EY SEND Co-ordinator - REQ004069

Job title: Early Years SEND Co-ordinator

Salary: Soulbury 5-8 £47,003 - £51,125

Hours: 37 hours a week

Contract: Permanent

Location: Technorth, 9 Harrogate Rd, Chapel Allerton, Leeds LS7 3NB

Are you a skilled early years teacher, passionate about securing an inclusive and enabling environment and have experience in identifying and meeting the needs of children with SEND?

Leeds is seeking to appoint a qualified teacher as an Early Years SEN Co-ordinator for the SEN and Inclusion Team (SENIT). This role involves working with early years settings, children with SEN, their parents and other partners in an identified wedge of the city and fulfilling responsibilities under the 2015 SEND Code of Practice.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

The successful candidate will:

Have experience of working with young children with complex special educational needs and their families in early years settings and have excellent knowledge of early child development.
Be passionate about inclusion and facilitating an enabling learning environment that meets needs and secures progress.
Be an advocate for young children families and carers and ensure their welfare is paramount.
Become part of a small yet dedicated team of skilled professionals who work with children between the ages of 0-5 years old.
Work with a range of Early Years settings and with Health and other professionals to improve the outcomes of children with complex needs.
Be responsible for building the capacity within settings to identify and meet children’s needs and helping to raise achievement and maximising the inclusion of young children with Special Educational Needs.
Ensure that early years settings effectively meet the needs of all children and work collaboratively with staff and other agencies to support the inclusive placements of children with SEN.
Have good IT capabilities and excellent interpersonal and social skills.
Provide supervision to inclusion support workers within the SEN & inclusion Team
Provide training on a range of SEN issues for staff in early year’s settings.
Be responsible for the effective delivery of statutory assessment and other assessment and funding procedures.

Qualified teacher status is an essential requirement for this post.

About the role

The role is integral to our Inclusion Advisory Team (IAT) offer of training and building capacity within settings through direct consultation work with staff and working with children and families. Working in an area of the city you will support a wide range of EY settings and providers, developing staff skills, knowledge and confidence in the identification and meeting of needs. You will work alongside colleagues within EY, other professional areas within the Inclusion Advisory Team and wider SEND teams, and partners in Health and Social Care.

What we offer you

A full induction package: regular supervision, guidance and support and access to in-house training will be offered.

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for further advice on completing your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact

Sharon Longman (Sharon.longman@leeds.gov.uk) SENIT team leader, Early Years; or
Joan Kavanagh (joan.kavanagh@leeds.gov.uk), Service Delivery Manager, SEND Inclusion and Support Team

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visaroute before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job description

Special conditions this post is subject to a higher-level check with the Disclosure & Barring Service. Please note that a criminal record will not necessarily be a bar to obtaining employment; this will depend on the circumstances and background to any offence.

Job purpose: To undertake duties across the Learning Inclusion Service in support of the Head of Service and Principal Officer. To co-ordinate and respond to requests for Early Year’s support within a given area of the city. To contribute to the management of the delivery of an Early Year’s service to parents and professionals in an area of the City, in order to raise the achievement of young children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LDD), within the most inclusive environment.

Qualifications

Qualified Teacher Status

Responsibilities

Offering direct consultation and active Early Years’ support for parents, carers and staff working with young children with SEN/LDD in settings (incl. educational opportunities, inclusion and other Early Years’ related subjects).
Providing effective advice, assessment and evidence-based intervention in order to raise achievement, improve outcomes and promote inclusion of children and young people with SEN/LDD (within the framework of the SEN Code of Practice, Children Act (2004), Every Child Matters and Education Leeds Inclusion Strategy).
Advocating for young children families and carers and ensure their welfare is paramount.
Providing recommendations on how contexts can be changed to ensure young children achieve their optimum potential and are included as fully as possible.
Supporting the allocation of resources to children with the greatest need through knowledge of the appropriate Early Years funding procedures.
Providing day-to-day line management of Inclusion Workers within a designated area of the city, undertaking performance management, supervision and problem solving.
Allocating requests for consultation, support and resources, providing an overview of the early years’ support in a designated area of the city.
Providing support and advice to parents/carers of children with complex needs who are accessing Portage support and/or seeking a suitable educational placement (including processing of Health-Education Notification).
Facilitating subsequent transition from the home setting to nursery setting - chairing multi-professional ‘team around the child meetings’ as appropriate.
Fulfilling the role of Area SENCo and develop links between practitioners within an identified area of the city;
Instigating and developing collaborative partnership working with other agencies and staff in a range of early years’ settings to support the inclusive placements of children with SEN/LDD.
Monitoring and reviewing progress of young children with SEN/LDD and provide written advice (incl. support for statutory assessment) as appropriate.
Devising, delivering and evaluating bespoke training (incl. early years’ advice on curriculum development, interventions and resources) to build capacity of front-line staff who care for and educate young children.
Supporting SENCos and senior managers in self-review, strategic direction and development of processes and provision re inclusion and teaching/learning for young children with SEN/LDD.
Supporting settings where significant issues have been identified at the systems level in order to improve overall provision and achievement of young children with SEN/LDD.
Supporting settings to self review their SEND policy and practice and to support their plans for progress.
Supporting and promoting Early Help with settings, children and families within a wedge area and to utilise the early support principles as a basis for good practice.
Effectively manage work-load and maintain up-to-date record keeping in relation to individual case-work and other activities, through active engagement with LCC data systems and protocols.
Ensuring high quality service delivery through data collection, monitoring and self - review processes.
Implementing policies, plans and guidelines of LCC and Learning Inclusion Service, ensuring high quality service delivery, in alignment with Service Arrangements.
Undertaking additional duties as required by the Head of Service.
Providing efficient and effective communication, team working and delivery to children, schools/settings and families within an SENIT Area Team.
To develop and contribute to training, support and action research, as a member of a SENIT professional development team from an early year’s perspective.
Gathering, analysing and interpreting data to monitor and evaluate the impact of interventions and outcomes, in order to inform future practice.
Participating in LCC training initiatives/projects as required.
Representing SENIT on LCC working parties, projects and forums as requested.
Personal and professional development.
Identifying areas for continuing professional development, ensuring highest personal and professional standards and up-to-date awareness of national and local initiatives.
Actively engaging in performance management, supervision and problem solving.
Contributing to service planning and development.
To participate in and provide training and development activities as necessary to ensure up to date knowledge and skills.
To comply with the requirements of all Leeds City Council policies, procedures and staff instructions, including responsibilities under the Health and Safety Policy and Procedures.
To actively promote and support Leeds City Council's Policies on Equal Opportunities and to work in an anti-oppressive manner.

Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics

Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct
Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Able to work flexibly across different work locations and areas as appropriate.
Managing Information a) Individual children and b) training, support and systems work – to gather, analyse and interpret information through consultation in order to assess individual and school needs at systems level. Determine appropriate teaching and learning strategies, plan and deliver interventions, training and or support and formulate written advice as appropriate. Monitor and evaluate the impact of Early Years interventions and outcomes.
Managing Self and Resources – demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication skills. Deliver sensitive messages in a constructive way and deal effectively with conflict. Present feedback with sensitivity, honesty and clarity. Manage change, respond flexibly to new ideas and promote change as a natural process within SENIT. Demonstrate effective time management and organisational skills, with ability to plan, prioritise and manage a challenging workload with identified deadlines.
Managing and developing staff performance - identifying and agreeing actions that are likely to lead to the progress of young children.
Inter-agency/service partnership working - provide effective links and maintain relationships with colleagues and partners at a range of levels, to maximise impact in terms of focussed outcomes for children/young people within schools, settings and their communities.
Use ICT and technology effectively and encourage others to develop technical solutions in response to change.
Knowledge and understanding of statutory assessment process, SEN Code of Practice, Development Matters, Early Foundation Stage Curriculum and other national and local legislation, developments and good practice in relation to inclusion, SEN/LDD
Of a variety of methods of assessment and intervention re. SEN/LDD and use of applied knowledge and skills in a range of settings.
Of relevant Early Year’s information/legislation and issues influencing the work of team and Learning Inclusion Service.
Extensive teaching experience and expertise in teaching and learning in SEN/LDD
Qualified Teacher Status
Experience of working with children and young people with complex needs and their families
Committed to continuous improvement and willingness to actively participate in training and development activities to ensure up to date knowledge, skills, and continuous professional development

Desirable requirements Candidates are not required to meet all the following desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Enhanced skills and knowledge gained from additional study or a qualification in Early Years, Inclusion, SEN, Disability or related subject

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