Job Introduction
Northumberland Early Years Team have responsibility for ensuring that high-quality early years and childcare provision is available and accessible to all families with young children. This is an exciting time for Northumberland Early Years as working parents of a child under five are now entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare per week. Northumberland, as a local authority, is also in receipt of funding to support the development of wraparound care (before and after school) for primary school children to be able to access in their local area.
An exciting opportunity has become available to join the Early Years Team, as we are seeking to appoint two Early Years Inclusion Consultants on permanent posts. The Early Years Inclusion Consultant role is a key role working with providers across Northumberland to implement Northumberland's statutory duties, by ensuring that children with emerging additional needs or SEND are able to access their full entitlement in an early years and childcare setting of the parents' choosing. This includes offering support and challenge to providers to develop high-quality inclusive provision enabling the most vulnerable children to have the best start in life.
This role is varied and complex and the prominent areas of focus will be:
* To build the capacity of practitioners to meet the individual needs of all children, but particularly those at risk of poor outcomes.
* To ensure that children with a SEND need are able to take up their full entitlement.
* To act as the Area Early Years SENCo coordinating inclusion and SEND related support for providers.
* To support early identification of need, including in relation to new entitlements for children under 3.
* To support new and existing providers as part of a wider locality team.
* To facilitate effective transition arrangements between providers for those children with emerging needs or SEND.
* To take responsibility for developing and leading training sessions around inclusion issues including effective use of the Early Years Ordinarily Available Provision guidance document.
* To disseminate information about early years entitlements and other funding streams, particularly those related to SEND and support providers to make best use of any additional funds.
* To work in partnership with other agencies to support the implementation of Northumberland's Conception to 5 Integrated Plan.
The successful candidates will be welcomed into a friendly, supportive team with regular 1 to 1's, appraisals and team meetings. They will be required to travel around the county, attend meetings at our central base, as well as attend events outside normal office hours. The contractual work base will be County Hall, Morpeth, with flexible working arrangements following Northumberland's WorkSmart policy. To find out more about this role or to arrange a discussion, please email (Claire Johnson – Early Years Consultant)
Interviews are planned to take place week commencing the 13th October
Why choose us? We have some outstanding benefits to offer you, including
* 26 days annual leave plus public/bank holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years of service (pro rata for part-time employees)
* Automatic enrolment into the Local Government Pension Scheme
* Flexi scheme – up to 2 days flexible leave available per month (pro rata for part-time employees)
* Local government discount schemes available to all employees with offers at local businesses along with various national brands
* Commitment to work/life balance offering flexibility through various schemes including job sharing, home working, flexible working, term-time only, and compressed hours
* Car leasing scheme
Please visit our website for more information regarding our benefits.
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Further information
For guidance on completing your application and for information about our Equality and Diversity principles, please see the attached guidance notes here.
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format, please see the alternative methods below. This information will be treated as confidential and will only be used to check that you meet the essential requirements of the post.
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