Senior Specialist Practitioner

Cambridge County Council; Huntingdon; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading council in the UK is seeking a SEND Senior Specialist Practitioner to enhance support for children and families. The role requires collaboration with schools, a commitment to safeguarding, and expertise in the SEND Code of Practice. Ideal candidates will have strong communication skills and experience working with diverse families, contributing to an inclusive environment that promotes welfare and development.

Benefits

Comprehensive wellbeing package

Flexible bank holidays

Access to development opportunities

Paid volunteering hours

Employee Recognition Awards

Employee discounts account

Qualifications

• Experience working collaboratively with multi-agency professionals.
• Proven understanding of safeguarding and ability to work with families.
• Ability to keep clear and concise records.

Responsibilities

• Providing supervision and line management to specialist practitioners.
• Planning and delivering SEND specialist groups for children and young people.
• Supporting transitions for children into school settings.

Skills

Knowledge of Early Years Foundation Stage

Understanding of SEND Code of Practice

Communication skills

Child-centred approaches

Empathy

Education

Level 3 qualification or significant relevant experience

C or above in English and Maths at GCSE

Tools

IT skills

Job description

Do you have experience of working within SEND? Are you looking for a new role where you can use that experience to really make a difference to children, young people and their families?

An opportunity has arisen for a SEND senior specialist practitioner to join the SEND 0-25 team.

We commit ourselves to building strong relationships with our families and schools, supporting them to access the right services relevant to their circumstances and needs.

For more information or to chat about this opportunity please contact [e-mail]

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes

Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.

What will you be doing?

As a member of the SEND 0-25 team, you will be providing supervision and line management to specialist practitioners. Reporting to the team leader and giving feedback regarding challenges for specialist practitioners within the local area.

You will practically support transitions and access for children into settings or schools developing practitioner capacity to understand and meet the child's needs. Promoting an empowering approach for families underpinned by the principles of Think Family. Working in partnership with parents/carers and other professionals, you will plan, prepare and deliver SEND specialist groups for children and young people. Advising on the use of materials and equipment and modelling the use of resources.

Working with schools to implement evidenced based intervention programmes targeted at supporting the particular needs of children and young people. Offering practical input by promoting strategies to further the child's development across different contexts, and promote inclusion.

About you

As well as being able to demonstrate you have knowledge of Early Years Foundation Stage and the SEND Code of practice (2015), you will also need to bring experience of working collaboratively with multiagency professionals to ensure the best outcome for the child.

You will need a C or above in English and Maths at GCSE and a level 3 qualification (or significant relevant experience).

You will have proven experience of using child centred approaches, a good understanding of safeguarding and the ability to show empathy with parent's /carers.

Good knowledge of IT, verbal and written communication skills and ability to keep clear and concise written and online records is essential to this role.

For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification.

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities.If you don't meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don't be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers