Early Years SEND Home Visiting Officer in Leeds

As an Early Years SEND Home Visiting Officer, you will thrive on working in partnership with parents/carers of pre-school children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) using the Portage Model to support their child’s development. You will be in a privileged position to contribute to and witness the progress in the child’s learning, celebrating their successes on the way.

About You

• Good communication skills and an ability to engage pre-school children with SEND and their family, making learning fun.
• An ability to work flexibly and adapt strategies to support the individual family’s/child’s needs.
• A positive attitude and ability to work collaboratively with parents/carers and colleagues from the Portage team and wider agencies.
• Ability to manage your own time effectively to best support the families on your caseload.
• Knowledge of SEND and early childhood development; this could be gained either through personal, voluntary or professional experience.

About The Role

You will work as part of a registered Portage Home visiting service. We are a friendly and supportive team, offering guidance to families with pre-school children with SEND. You will travel around the city, working in family homes. You will work in partnership with parents/carers to assess what a child can do and set appropriate goals to further their development. Using the Portage approach, you will model play activities so that families are able to achieve these goals with their children. You will liaise with a range of professionals across health, education, and social care. You will use Leeds City Council’s IT systems to record all contacts with families. You will write and share reports and guidance which may be used to support statutory processes. The role is integral to the Inclusion Advisory Team (IAT) and the wider Learning Inclusion service.

What We Offer You

• A competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays.
• Membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions.
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements.
• A clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities.
• A range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further.

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

Job Purpose

Under the direction of a Team Manager, provide a high-quality home visiting service to families with children up to the age of 3 years with SEND to promote the child’s learning and development, in accordance with the organisational needs, policy and practices of the Directorate and within statutory guidelines.

Responsibilities

• Manage an allocated caseload of children with SEND and, with supervision, regularly monitor, review and evaluate the impact of intervention and outcomes for children.
• Work with children, young people and their families, on a one to one or group basis, using a variety of interventions, to identify needs and to achieve positive outcomes.
• Work in partnership with parents/carers to empower them and to enable them to achieve better outcomes for their children.
• Work co-operatively with children’s services, health agencies and other community based services, to provide the most effective service for children young people and families.
• Work with educational providers to promote effective good partnership working with families and transition.
• Use assessment of need and observation techniques informed by a comprehensive knowledge, understanding and experience in SEND and child development, to inform the advice given to families and educational providers.
• Use evidence informed strategies to meet identified child needs to improve their social skills, communication and interaction skills, self-help, well-being, independence, self-awareness, self-advocacy, learning and inclusion.
• Ensure that the views of the child (appropriate to their age and development) and parent voice are sought and taken into account when planning agreed outcomes.
• Participate in regular personal and group Supervision and identify and implement strategies for improving practice, responding appropriately to concerns about practice or procedures.
• Contribute to Service development.
• Apply safeguarding and child protection procedures.
• Be responsible for equipment/resources used in day to day work.
• Maintain accurate manual and computerised records, case notes and other records, collating and preparing information from a variety of sources including preparing reports that are concise, timely, and informative in accordance with the requirements of GDPR.
• Contribute to statutory processes such as EHCPs, Early Help etc. on request.
• Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
• Undertake any other duties and responsibilities appropriate to the grade and purpose of the job as may be determined by the directorate.

Qualifications

Relevant qualification relating to SEND or early childhood development: e.g., NNEB or NVQ level 3, or relevant experience around the inclusion of children and young people in schools and settings and evidence of ongoing professional development.

Essential Requirements

It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements.

Skills Required

• Able to listen to and communicate effectively with families, children and young people.
• Able to work effectively as part of a team and to demonstrate excellent organisational and time management skills prioritising own and team’s work to meet conflicting deadlines.
• Able to undertake assessments and observations to identify, understand and meet needs.
• Able to identify appropriate evidence informed strategies and interventions in order to promote positive change.
• Able to accurately and clearly record case notes deploying the necessary standard of writing and IT skills.
• Competent in the use of IT, including Microsoft Office, Internet and Email.
• Able to apply safeguarding and child protection procedures.
• Able to work flexibly across different work locations and areas as appropriate.
• To actively seek out areas for professional development, attend training and development activities to ensure up to date knowledge and skills and service improvement.
• Excellent numeracy and literacy skills.

Knowledge Required

• Knowledge and awareness of factors impacting on and issues facing vulnerable children and young people and families (e.g. disadvantage, poverty, disability).
• Knowledge and awareness of children’s need to feel safe.
• Knowledge and understanding of SEND and the impact on the child.
• Understanding of the Code of Practice 2015 and its implementation in settings.
• Knowledge and understanding of child development and the implications for learning.
• Of evidence informed interventions and strategies that enhance learning, engagement and well-being of children with SEND.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of confidentiality and the needs and wishes of individuals, families and carers as appropriate.
• Understanding of responsibilities in terms of Health and Safety, security, confidentiality, data protection and safeguarding issues associated with vulnerable people.

Experience Required

Experience of work with children and young people but this does not have to have been gained in a formal employment setting.

Behavioural And Other Characteristics Required

• Demonstrate a positive regard for people with SEND and be an advocate for the difference not deficit approach to understanding SEND, work from a strengths based approach and promote the social model for understanding disability.
• Committed to continuous improvement.
• Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
• Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
• Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities to ensure up to date knowledge, skills, and continuous professional development.
• Understand and embrace our values, behaviours and codes of conduct.

Essential Behavioural And Other Characteristics

• Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct.
• Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon.
• Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council equality and diversity policies.
• Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
• Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities.
• Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
• Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
• Be aware of and comply with Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
• Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity policies of Leeds City Council.
• Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person.

The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

Desirable Requirements

It is desirable that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria for the post. Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Knowledge Required

• Qualification at degree or professional level: e.g., SaLT, counselling, advocacy.
• Specialist skills/training in curriculum or learning area: e.g., therapeutic work, bi-lingual, ICT.

Experience Required

• Of working in an early years’ educational setting and supporting children with SEND.