SEND Practitioner

Location: HMP Dovegate, Staffordshire ST14 8XR

Salary: £26,294 plus excellent benefits

Schedule: 08.15 am – 5.00pm, Monday to Friday. 40 hours per week

Ready to impact a better future?

As a SEND Practitioner in our Justice and Immigration team, you’ll provide specialist inclusion, SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), and pastoral support that helps learners access education safely and successfully. Your work will promote confidence, resilience, and positive engagement — supporting rehabilitation and helping individuals develop the skills they need for a more positive future.

You’ll play a vital role in creating an inclusive learning culture across the prison. Working closely with colleagues, you’ll ensure learners with additional needs have the right support, encouragement, and adjustments to progress with confidence. Your work will help reduce barriers, boost employability, and contribute to safer, more supportive communities.

What you’ll do as a SEND Practitioner

• Carry out diagnostic assessments, screeners, and profiles to identify learning needs and ensure these are shared with relevant colleagues.
• Develop and review Individual Learning Plans (ILPs), maintaining a caseload and meeting required CDI timescales.
• Deliver personalised academic and pastoral interventions for learners with SEND, neurodiversity, or other additional needs.
• Staff and manage the Resilience Room as a calm and structured environment that supports reengagement and behaviour regulation.
• Provide guidance to tutors on adaptive teaching, reasonable adjustments, and inclusive practice.
• Maintain accurate records on CMS, including learner attendance, progress, and support interventions.
• Work collaboratively with prison officers, healthcare, psychology, safer custody, and offender management teams.
• Follow all safeguarding, security, and compliance procedures, maintaining the highest professional standards.
• Contribute to continuous improvement, inspection readiness, and service development activities.

Does this sound like you?

You’ll be a great fit for this role if you have:

• Experience supporting learners with SEND, neurodiversity, or additional learning needs in an educational or support environment.
• Knowledge of inclusive teaching strategies, access arrangements, and behaviour support approaches.
• Experience delivering pastoral or mentoring support and developing personalised learning plans.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to build rapport with vulnerable learners.
• Calm, resilient behaviour management skills, and the ability to work confidently in a complex environment.
• Competent ICT skills for maintaining accurate and timely records.

An Enhanced DBS check is required for this role. This includes spent and unspent convictions, cautions, and any relevant information held by local police, in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and safeguarding requirements. You will also complete an Occupational Health Questionnaire to allow us to provide any support needed for you to succeed in the role.

Discover all you need to keep growing

We’re one of the top 1% of international employers, so you can have confidence you’ll be part of a highly supportive culture with leaders you can count on to help you achieve your goals. From mentoring and training to our focus on internal progression, we’re proud to offer clear development opportunities – and the support and tools to help you seize them.

What we offer

• Holidays: 23 days plus bank holidays (increasing to 25 with tenure)
• Pension: Up to 6% contributory pension scheme
• Training and development: Over 1,100 internal courses available, funding for qualifications and apprenticeships (including L3 Team Leader and L5 Operations Manager apprenticeships), mentoring opportunities, and a focus on internal progression
• Health and wellbeing: Employee Assistance Programme, Bupa Anytime HealthLine, wellbeing app, 30% off at Serco-managed leisure centres, and 24/7 access to a virtual GP service
• Discounts: Discounts across around 1,000 retailers, from food and clothing to days out, entertainment and travel
• Charity: Paid volunteering day, tax-free charitable giving through Payroll Giving Scheme, donate your pennies from your monthly pay to the Serco People Fund Charity
• Employee networks: Our networks support inclusion and connection by providing spaces for collaboration, learning, and belonging. They represent and empower all our colleagues including LGBTQIA+ employees, women, parents and carers, people with disabilities, veterans, and people from all cultural backgrounds.

Let’s impact a better future, together. Apply today.