Strategic School Place Planner — Data & Capacity

# School Place Planning Officer## About the roleWe are looking for a School Place Planning Officer to support the delivery of statutory education place planning across West Northamptonshire. Working as part of the Place Planning & Admissions team, you will play a vital role in analysing pupil data, housing growth, and school capacity to help shape future statutory education provision.This is a data-driven, operational role. It’s an excellent opportunity for someone with strong analytical skills who wants to make a meaningful impact for children, families, and communities.You will be required to work in the office for a minimum of two days per week. Subject to business needs you may be required to work additional days in the office.* Supporting education place planning within West Northamptonshire* Analysing pupil data, demographic trends, and school capacity* Assessing housing developments, trajectories, and phasing to understand education impact* Reviewing planning applications and assisting with education infrastructure responses* Calculating pupil yields in line with DfE guidance and local methodologies* Maintaining accurate datasets and records to assist with supporting long-term planning* Working collaboratively with colleagues across Education, Planning, and wider council services* Reporting to the School Place Planning Manager and Head of Service.* Strong analytical skills with experience of working with complex datasets* Excellent attention to detail and ability to interpret and present information clearly* Confident using Microsoft Office 365 tools (Strong with Excel)* Experience working in a local authority or public sector environment* An understanding of housing development data and pupil yield modelling* Experience of systems such as Capita ONE and/or GIS (e.g. QGIS)### Our benefitsYou can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site here: .At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partnerThe following film was created by us to communicate our intentions – watch WNC colleagues explain .If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email careers@westnorthants.gov.uk for support.**West Northants Council, where careers thrive.**The following content displays a map of the job’s location.| (C) OpenStreetMap contributors### School Place Planning Officer* **Salary**£31,324* **Salary Frequency**Annual* **Working Hours**37* **Job Reference**Ref/114/8467* **Contract Type**Full Time* **Contract Details**Permanent* **Closing Date**29 May, 2026* **Job Category**Education* **Location**Northampton, United Kingdom* **Job Posted Date**11 May, 2026#J-18808-Ljbffr…