SEND Officer

Experienced SEND Officer required for this fully remote opportunity.

The SEND Officer will act as the lead contact for Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) activity for children and young people (CYP), with special educational needs and disability and their families. 
 
In line with the SEND Code of Practice and Children and Families Act, these roles will coordinate activities that are required to assess needs, review the specified needs to ensure they are being met, monitor if progress is being made and champion inclusion in the education setting.

The SEND Officer will act as a single point of regular and consistent contact for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disability and their families, who have or have applied for an Education, Health and Care Plan by:
- Ensuring there is the appropriate arrangement of services and advice, support and guidance.
Coordinating practitioners and services around the child, young person and their family, identifying when specialist (Social Workers, - - Educational Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, other professionals etc.) involvement is required, make the appropriate contacts and ensure effective liaison with the specialists. Arranging person centred multidisciplinary and/or multiagency meetings as required.
- Coordinating and facilitating a jointly co-ordinated assessment process and single holistic person centred plan, for more complex cases that focuses on the child or young person’s educational, health and social care needs in line with the Children and Families Act and the SEND code of Practice.
- Ensuring that each need identified in the assessment is matched to an outcome in the plan. Enable young people and their families to identify and agree outcomes and how they can be achieved, including discussing the option of a personal budget.
- Being responsible for drafting and finalising single plans, including those with statutory protections. Agree the plan with young people and their families. Ensure that the plan is reviewed as agreed.
- Identifying and supporting children and young people to move between non statutory and statutory support as required. When moving into statutory support the Senior SEND Inclusion Officer will be responsible for monitoring work progress to ensure that national indicators and legislative deadlines are met.
- Accurately recording, monitor and maintain information relating to personal budgets and provision.

Essential Requirements
1 -Significant experience of working in health, social care or education environment and working in partnership with children, young people and their families, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disability.
 
2 -Good knowledge of all relevant current legislation e.g.SEND Code of Practice and Children and Families Act.
 
3 -Recognised qualification to a minimum of level 3 or equivalent experience.
 
4 -Experience of offering advice/support and guidance and establishing best practice in relation to either Statutory SEND, Inclusion for Early Years/primary settings, planning for adulthood or other areas as relevant to the advertised vacancy.
 
5 -Ability to manage time effectively, organise and prioritise personal and team workload including sharing best praxctise and leading/supervising supporting colleagues within the team.
 
6 -Able to demonstrate knowledge and/or experience of equalities and diversity issues.
 
7 -Ability to empower the child or young person and family:  to make decisions, to aspire to achieve the best outcomes possible for the child or young person, and to plan for adulthood.
 
8 -Experience of co-ordinating multi professional meetings.
 
9 -Excellent written and verbal communication skills and good negotiating skills, including a high level of fluency in English; The ability to converse with citizens and provide complex information in accurate spoken English, or through a BSL interpreter.

10 -Have a working knowledge of Microsoft office applications or equivalent including the following: email (outlook or equivalent), word processing (word or equivalent), spreadsheets (excel or equivalent) using the internet (internet explorer or equivalent). Have a willingness to learn new applications and technology as appropriate.