Special Educational Needs And Disabilities Officer

Interim Senior SEND Officer to manage a student caseload whilst a long term permanent member of the team is currently on sickness leave.
This role is required within the reviewing team and will focus on a student caseload of approximately 200 to 250 students along with some complex case work.

Purpose of this role:
To remove barriers to learning for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and facilitate support to enable their preparation for adulthood. To offer advice, guidance and support for children and young people; undertaking assessments and planning as required to ensure that their needs are met, enabling them to participate in learning. To ensure that the needs of young people are met in an integrated, coherent and sustained manner as part of the SEND team, by providing direct support or brokering support from specialist services.

Key relationships:
Children and young people with SEND and their families SEND Teams and Specialist services Colleges, schools and settings External partner organisations Link to the Senior SEND Officer for advice and guidance. Line managed by SEND Lead Officer.

Key result areas include:
Working with schools, colleges and settings to identify children and young people with SEND, identifying how needs will be met and outcomes achieved. Undertaking necessary assessments of need, including Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment, and participating in multi-agency meetings to address the special educational needs and disabilities, as affecting the education of children and young people and their families, acting as lead professional, as required by the Commissioning Hub. Using person-centred approaches to support children and young people with SEND and their families to access activities and services, including sourcing and managing appropriate funding that will help them using a graduated response to encourage their engagement / participation in learning and preparation for adulthood. Preparing drafts and writing EHC plans; ensuring that these are of a high quality, using person centred approaches, focusing on outcomes and ensuring that they identify and meet the needs of the child or young person and their families and reflect their aspirations. Liaising with other agencies and members of multi-agency teams to share and gather information on children, young people and family’s needs, making and receiving referrals as appropriate. Working with families and negotiating access to services in accordance with their needs. Providing information, advice and guidance and support to children and young people through programmes of engagement, intensive support and by helping them to plan for the future. To assist the Lead Officer in the preparation, presentation and defence of tribunals. Working with multi-agency colleagues including those in Education, Health and Social Care and this being facilitated by being in a locality that is aligned with the wider locality based services forming a virtual integrated locality team which supports communication, liaison and collaborative work. Maintaining children and young peoples’ records in line with the required procedures and standards. Working in accordance with recognised safeguarding policies and procedure.