About the role
SENDIASS Development Officer – Health
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)
- Do you have experience of working with families and young people?
- Are you a good communicator who would feel confident negotiating with health professionals and schools and in collaborating with a variety of support services and voluntary organisations?
- Can you manage a caseload and work with a team of co-workers?
- Do you enjoy collaborative working?
- Do you have a knowledge of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area and its diverse nature?
If so, you may be the person we are looking for to help develop our newly combined service and further develop our working relationship with the SEND related sections of the health service. We provide impartial information, advice and support to parents, young people and children with special educational needs and disabilities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We are a small arm’s length service offering confidential and impartial advice about education, health, and social care matters.
Many of the people we support face challenges in trying to ensure that their child’s needs are met. As the Development Officer - Health you will work closely with the Service’s Managers to support new and existing initiatives but will have particular responsibility for developing good working relationship with relevant health departments and provide advice and support on matters relating to health. You will also manage your own caseload - primarily in situations where the focus of concern is health related issues.
The work can be both demanding and rewarding. It requires an excellent knowledge of the SEND system and as a minimum a general current working knowledge of health and social care. You will need the ability to work with a wide range of people, often in difficult situations, and to contribute to the strategic development of the service.
We receive lots of positive feedback from our service users and if you can help ensure that we continue to receive comments like: -
“thank you ever so much for your help and support, from the very first conversation I had with you..….you have been wonderful and it’s great to have the support to get through the uncertain times”
we would very much like to hear from you.
This job will be based in Cambridgeshire, working within the joint service of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough SENDIASS. The Local Authority has an agile working policy - the role will require elements of home working, face to face and virtual meetings in an around the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area.
We protect our employees from discrimination and actively promote the diversity of our workforce. We are an equal opportunities employer and are proud to encourage applications form all cultures, backgrounds, and abilities to better reflect the diversity within our local community.
This is a fixed term post for one year from the date of starting. Secondments would be welcome. The post is full time 37 hours per week including school holiday periods. However, hours can be flexible to cover the needs of the service. Training and induction will be available as necessary.
Application closes: Saturday 7th January midnight
Interviews: To be arranged.
Start January or February 2023 if possible
For more information or to chat about this opportunity please contact Bob Wilson on 0771 725 8100
What will you be doing?
- Design and implement a range of internal service improvements emerging as part of the SEND strategy and contribute towards broader strategic work underway across Children’s Services including closer working with health and social care
- Support the development of group work for parents of children with SEND, linking with the central Parent Support Team and enabling greater volunteering opportunities within the SENDIASS
- Develop a strategic working relationship with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and strong working relationships with its constituent departments (OT, SALT etc)
- Line manage the SCIP Coordinator and Parents’ School Preference Adviser
About you
You will need the following qualifications, knowledge, skills and attributes
- Key Skill Level 4: Bachelor’s degree; HNC; HND NVQ level 4 or equivalent; including professional qualification in education, health, child development or relevant areas
- Extensive knowledge of SEN related legislation, Code of Practice and guidance and related legislation including Disability Discrimination.
- Ability to manage and motivate staff ensuring they provide impartial and arms length advice and support and promote partnership working with all agencie
- Ability to work with parents and professionals in difficult and challenging situations
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Able to work with a wide range of professionals from Service Managers to front line staff
- Knowledge of relevant research, group activities and training appropriate for parents of children with SEND
- Good knowledge and practical experience of Microsoft Office
- Ability to keep up to date with a regular flow of legislation and initiatives ensuring the services practices reflect these and is able to provide information about them.
- Allocate funding according to identified and prioritised service aims and work with and monitor budgets within these.
- Ability to work with parents and professionals in difficult and challenging situations. Knowledge about supporting individuals in situations of extreme emotion will be required
- Ability to empower parents to enable them to address future concerns on their own
- Ability to work with a wide range of practitioners and adapt as required
- Ability to manage and motivate others including volunteers or direct reports.
- Ability to manage a difficult workload and constantly revise priorities
- Ability to keep calm, focused and objective in emotionally difficult and stressful situations
- Proven organisation abilities to a high standard.
- There will be occasional early starts or evening meetings and flexible working will be required to accommodate these and periods of high work load
- Excellent ability to communicate with a range of stakeholders including senior officers, professionals and parents.
- An ability to think creatively and a capacity to think ahead
- Ability to use own initiative and work with a degree of autonomy
- Energy, enthusiasm and flexibility
- To be able to drive and travel across the County when required
Our benefits
We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits:
- Flexible working
- Flexible Bank Holidays
- A comprehensive wellbeing package
- Our Cambs Rewards employee discounts
- A comprehensive pension scheme
- IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
- Camweb our staff intranet helping to keep you informed
- An employee recognition scheme
About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we believe benefits our employees, the organisation and our communities.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.
Attached documents
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