Ofsted, but we are not content with that; we are ambitious and want to do even better! Oxfordshire County Council is a local authority which is committed to investing in Children, Education, and Families, to ensure that we have the resources we need to make a real difference to the children, young people, and families we work with.

We believe that together, our differences make us stronger, and that diversity is the foundation for innovation. Here, you can create a unique career for yourself – while raising the bar for the future of Education.

About the Role

You will have the opportunity to apply your skills, and develop new skills, to support the council’s work in ensuring sufficient school places.

You will apply your knowledge and understanding of data analysis, GIS mapping and/or town planning to support the planning and implementation of all school place planning procedures, ensuring that the county council meets its statutory duties to secure sufficient school places. This will include identifying, analysing and presenting complex data and information to:

• inform strategic planning for changes to school provision
• respond to proposals for housing development emerging through planning applications and district council or other local planning processes
• ensure sufficient education infrastructure is included in planning processes, and
• establish the foundation for securing infrastructure funding from developers and central government as relevant.

Specific duties will include:

• To manage and develop the team’s data management and analysis systems relating to school place planning to support efficient and effective place planning.
• To apply data analysis, GIS and presentation skills to identify and explore complex and varied school place planning issues and develop strategic solutions and evaluate options for action.
• To research and monitor planning applications and local plan processes, to identify the impact of housing development on early years, primary, secondary and special education, and contribute to robust justifications and evidence bases to enable the council to secure resources from housing developers and central government for additional capacity as required, including contributing to proofs of evidence for planning appeals and local plan examinations.
• To lead on the production of the annual Pupil Place Plan and other reports on school place planning matters, including regular reports to stakeholder groups, and ad hoc reports to councillors and other interested parties, as well as statutory and non-statutory data returns, including the DfE’s School Capacity Survey (SCAP).

About you

You will have strong skills and experience in at least one of data analysis (e.g. use of PowerBI and similar tools), GIS mapping, or social infrastructure planning for local development, and be willing and able to pick up new skills. You will be comfortable working within a remote-working team, but also able to attend meetings in Oxford as required. You will have the choice to work in the central Oxford office, or to work largely from home. We are open to discussions about flexible working arrangements.

We would like to hear from you if you are…

• Always learning, with a passion to grow and develop your skills.
• Willing to take responsibility and contribute to the delivery of Oxfordshire County Council’s vision.
• Driven to do it differently to embark on a journey of continuous improvement.
• Kind and caring, with an understanding of and respect for individuals’ qualities, abilities, and diverse backgrounds.
• Advocating for equality and integrity in all you do.

#J-18808-Ljbffr