Best Start Inclusion Practitioner

WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN GREENWICH? Following several new government initiatives, the Early Years Inclusion Service is expanding. This investment allows us to create multiple new roles within the Local Authority to enhance our support for early years practitioners and children with additional needs across Royal Greenwich. Driven by the SEND Reforms, the "Experts at Hand" model, and the development of Best Start Family Hubs, these newly created positions offer an exciting opportunity to join a forward-thinking service and help shape the future of inclusive practice from the very beginning.

About Our Service

Our outreach provision consists of four highly regarded specialist teams covering:

• Early Years
• Autism
• Primary & Secondary School Support
• Sensory Impairment

These teams include specialist teachers, Early Years Area SENCos, and outreach workers. Together, they promote inclusion across all Greenwich schools and early years settings to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Have you got extensive experience in working within Early Years, with a clear understanding of child development along with a working knowledge of supporting children and families with a range of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities? We are looking for Area SENCo’s for a designated cluster of private, voluntary and independent early years settings and child-minders providing support in the early identification of children with SEND including indirect support for children through consultation, collaborative planning with the child’s parents/ carers, early years practitioners and other professionals.

The post requires working alongside team members to deliver SEN training through the Special Needs training programme. We are looking for a Lead Best Start Inclusion Practitioner and three additional Best Start Inclusion Practitioners who will provide dedicated SEND capacity across hubs, strengthening early help and preventative support, supporting workforce development across early years settings and improve outcomes for children with emerging and identified SEND.

The current Early Years Inclusion Service offer includes Early Years Area SENCo’s, SEND Early Years (0-3yrs) Keyworkers and other professionals who offer a supporting role.

Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.

Full Employment History: A full employment history is required for this role. Please provide a full employment history, together with a satisfactory written explanation of any gaps in employment.

How Applications are Scored: Each application is scored according to how well the supporting statements addresses each point on the Person Specification for the role. Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific points within the Person Specification. The Person Specification is supplied with the job advert. When completing your application, please use the supporting statements section to tell us how you meet each of the points on the Person Specification. We need to have this information in order to consider your application.

Our Staff Values: Our Staff Values are important to us. Candidates will be continuously assessed against our staff values throughout the recruitment process. Where candidates demonstrate views and behaviours that do not meet the standards of our staff values, we reserve the right to reject their application/ registration.