SENCO - ME20 7JU

SENCO

Poppy Pre-school,
Teapot Lane,
Aylesford,
Kent,
ME20 7JU.

Safeguarding requirement: Poppy’s is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. It is a requirement of all staff that they share this commitment and follow the prescribed policy and procedures to continuously promote a culture of safeguarding across the whole organisation.

• To assist with the planning of the curriculum using the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum for guidance.
• To help to set up the playroom(s) for the daily programme and to help tidy away at the end of the session.
• To act as a key person to a small group of children, liaising closely and building an effective relationship with parents/carers and ensuring each child's needs are recognised and met.
• Work in partnership with parents/carers and other family members.
• To advise the Pre-school Manager of any concerns e.g. over children, parents or the safety of equipment, preserving confidentiality as necessary.
• To teach children, offering an appropriate level of support and stimulating play experiences.
• To ensure that children are kept safe and that you understand when to follow child protection procedures.
• To support snack times within the setting.
• To actively participate at team meetings, supervisor meetings and appraisal meetings.
• To attend training courses as required and to take responsibility for your development.
• To keep completely confidential any information regarding the children, their families or other staff, which is acquired as part of the job.
• To be aware of and adhere to all the setting’s operational policies and procedures, e.g. health and safety, fire precautions, dropping off and collection of children, food safety, cleanliness of the setting etc.
• To update the child’s learning journey on a regular basis using the ‘Tapestry’ app by adding photo’s, video/clips and or written notes. Use these to decide next steps planning for each individual key child to move them on to the next developmental stage. To keep observations, written and photogenic. Decide which area of learning to link the observations and using the EYFS 2017 guidelines and to ensure that adequate records are kept and updated regularly.

• To work with the senior management team to implement duties relating to part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014, Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (DfE/DoH 2015) and the Equality Act 2010.
• To work with the senior management team to identify and understand the local funding arrangements for SEND and to understand how and when to apply for additional financial support.
• To work with the senior management team to ensure that the setting’s SEN provision effectively identifies and supports children with SEN and ensures equality of opportunity.
• To work with the senior management team to ensure SEN practice reflects relevant in house policy and procedures and that all are regularly reviewed and updated.
• To oversee the day-to-day operation of the SEN provision.
• To work in partnership with the whole staff team to ensure that everyone understands their responsibilities for children with SEN and the setting’s graduated approach to identifying and meeting children’s needs.
• To implement and monitor the SEN support process and help staff apply the graduated approach of assess, plan, do and review to identify and meet the needs of children with SEN.
• To collate information on the needs of individual children and ensure that all associated records on children with SEN are maintained and updated, with relevant information passed on at transition.
• To offer appropriate advice and support to key persons on the most effective approaches to support children through differentiation, the preferred (and tested) approaches and materials to be used with the child and how to apply SEN support to individual children.
• To work in partnership with parents/carers to identify and review their child’s SEN, provide confidential support and advice, provide daily informal contact and regular information on their child’s progress towards agreed outcomes. Also to involve parents in all other key elements of their child’s care and support including ensuring their views and wishes are taken into account and that they participate in decision making processes.
• To be familiar with local services and work in partnership with relevant agencies on the delivery of SEN provision such as Area SENCOs, Portage, SALT, IASS, E & I Team, STLS and SENIF.
• To attend meetings i.e. LIFT, School transitions
• To signpost and refer parents to appropriate local support services and relevant external agencies.
• To be familiar with the local authority’s Local Offer, explaining the provision available for children with additional needs, and regularly review and update the setting’s own ‘offer’.
• To communicate appropriately with all children with SEN and ensure where relevant their appropriate participation, including in relevant decision making processes.
• In conjunction with the manager, ensure that the local authority is made aware of any children who are not progressing despite being given suitable support.
• To be familiar with local practices for safeguarding children and instigating Early Help Assessments.
• To identify training gaps in staff skills to liaise with Manager, knowledge and expertise on SEN, and where possible address these gaps by contributing towards relevant in-house training or seeking good quality external training provision, such as behaviour management and sign language.
• To be aware of one’s own knowledge, skills and capabilities and recognise and act on relevant gaps.
• To attend relevant training to keep skills and knowledge up-to-date.
• To comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation.
• To be aware of and adhere to all the setting’s policies and procedures including those relating to confidentiality, equality and diversity, health and safety, fire precautions, dropping off and collection of children, food safety, cleanliness of the setting, safeguarding, setting hygiene and whistleblowing.

This job description is not an exhaustive list of duties and the post holder will be required to undertake any other reasonable duties discussed and directed by the manager. The post holder is also expected to be flexible and adaptable in their approach to fulfilling their duties.

Gemma Chapman, Pre-School Manager, [email protected]

Ongoing