Newham Council Hiring for School admission and appeals – SEN/Medical/Disability Principal Officer Job at London, England , UK Full Time

Job Description
School Admissions and Appeals – SEN/Medical/Disabilities Principal Officer

£38,385 – £41,586 pa

Pupils Services (Children and Young People’s Services) are seeking a highly motivated individual experienced in children with SEN, medical needs or disabilities to join us in the new exciting role. You will need to have a proven background in working with children who have SEN, medical needs or disabilities in a school environment and are eager to work with families and schools to ensure all children have access to the education that best meets their needs.

Overview of the role

This is an excellent opportunity for a highly experienced and dynamic individual to develop this new role in partnership with school leaders. The role encompasses a wide range of statutory and non-statutory duties to support families in accessing suitable education for their children and will require site visits.

Expert knowledge of the regulations and being a strong communicator, are key for this role to build trust and develop strong relationships with large and diverse stakeholder group.

Key Responsibilities

The role has a wide and diverse range of responsibilities, with the key elements being:

• Management of all school applications where the family have referred to special educational needs, disabilities or medical conditions.
• Building robust case files and accurate pupil data using the current Education MIS.
• Working with the applicants to determine the detail of their child’s special educational needs, disabilities or medical conditions.
• Liaising with the 0-25 SEND Service and Health to determine if any specialist support will be required to join a new school.
• Recommending, where applicable, the need for a new in assessment to determine.
• Working in partnership with stakeholders including schools to determine if applicant should be managed under standard admissions or via the Fair Access Protocol.
• Preparing written and delivering verbal representations at independent school admission appeals, the local authority’s Pupil Placement Panel and other meeting for children with SEN, disabilities or medical needs and no EHCP.
• Responsible for the annual liaison with the 0-25 SEND service for the children with SEND, disabilities or medical in the normal admissions rounds to determine the new placements in next phase of their education.
• Liaising with school leaders and SEND integrated services to determine any specialist requirements for a child to be admitted to school.
• Developing business work flows and guidance with and for key stakeholders.
• Offering support and guidance to families educating their children at home who want to transition to school.
• Liaising with the School Nursing Service to support a child’s admission to school.
• Work in partnership with Asset Management to review school capacity assessments and determine the impact of pupils with SEND or who require specialist medical equipment or classroom support.
• Work in partnership with 0-25 SEND to analysis SEN and school roll data to determine instances of disproportionality.

About you

Pupil Services are looking for a highly motivated individual, who has proven experience of working in a very pressurised and has a strong focus on delivering first class customer service and outcomes for all children and young people with SEN, medical needs or disabilities. The successful candidate must have the ability to build and maintain positive relationships with all key stakeholders including families, senior leaders and colleagues from other local authorities. You must be an excellent communicator with the ability to explain complex information to a wide and diverse audience. In addition, personal resilience and passion are vital to this high profile role which underpins every child’s start to formal education. We need an individual to join the service to continue to help build on, our continuing improvements and innovations to the services we provide.

Further information

Closing date: 2nd August 2022 at 23:59

Interviews likely to be held on 15 th – 18 th August 2022 or early September.

If you would like an informal confidential telephone conversation about this role, please contact Tracy Jones, Group Manager Pupil Services on 020 3373 2713.

Please view School Admissions and Appeals – SEN/Medical/Disabilities Principal Officer JD

Additional Information

The London Borough of Newham is a Disability Confident employer. Candidates who declare that they have a disability in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and meet the essential criteria as specified in the Job Profile will be guaranteed an interview.

Newham is one of the youngest, most diverse, and vibrant boroughs in the UK. As an inclusive employer, we are committed to ensuring our workforce reflects our local population. We welcome and encourage applicants from under-represented groups, including applicants who are ethnically diverse and/or applicants who have a disability.

Priority consideration on all advertised roles will be given to London Borough of Newham Redeployees.

The London Borough of Newham is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable groups and expects staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Please be aware that a Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS) check will be required for any position with access to these groups under the provision of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

In addition, the Authority reserves the right to request employees undertake a basic disclosure check (Disclosure Scotland) where required for the role this includes anyone who has access to (or information obtained directly from) a government database, or has a GCSX account. These posts will be required to have a Basic Disclosure Scotland check as per the requirements of BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standards).

Please attach your supporting statement, explaining in no more than x2 A4 sides why and how you meet the criteria for this role.

We practice anonymised recruitment. Please ensure that you remove all personal information from any documents that you upload.