Senior SEND Lead & Inclusion Strategy

Reading Borough Council; Reading; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 76,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday entitlement

Flexible working

Modern offices in Reading

Life Assurance

On-site day nursery

Season Ticket Loan

Lease car

Job summary

Reading Borough Council is seeking an experienced Senior SEND Consultant to lead Reading Inclusion Support in Education (RISE), providing operational leadership across the service and working with schools, educational psychologists and partners to design timely, effective, and sustainable SEND provision.

You will supervise a team of SEND Consultants, manage workloads, chair panels, deliver training, monitor EHCP processes and drive service improvements, ensuring alignment with local policy and

Qualifications

• Postgraduate qualification in a SEND-related field and a degree-level qualification.
• Significant experience providing SEND advice, consultancy and support within educational settings.
• Experience of leading or coordinating SEND provision across multiple schools or services.
• Experience of supervising, mentoring or line managing SEND professionals.
• Extensive knowledge of SEND legislation, policy and statutory processes.
• A strong understanding of inclusive practice and the challenges facing children and young people with SEND.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and build effective relationships.
• The ability to make sound professional judgements, manage competing priorities and work with a high degree of autonomy.
• Experience of delivering training, coaching or professional development opportunities.
• A commitment to continuous improvement, partnership working and delivering positive outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

Responsibilities

• Providing day-to-day leadership, supervision and support to SEND Consultants and SEND Specialist Practitioners.
• Monitoring workloads and service demands, ensuring resources are deployed effectively across the service.
• Quality assuring SEND advice, reports and school-facing communications, providing professional challenge where required.
• Leading SENCo networks and forums, ensuring schools are informed about local and national SEND developments.
• Chairing operational panels and meetings, ensuring actions are progressed and outcomes delivered.
• Delivering advice, guidance and training to schools to strengthen inclusive practice and improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
• Supporting improvements in the quality of EHCP assessment requests and providing feedback where applications are unsuccessful.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues, schools, families and external partners to shape and develop Reading's SEND offer.

Skills

Leadership

SEND expertise

Stakeholder engagement

Team supervision

Communication skills

Policy knowledge

Analytical thinking

Education

Postgraduate qualification in SEND

Degree-level qualification

Job description

Reading Borough Council is seeking an experienced Senior SEND Consultant to lead Reading Inclusion Support in Education (RISE), providing operational leadership across the service and working with schools, educational psychologists and partners to design timely, effective, and sustainable SEND provision.

You will supervise a team of SEND Consultants, manage workloads, chair panels, deliver training, monitor EHCP processes and drive service improvements, ensuring alignment with local policy and