Best Start Inclusion Practitioner

Cornwall Council; Truro; On-site; GBP 19,000 - 26,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Defined benefit pension

Generous leave entitlement

Health & wellbeing programme

Employee discounts

Flexible working options

Job summary

Cornwall Council’s Best Start Inclusion Practitioner role is based within Family Hubs across Cornwall, supporting children aged 0–5, their families and early years settings to promote inclusive practice, enable participation and ensure high-quality early education for all, including those with SEND.

You will deliver coaching and practical support to practitioners and parents, undertake observations and support planning with families, and collaborate with health, education and social care to

Qualifications

• Knowledge of child development, inclusion, and SEND within the early years.
• Experience working with children aged 0–5 and their families.
• Strong communication, relationship-building, and multi-agency working skills.
• Understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), SEND legislation, and family-centred approaches.

Responsibilities

• Provide advice, guidance, and practical support to families and early years settings across Cornwall to promote inclusive practice.
• Work directly with children aged 0–5 who may have emerging or identified SEND, supporting their development, participation, and learning.
• Undertake observations, assessments, and support planning in partnership with families and professionals.
• Support parents/carers to understand and meet their child's developmental and additional needs.
• Deliver coaching, modelling, and training to early years practitioners to enhance inclusive practice.
• Work collaboratively with Family Hub teams, health professionals, education providers, and other agencies to coordinate effective support.
• Facilitate early identification of need and access to appropriate services and interventions.
• Monitor, review, and evaluate the impact of support provided to children, families, and settings.
• Maintain accurate records and ensure compliance with safeguarding, EYFS, SEND Code of Practice, and relevant local policies.

Skills

Child development

Inclusion practices

Multi-agency working

Coaching skills

EYFS knowledge

Job description

The Service & Team:

The Early Years Inclusion and SEND Team works collaboratively with families, Family Hubs, early years providers, and partner agencies across Cornwall to ensure that children aged 0–5 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), emerging needs, or developmental differences receive the right support at the earliest opportunity.

The team promotes inclusive practice within early years settings, supports the early identification of need, and provides advice, guidance, training, and targeted intervention to children, families, and practitioners. Working within a graduated approach, the team helps build the confidence and capacity of the early years workforce while ensuring that children can access and participate fully in high‑quality early education experiences.

Through partnership working with health, education, social care, and voluntary sector services, the team aims to improve outcomes for children and families, reduce barriers to learning and development, and ensure every child has the best start in life.

The Role:

Purpose of the RoleBased within Family Hubs across Cornwall, the Best Start Inclusion Practitioner supports young children, families, and early years providers to promote inclusion and ensure children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), can access high‑quality early education and achieve the best possible outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide advice, guidance, and practical support to families and early years settings across Cornwall to promote inclusive practice.
• Work directly with children aged 0–5 who may have emerging or identified SEND, supporting their development, participation, and learning.
• Undertake observations, assessments, and support planning in partnership with families and professionals.
• Support parents/carers to understand and meet their child's developmental and additional needs.
• Deliver coaching, modelling, and training to early years practitioners to enhance inclusive practice.
• Work collaboratively with Family Hub teams, health professionals, education providers, and other agencies to coordinate effective support.
• Facilitate early identification of need and access to appropriate services and interventions.
• Monitor, review, and evaluate the impact of support provided to children, families, and settings.
• Maintain accurate records and ensure compliance with safeguarding, EYFS, SEND Code of Practice, and relevant local policies.

Overall Aim
To work within Cornwall's Family Hubs to ensure children receive the right support at the right time, empowering families and strengthening inclusive practice so that every child has the best start in life.

This position will be subject to an enhanced criminal record disclosure check.

Working Pattern:

This post will be for 29.6 hours throughout the year.

What you’ll need to succeed:

Key Skills and Experience:

• Knowledge of child development, inclusion, and SEND within the early years.
• Experience of working with children aged 0–5 and their families.
• Strong communication, relationship‑building, and multi‑agency working skills.
• Ability to provide advice, coaching, and practical support to practitioners and parents.
• Understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), SEND legislation, and family‑centred approaches.

What you’ll get in return:

Cornwall Council’s ambition is to be an employer of choice, a high performing Council and a learning organisation. We commit to providing a reward and benefits package to attract, motivate and reward our employees. We offer a range of flexible working options to our staff. This helps provide our employees with a greater work/life balance. Whilst still ensuring that service needs are met.

Our core employee rewards and benefits include:

• a competitive salary.
• a defined benefit pension scheme, based on your career average earnings. This includes the option for extra voluntary contributions
• a generous annual leave entitlement with the potential to purchase additional leave.
• a national award-winning employee health and wellbeing programme
• Employee benefits scheme giving employees access to a wide range of discounts to local and national goods and services

Additional Information:

Cornwall Council is unable to offer visa sponsorship or transfer existing sponsorship for this role.

About us:

Cornwall Council deliver services to more than half a million local people and over five million visitors a year. Working here - Cornwall Council

We are happy to talk about flexible working options such as part‑time or compressed hours. More examples of our flexible working opportunities can be found here - flexible working options.

Fairness and inclusion are at the heart of our vision for Cornwall. In order to best serve our communities, we are striving to achieve a diverse workforce that is inclusive of all backgrounds, cultures and identities; e.g., race, disability, sex, gender reassignment status, age, religion and sexual orientation. We are an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer, and we will assess applicants on their merits.

Cornwall Council is committed to safeguarding and following safer recruitment principles to help make sure our staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children, young people and adults at risk. It’s a vital part of creating a safe and positive environment and making a commitment to keeping all service users safe from harm.