SEND Officer

JOB DESCRIPTION

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Directorate: Children's & Families

Salary: PO239,951 to £42,840 depending on experience.

Retention Bonus/ Market Supplement: N/A

Contract Type: Full-time permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 10/12/2024

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference:1347

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London's Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

About the role:

The London Borough of Waltham Forest's SEND Service is a 0-25 integrated service working with children and young people with an educational need and/or disability (SEND) who are eligible for an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP).

The service brings together key areas of service provision from education health and social care to proactively promote inclusion and improve the support available to children, young adults and their families. The SEND Service has a strong focus on improving outcomes to enable children and young adults to fulfil their potential for achieving their aspirations and improve choice and independence; education, training and employment; health and wellbeing; individual and family resilience; securing quality and timeliness of advice, support and intervention.

We are seeking to recruit ten permanent SEND Case Officers to provide advice and support to parents and children with SEND; ensuring outcomes are being monitored, reviewed and developed as appropriate to the age of the child or young person. Our team is divided into early years, school age and PFA. A knowledge of post 16 education is essential for any candidate who wishes to make a preference for this role. We are also recruiting two SEND officers to cover our most vulnerable cohorts across school age and post 16. A knowledge and/or desire to work with our partners across a range of services and attend multiagency meetings is essential for these roles.

We are committed to ongoing professional development and training and so would welcome candidates from an educational background, teachers, SENDCo and Heads, who have a desire to become SEND case officers.

The SEND Case Officer will act as the named Officer for a family in relation to EHC assessment/review, carrying out the role of lead professional as required.

Acting as a key link with schools, education support services and other providers to ensure delivery of quality service to children, parents, schools and other providers.

To be responsible for the administration of the Education Health and Care assessment, planning and review of the special educational needs of children and to secure provision to meet their needs in line with Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND COP 2014/15.

Candidates must have experience of writing Education Health and Care Plans for SEND children and young people and must be familiar with the statutory process for the development of Education, Health and Care Plans and should demonstrate a willingness to be flexible, responsive and be able to use their initiative and communicate effectively with children, young people parents and partners.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• To be responsible for the administration of the Education Health and Care assessment, planning and review of the special educational needs of children and to secure provision to meet their needs in line with Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND COP 2014/15.
• To deliver services thatenable stakeholder, service users and families/carers to engage with and make informed use of the service(s). To manage and progress a large and complex caseload. To provide specialist support for a complex work area.
• Organise and deliver services within a specialist area to meet established operational targets. Make operational decisions and prioritise work, taking account of children, young adults and their carer's needs. Plan, deliver and monitor the appropriate interventions.
• Provide specialist, expert advice, guidance and support to colleagues, service users and partner agencies. Manage, interpret and resolve escalated complex queries and issues within the specialist area. Proactively identify areas of potential concern.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Educated to degree standard or equivalent experience Relevant professional qualification is essential for the role.
• A working knowledge of case management systems would be desirable; however, training will be provided.
• Knowledge of key legislation and how it applies to the role of the SEND officer.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/ or vulnerable adults;
• Satisfactory Enhanced DBS check;
• Suitable driver's license is desirable.

This post is politically restricted therefore the post holder is disqualified from undertaking certain political activities under the Local Government Officers (Political Restrictions) Regulations 1990.

As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken and written English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

How to Apply:

The Council's preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the 'Apply' button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Annette Watson-Morse] at Annette.watson-morse@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.