Lead Officer SEND Strategic Early Intervention Team

Job Introduction

About Us
You will be joining the SEND Team in a role supporting the strategic and operational development of the new SEND Strategic Early Intervention Team. This is an exciting opportunity to lead an innovative new support service for SENCOs and education staff in supporting children and families in Oxfordshire to ensure that needs are identified and met at the earliest opportunity.

Working closely with schools and settings is going to be key, so a good understanding about SEND and the strengths and challenges this poses to all stakeholders is key. 

About the Role
Lead Officer SEND Strategic Early Intervention Team for the county is an exciting opportunity to coordinate the SEND offer for SENCOs and education staff in supporting children and families in Oxfordshire to ensure that needs are identified and met at the earliest opportunity. 

Oxfordshire is embarking on a broad range of system reform to sustainably improve the outcomes for children and young people with SEND in Oxfordshire while remaining within the available resources. As part of this ambitious work, we need to support our mainstream education settings in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people at the earliest opportunity. 

You will be responsible for:

• providing early intervention support following the graduated response by utilising and supporting the skills and aptitude of SENDCOs and education setting leaders across the county for children and young people to be able to access the full mainstream education offer. 
• Supporting settings to enhance inclusion practices and ethos’.  
• Ensuring that the Local Offer and county wide SEND training programme are coordinated, utilised and are future proofed. 
• Utilising data sets such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment in order to plan focus work and projects. 
• Developing the service by creating confidence in parents, schools and other key stakeholders to avoid unnecessary escalation of need.
• Coordinating projects within the team such as the Enhanced Pathways Offer, Special School Outreach, CPD & SEND, which will include measuring impact against  KPIs

About you
To be successful in this role, you will have the skills to work as part of a team, but also on your own initiative.  You will be creative in how you face challenges and be willing to utilise technology to bring together ideas and practitioners. You will have a real passion for teaching and learning and finding ways to support children and young people with SEND achieving good outcomes. 

Good communication skills are essential as this role is about working in partnership with educational professionals. You will be very organised and have the ability to prioritise work. You will also need to be ICT proficient and have working knowledge of the SEND Code of Practice. 

Rewards and benefits
It really is true that every single job role here contributes to bettering the lives of the people in our county - we want to do this for our employees too. We are proud of our strong flexible working culture, including the opportunity for flexibility on working hours and the use of technology to support agile working. We offer some of the very best learning and development opportunities to support your ongoing development.

We have a generous holiday allowance which rises as you remain in employment with us up to 32 days, as well as giving you the option to buy additional holiday. You will also have access to a Local Government Pension Scheme with employer contributions of up to 19.9% of your salary; a range of local and national retail discounts; and a host of enhanced family friendly policies including carers leave and paid time off for volunteering.

Our commitment to:
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

At Oxfordshire County Council we are proud of our diverse workforce. Everyone is accepted for who they are, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marital status, race, faith or belief, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, or on maternity or family leave. We have a number of staff network groups which provide peer support, education and safe spaces for all.

Our commitment to:
Guaranteed Interview Schemes

As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the job. We also guarantee interviews to care leavers who have completed further education and who meet the essential criteria for the job. For those leaving care without any further education, we guarantee an interview for our apprenticeships. We are also committed to helping and supporting those transitioning from HM Armed Forces to civilian life and guarantee an interview for those demonstrating the essential criteria for the role, within three years of leaving the service.

Our commitment to:
Safeguarding

Oxfordshire County Council are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment. We will ensure that all our recruitment and selection practices reflect these commitments.

Our commitment to:
Flexible Working

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which can include flexi-time, part time working, job sharing, nine-day fortnights and annualised hours, depending on the requirements of the role and the service.

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If you encounter any technical issues with the application system, please contact us at: careers@oxfordshire.gov.uk