Early Years SEND Family Support Worker

About the role

The Early Years SEND Family Support Worker will

• Improve outcomes for children (0-rising 4 years) with SEND, with a particular focus on social, language and communication interaction needs.
• Hold a case load which involves working in partnership with parents/carers to offer pre and post assessment (e.g. social, language and communication needs & neurodiversity pathway).
• Signpost to local organisations (e.g. IAS, the Autism Group and Parenting Special Children, Incredible Years, DLA completion, Young Carers Project) and to local venues e.g. Camp Mohawk and Thames Valley Adventure Playground. 
• Support in clinic appointments and joint assessments with Community Pediatricians when appropriate.
• Consultation on schools and supporting school transitions.
• Understand the local authority SEND processes and the role of different services.
• Offer advice on inclusion and play plans of children with SEND across private, voluntary, and independent settings including preschools, schools, day nurseries and childminders.
• Support children, who need an enhanced school transition by working collaboratively with settings, receiving schools, parents and other professionals e.g. SHINE.
• Closely monitor the impact of provision and Early Years Inclusion Funding (EYIF) so children thrive in their learning and development, enabling them to achieve good outcomes. 
• Provide training, suggest resources, information and support for EY SENCos and other practitioners to enable them to meet needs of children with SEND more effectively. 
• To maintain accurate records of interactions, plans and progress in line with safeguarding and GDPR requirements.
• Work closely with early years practitioners, health professionals and the SEND teams to ensure a joined up approach to assessments and support,
• Support children and develop their social, communication and play skills in the Borough wide initiatives including school readiness and projects as directed, e.g. Let’s Play Together.

For further information about this role, please contact Frances Lee by email frances.lee@achievingforchildren.org.uk for an informal discussion.

About you

You should have good interpersonal skills with the ability to relate to and engage with children, parents, carers and other professionals. Experience of delivering front line statutory interventions is an advantage, but not essential, and you should be willing to attend training and learn from other professionals too. You will be resilient, flexible and a good communicator and it would be helpful to have some knowledge of legislation applicable to this role e.g. Children Act 1989. You will also need:

• A full and valid driving licence and access to own transport
• A good standard of written and spoken English
• To be able to address specific equality and/or diversity issues within your practice with service users and/or colleagues and take action to address these
• An ability to keep and maintain accurate records in a timely way
• An ability to meet deadlines and work well under pressure

About our benefits

We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:

• 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month (Or for term-time workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract)
• Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
• Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
• Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
• A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• A range of staff benefits and discounts
• An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway

To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children click here. For our social work offer click here. For our Recruitment Journey, click here.

Important Information

Start dates: Achieving for Children have set start dates meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.

Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.

Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

For more information about AfC: Drop in and meet Regina on the first Wednesday of every month at Civic Centre, Twickenham.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.