Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) in Oxford

The Cherwell School is seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and innovative colleague who is passionate and ambitious about equality in educational experience for every child and can lead others to develop innovative inclusive teaching and learning, allowing every child to academically thrive and promote independence. An advocacy for SEND is paramount to this post and a compassionate yet ambitious nature is essential.

A successful candidate will bring a creative and strategic approach to SEND provision, whilst effectively managing and developing the progress and achievement of vulnerable learners. The SENCo position will join our highly effective and dedicated Inclusion team in a school that will welcome new ideas and support professional development and growth.

We are a high performing and oversubscribed comprehensive school in Oxford with approximately 2,000 students on roll, including 680 in the Sixth Form. We are delighted that we were judged ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted (October 2022), as we feel this is a fair reflection of the school, not least as we recognize that we have the capacity to develop and improve further.

We consider ourselves to be a school which has at its heart “opportunity, responsibility, excellence” and we aim to make this a deeper reality for all of our students and staff in the years to come. Our aims are supported by our designation as a National Teaching School and as a School Centred Initial Teacher Training provider. We are committed to the professional learning and career development of our staff and work in conjunction with the River Learning Trust to continue to raise standards. We value the wellbeing of our staff and aim to support colleagues throughout their working lives.

Staff report high levels of wellbeing and attribute this to factors such as:

• Well designed, sequenced and resourced curricula which are centralised
• Feedback and marking approaches which are carefully considered for impact and workload
• Clear, centralised Behaviour for Learning System; pastoral teams supported by non-teaching deputy year leaders
• Lower than typical contact hours for classroom teachers and middle leaders
• Excellent in-house and external CPD opportunities and regular opportunities for career development within the school and trust
• Professional support for ECTs provided by experienced teams of staff

Education has the power to change lives, communities and society for the better. At RLT we believe that we can achieve more for our pupils, trainees, staff and communities by working together rather than alone. Schools in RLT are united by a common belief in the benefits of working together, and by our commitment to shared principles.

OUR VISION is for our schools and SCITT to improve rapidly, continuously and sustainably: to be better faster together. OUR ‘WHY?’ is that children and young people ‘only get one go’ in school and therefore as part of RLT we aim to ensure the best possible ‘go’ for our pupils. OUR ‘HOW?’ is through the highest support and challenge for our schools and each other, underpinned by our principles.

Our employees benefit from a wide variety of support including extensive continuing professional learning and development opportunities, wellbeing and staff networks and access to Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (TPS and LGPS) for all staff. This role includes regulated activity relevant to children. The River Learning Trust and The Cherwell School are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and preventing extremism.

The Trust is required to conduct a variety of checks and online searches about you as part of their recruitment process in accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. It is an offence to apply for certain roles within schools if you are barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975, 2013 and 2020.