Senior Place Planning Practitioner

Applications are invited for the post of Senior Pupil Place Planning Practitioner within Strategic School Place Planning, which is part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Children and Families Service.

You will be a key officer in the county’s respected pupil place planning team. This is a challenging, high profile and rewarding job, providing an opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of children and families in Nottinghamshire. 

The county council has the statutory duty to provide a sufficiency of school places for young people within its boundaries. Over the last 3 years, NCC has opened 2 new primary schools and will be overseeing the opening of 4 more in the period up to September 2023.  The team will also be working to expand existing schools to meet projected demand. The coming years will also be marked by a significant growth in secondary places, with which Pupil Place Planning will be keenly involved. The team also responds to planning applications in respect of housing developments and seeks to mitigate their impact by securing developer contributions towards the cost of educational provision.  As such, Pupil Place Planning works closely with NCC Planning.

You will be expected to take a lead role on a locality basis for the primary and secondary place planning issues of that a defined area, which would normally involve oversight in more than one district. However, if required you may also be required to demonstrate flexibility by assisting with place planning matters in other areas.  

You will be expected to be comfortable using a variety of systems and tools, including standard MS Office products, such as Excel and Word, to report on and deliver findings. 

A sound knowledge of school organisation issues, together with the ability to engage and communicate confidently with a variety of audiences from the world of education, is essential. Routinely, you will be in contact with Headteachers and other senior leaders in schools and Multi Academy Trusts. Our school system is undergoing rapid change, and you will need to maintain a thorough understanding of national and local education policy. The role will require the post-holder to report on an occasional basis to senior corporate leadership and elected members. Place planning is a highly regulated environment, therefore a willingness to engage with regulations and legislation is a requirement.  

A proven ability to work with other teams to achieve planned outcomes will be required.

Relationships will need to be built and maintained with internal teams such as NCC Planning; Strategy; Commissioning; Media and Communications; HR; and Finance. External links with each of the seven district and borough planning teams are critical to the success of the team, therefore building links with the appropriate officers at a district level will be an important aspect of this job.

For further information, please contact Mike Sharpe, Team Manager, Place Planning and School Admissions on 0115 977 2803 or e-mail mike.sharpe@nottscc.gov.uk.