Partnership Engagement Officer (PEO) Role and offer The PEO role has been created to support Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) children due to high numbers of poor attendance and low engagement in education across Leicestershire. These are children where additional needs have been identified; whether it be school anxiety, refusal, underlying SEN, who need further support but don’t necessarily meet higher services thresholds. Preventative & early intervention support has been seen to work effectively and can redirect children back into their education provision as soon as possible, which is what the PEO role aims to do. PEO’s Offer – Below are the 3 main areas the PEO role covers and examples of support:- 1.Case discussion a.Completed via phone or email b.Assess the child’s needs c.Complete Child’s profile – e.g boxall, questionnaires, scaling d.Discuss circumstances – e.g home life, history, SEN e.Create a plan of action for the school or agree for the PEO to be actively involved 2.To work directly with the child a.Home visits b.Observations in school environment c.Building relationships to liaise with professionals d.Direct intervention – e.g Behaviour management, Physical/social activities in the community, Reflection time, CBT therapy, Art Therapy, Mentoring etc 3.To work directly with the school/staff a.Assessing the schools needs b.Reasonable adjustment support c.Signposting – e.g services and resources d.Understanding the schools capacity for knowledge to support in the future e.Reflecting - e.g what has happened/been tried f.Action planning – e.g SEND plans g.Attending schools – e.g modelling strategies, creating plans for staff How to refer for PEO support – The PEO’s support can be accessed by referring to your schools partnership forum using their referral form. The PEO will attend the forum and discuss this case to form a plan of action. The PEO will not accept cases over the phone or through email, as they need to be triaged appropriately through the forums.