SEND Officer

About The Role

Use your expertise to transform SEND learner outcomes - Join us as a SEND Officer

As a SEND Officer you will be integral to our Inclusive Learning department based at EKC Sheppey College. You will be working alongside the support and curriculum teams to enhance the student experience of our SEND learners.

As part of your role, you will be expected to build strong links with local schools and the community fostering effective working relationships, enabling the arrangement of smooth and positive transition for our students. A working knowledge of Education and Health Care Plans (EHCP) is a necessity as you will be preparing and chairing annual reviews, setting outcomes and ensuring these are monitored throughout the year.

You will also be responsible for undertaking support meetings with new and existing students, to ensure that student's support needs are met and strategies are put in place, cascading this effectively to all parties involved. This will include the writing, and reviewing, of personal needs plans, health care plans, behaviour support plans and risk assessments.

You will be supported by other SEND Officers within the EKC Group Colleges, and will be expected to attend regular network meetings to ensure best practice is carried out and information is shared in a timely manner.

Hours per week: 18.5

Salary per year: £15,055

Please note that if you would like to be considered for the Inclusive Learning Team Leader role alongside this role, please complete a separate application. If you are successful the roles could be combined to become full time (37 hours).

Alongside our priority of excellent student experience, we also focus on our employees. Check out our benefits when working for the East Kent Colleges Group.

About You

We are seeking an enthusiastic and innovative professional to join our team, supporting young people with Special Educational Needs to thrive and reach their potential.

You Will Bring

• Experience in the SEN or Care sector, with the ability to lead and support a team
• Proven skills in supporting young people with challenging behaviour and SEMH needs, using proactive and preventative strategies
• Experience using a range of communication methods and aids (e.g. Makaton, visual supports, symbols) to promote learning and independence
• A strong understanding of accurate recording, reporting and information sharing, following established protocols
• A commitment to maintaining student dignity, while adhering to data protection and safeguarding requirements

Ready to apply?

No need to spend time updating your CV, just click apply and complete our short application form. You can save your progress as you go, and we’ll review all applications and get back to all candidates after the closing date.

If you are interested in an informal chat about the role, or have any queries, please email us on ***email_hidden***

Outstanding Ofsted Provider

East Kent Colleges Group is an Ofsted Outstanding rated provider. It is proud to be the first General Further Education college organisation in the country to have received the Outstanding grade against each of the strands under the new Ofsted inspection framework. An inclusive provider, our colleagues place our students and the communities we serve at the heart of everything they do across EKC Group and this is illustrated in our ‘Strong’ skills grading by Ofsted.

Commitment to Safeguarding

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and we ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities for upholding these principles.

As a designated establishment, we are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore have an obligation to carry out checks to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults. These checks include conviction/caution self-declaration, Enhanced DBS check and obtaining sufficient referencing.

It is a criminal offence to apply for a post which involves engaging in regulated activity relevant to children if you are barred from doing so.

If you are successful in being shortlisted to interview, your suitability to work with children and vulnerable adults will be explored as part of the interview process.

Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

East Kent Colleges Group is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all members of our communities. We are particularly keen to increase the diversity of our staff body and encourage applications from candidates where there is underrepresentation in our workforce.

We are proud to hold the Positive About Disability Award and are a Disability Confident Employer . This confirms our commitment to interviewing all applicants who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. With any successful candidate, we will explore any reasonable adjustments to a role due to a health needs or disability.

Similarly, we have a commitment to Care Leavers (Care Covenant Pledge) and to current or previous

Armed Forces personnel (Armed Forces Covenant Pledge) with a commitment to interview applicants who meet the positions essential criteria and who have declared this on their application.

We welcome applications from anyone wishing to work flexibly and those considering a return to work from a career break.

We do not engage with agencies for permanent staff and have an in-house recruitment team.