SEND Team Manager
Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest
Directorate: Childrens & Families
Salary: PO6£51,093- £54,129 depending on experience.
Retention Bonus/ Market Supplement: N/A
Contract Type: Full-time Permanent / Fixed term
Working hours per week: 36
Application Deadline: 03/10/2024
Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC
Reference: 1349
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 two permanent SEND Team Managers to provide an additional of support and advice to parents and children with SEND. You will have experience of being a SEND team manager for at least two years with an exemplary track record.
You will have a good working knowledge of key legislation for SEND including the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND COP 2014/15. you will be responsible in delivering ongoing relevant training to the SEND officers with the legislation and process in mind.
>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<
Key Responsibilities:
- Work directly with Children and young people; the work has significant implications for the wellbeing of individuals. Professional colleagues, other providers and external agencies to gather and exchange information and co-ordinate actions.
- Develop sensitivity, persuasiveness, and negotiation and assertiveness skills to communicate with diverse audiences in emotive circumstances. Ability to build trust and confidence with children and young people and professionals. Deal with people at all levels confidently, sensitively and diplomatically.
- Diverse internal and external contacts, to provide specialist advice, guidance and support on complex issues within area of responsibility; develop and maintain joint working and promote the Council position.
- Consult with stakeholders to identify requirements. Communicate changes in policy and working practice to contacts.
- Handle challenging service user / stakeholder feedback, or complaints which involve significant persuasion and influencing skills.
Qualifications and Requirements:
- Educated to degree standard or equivalent experience Relevant professional qualification is essential for the role.
- Substantial Continuing Professional Development.
- 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 team.
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.
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.