Learning Mentor - Early Identification

• Full time (37 hours per week), all year-round position in the Early Identification Phase (birth to year 2).
• Hybrid working model with a balance of home, locality and office working
• Based in a locality but with the expectation that casework is needs focussed and can be across Somerset
• Permanent contract
• 28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
• £28,598 to £32,061 per annum

Are you ready to make a real difference in Somerset? Join us on a mission to transform lives!

The Statutory Virtual School fulfils the statutory duty for Children Looked After and Previously Looked After Children. In addition, the wider Virtual School team also supports children and young people with the most complex education situations from birth to adulthood across Somerset Localities.

The Virtual School is committed to ensuring all Somerset Children and Young People with acute needs and additional vulnerability, including our Children Looked After, enjoy education and achieve good outcomes that prepares them well for adulthood.  

Our Learning Mentors work within a specific phase and have a key focus to their work. Such as Early Identification (Birth to Year 2), Transitions & Flexible Education (Year 2 to 8) and Preparation for Adulthood (Year 9 and above). There is also the opportunity to focus on the specific specialism of Children Looked After.

We are not a virtual school or online school. In the Early Identification phase, your role will centre on proactively recognising emerging educational needs at the earliest possible stage. You’ll work closely with families, early years settings, schools, social workers, and a range of professionals to build a holistic understanding of each child’s developmental and learning profile. By offering targeted support, modelling high‑quality strategies, and guiding adults around the child, you’ll help shape early interventions that prevent barriers from escalating. Your work will ensure that our youngest learners, particularly those with vulnerability, or SEND, receive timely, nurturing, and coordinated support that lays strong foundations for their future learning and wellbeing

We are recruiting to three Learning Mentors in our Early Identification Phase  (Birth to year 2).  

Here’s what your day will be like:

• Championing transitions: provide direct support for children and young people, guiding them through key transitions and helping them thrive, including visiting them in educational settings, at home or in the community.
• Building opportunities: develop and implement innovative strategies to boost learning, attendance, and overall attainment.
• Collaborating for success: work hand in hand with professionals and families to ensure seamless education participation and impactful support plans and take an active role in Team Around the Child (TAC) and Personal Education Plan (PEP) meetings, contributing your expertise to improve the outcomes of children and young people.
• Offering advice and guidance: give advice and guidance to education settings, parents and carers, and multi-agency professionals.
• Tracking progress: keep detailed records on corporate systems, tracking attendance and children and young people’s progress to ensure no one gets left behind.
• Team player: problem-solve with colleagues, communicate and work together well in a solution-focussed way.

We are committed to providing comprehensive training, guidance, and support to ensure you excel in this role. To be successful in this role you will have:

• Insightful knowledge: a strong understanding of educational settings preschool up to the end of Key Stage 1 and the unique challenges faced by children in the early years with acute and complex needs.
• Statutory expertise: familiarity with SEND statutory responsibilities.
• Knowledge of closing learning gaps: a solid grasp of tailored intervention strategies and support plans that address all areas of the EYFS and the social, and emotional needs of young children.
• Hands-on-experience: previous work in educational or early years settings, Children’s Social care, or similar environments.
• GCSE (Grade 4) education including English and Maths, along with at least NVQ Level 4/5 qualifications (or equivalent).

We are proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for an informal discussion if there is anything you want to talk about before you apply.

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding.  Working as part of a team we are passionate about the work we do to improve the lives of Children and Young People (CYP) in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more

The salary for the role is Grade 12, ranging from £28,598 to £32,061 per annum.

For an informal discussion about the role, you can contact Chelsey Oxley, Senior Expert advisor – Early Identification on chelsey.oxley@somerset.gov.uk

Interviews will take place 3rd and 5th March 2026

If you have everything you need, just hit the apply button. We can’t wait to hear from you.

In this role you will require a criminal background check via Disclosure and Barring Service.