Swindon Borough Council are on an exciting journey to transform service delivery. We want our town to be the best it can be. Our ambitious vision in the new Swindon Plan is supported by realistic transformation programmes, with the people of Swindon at their heart. Because that’s who we’re doing it for – the communities and businesses that make our town great. As part of the Council, you’ll support a friendly local authority making decisions with real impact. It’s all for better public services. Better processes. And a better quality of life, for everyone. Join us, and Swindon will be better with you.
Swindon is part of the national Special Educational Needs Disability & Alternative Provision Change Programme, working with the Department for Education and external delivery partners to test 19 reforms following the green paper consultation in 2021. This is an exciting opportunity to support the testing of proposed reforms that will bring about a positive change for all in the SEND sector.
Your next role
The Special Educational Needs and Disability service are part of Swindon’s One Children’s Service and are responsible for managing all statutory assessment processes for SEND across the Council and take a lead across the action plan for SEND improvement in the area. We are a friendly, determined and supportive team and actively encourage innovation and great teamwork and partnerships for success.
You will work closely within a team of coordinators and across the service to ensure a positive, responsive, efficient and timely SEND service that inspires and learns from partners across the area and wider afield. You will directly support and affect the improvement of outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disability.
Responsibilities will include:
1. Leading and managing the statutory assessment and plan processes for children and young people with special educational needs as part of a team of coordinators.
2. Working directly in partnership with parents, children and young people, providers and practitioners to make sure Swindon has an efficient and effective statutory process that continually improves outcomes for the children and young people.
3. Promoting and facilitating strengths based, person centred approaches and support effective quality assurance processes and evidence-based decision making for consistency and accountability.
4. Championing the potential of all children and young people to succeed.
About you
5. You will have a relevant experience in special educational needs and disability from a health, care and/or education background. A qualification in special educational needs will be an advantage.
6. You will be experienced and confident to work in partnership with a range of different agencies and particularly with those with lived experience of SEND services.
7. Possessing excellent communication skills and organisational skills you will enjoy being part of a high achieving team and will be able to work effectively and efficiently under pressure.
8. You will be competent in working with an electronic case management system and have a good level of computer skills.
9. You will be committed to being a learning practitioner and to building and supporting the professional development and understanding of special educational needs in others. You will have a focused work ethic and set high standards for the service you provide.
We pride ourselves on our child centred approach, but don’t just take our word for it, see what the Swindon Parent Carer Forum (Swindon SEND Families Voice) had to say;
"Being a parent to a child with SEND can be stressful, confusing and frustrating. Getting the help our children need can feel like a minefield…... To have someone that is passionate about our children and want to go that extra mile to support us is invaluable…. When you have an excellent SEND Officer they go the extra mile to get the best possible service for our children and we really appreciate it."
You must be fluent in the English language (as a requirement of Part 7 of the Immigration Act “for the effective performance of a customer-facing role”).
Your next package
Please see our offer for more details.
As an employee, you will receive a diverse and exciting environment in which to work, encouraging creativity and innovation whilst recognising the need to support ongoing personal development and a flexible work life balance.
For Swindon to thrive in the future, we need to lay the foundations now. It’s why our regeneration and transformation programmes are already underway. So, you’ll be joining us at an exciting time on our journey. We’ll look to you to share your knowledge, influence decisions and drive real, positive change. With your contributions, we’ll achieve our vision of a prosperous, re-vitalised Swindon together. And you’ll be proud to say it was made better with you.
Please see our page for more details and our new .
Your next steps
Read the and select the Apply button where you will be redirected to the Swindon Borough Council website to complete our online application process. Clicking the ‘Apply’ button on this job website is not an application, you must register on the Swindon Borough Council website in order to be considered for the role.
Potential applicants are sometimes put off if they don’t meet 100% of the requirements. We think individual experience, skills and passion make all the difference, so if you meet the majority of the criteria, we’d love to hear from you.
As an inclusive employer, we welcome applications from a diverse range of communities, and in particular disabled people and people from ethnic minorities. Read our .