County Lead for Early Years SEND/ISL Area Manager

County Lead for Early Years SEND/ISL Area Manager

Job Number: HCC24857

Directorate: Childrens Services

Location: Hertfordshire with an identified area management role in one of the 4 quadrants

Starting Salary: £68,319 with the opportunity to progress to £75,687 pa (pro rata for part-time)

Hours: 37 per week

Contract: Permanent

Diversity: We are an inclusive employer and value a diverse workforce

What does the role involve?

An opportunity has arisen for a County Lead for Early Years, who will act as the lead for Early Years SEND across the Hertfordshire. You'll be shaping the strategic direction of Early Years SEND provision, facilitating change and improvement across the sector and lead the Early Years SEND specialist education advisory service.

We'll be looking for you to:

• Be operational leadership of the specialist advisory Early Years SEND service across the County, ensuring quality and equity of service delivery of strategic objectives across Early Years SEND, ISL and wider directorate and HCC corporate objectives
• Lead and manage the casework of children in the Early Years being assessed or in receipt of an Education, Health and Care Plan, to ensure practice is fully compliant with statutory duties as outlined in the Children and Families Act 2014 and associated Regulations and Code of Practice
• Plan, manage and monitor the financial budgets of the Early Years SEND education advisory service
• Make recommendations to senior managers or Members relating to the resolution of complex service issues within Early Years SEND
• Act as a champion for Early Years SEND within the council, and as a representative to external stakeholders and service users
• Provide leadership and management of integrated service delivery across one of the four ISL areas (East Herts & Broxbourne, Welwyn & Hatfield)
• Manage and monitor the area team's performance and make information regularly available to stakeholders, including ISL Managers
• Ensure complaints and concerns are responded to promptly and effectively and where appropriate make service improvements
• Contribute to the development of ISL and leadership of the service. Support the Head of ISL and other ISL Area Managers to ensure services are delivered coherently and equitably
• Secure best outcomes for children by empowering settings to meet their needs effectively in line with the SEND Code of Practice, the Hertfordshire Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Strategy
• Effectively lead on the co-ordination of the local area response to ensure the needs of Children is in line with Hertfordshire Children's Service SEND Transformation ambition
• Work collaboratively with other colleagues both within and outside ISL, including the delivering local partnerships, to promote early intervention, assessment and high-quality inclusive practice
• Work collaboratively with stakeholders across the Early Years SEND landscape to provide integrated support, making the best use of resources Coordinate the local delivery of integrated ISL services within a quadrant of the county.

We'll need you to have:

• Educated to degree level
• Senior leadership experience in a school or local authority
• Significant experience of working with and leading provision for children with additional needs and SEND
• In depth knowledge of SEND statutory legislation and frameworks
• Qualified Teacher Status is desirable

For an informal discussion and more information please contact: Fiona Nnanyere (acting Head of ISL) or Deena Wallworth (current Early Years County Lead)

Benefits of working for us:

• Hybrid Working
• Excellent Career Development
• Salary Exchange for Additional Benefits
• Excellent Pension Scheme with Employer Contributions
• Shopping Discounts
• Support Groups & Wellbeing Schemes

Closing Date: 1 February 2024.