Job Information
Contract Type: 2 Years Fixed Term
Working Pattern: Full Time (term time + specified days)
Salary: Band 6
Hours per week: 37 hours per week
Employment Location: County Hall
Number of posts: 1
Closing date: Friday 26th January 2024
Northumberland Early Years Team have responsibility for ensuring that high-quality early years and childcare provision is available and accessible to all families with young children. This is an exciting time for Northumberland Early Years as the government 2023 childcare announcements will mean a doubling of the funded childcare offer for working parents. By September 2025, working parents of a child under five will be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare per week. Northumberland, as a local authority, will also receive funding to support the development of wrap around care (before and after school) for primary school children to be able to access in their local area.
An exciting opportunity has become available to join the Early Years Team, as we are seeking to appoint an Early Years Inclusion Consultant on a two year fixed post. The Early Years Inclusion Consultant role is a key role working with providers across Northumberland to implement Northumberland’s statutory duties, by ensuring that children with emerging additional needs or SEND are able to access their full entitlement in an early years and childcare setting of the parents’ choosing. This includes offering support and challenge to providers to develop high-quality inclusive provision enabling the most vulnerable children to have the best start in life.
This role is varied and complex and the prominent areas of focus will be:
To build the capacity of practitioners to meet the individual needs of all children, but particularly those at risk of poor outcomes.
To ensure that children with a SEND need are able to take up their full entitlement.
To act as the Area Early Years SENCo coordinating inclusion and SEND related support for providers.
To support early identification of need, particularly in relation to new entitlements for children under 3.
To support new and existing providers as part of a wider locality team.
To facilitate effective transition arrangements between providers for those children with emerging needs or SEND.
To take responsibility for developing and leading training sessions around inclusion issues including effective use of the Early Years Ordinarily Available Provision guidance document.
To disseminate information about early years entitlements and other funding streams, particularly those related to SEND and support providers to make best use of any additional funds.
To work in partnership with other agencies to support the implementation of Northumberland’s Conception to 5 Integrated Plan.
The successful candidate will be welcomed into a friendly, supportive team with regular 1 to 1’s, appraisals and team meetings. They will be required to travel around the county, attend meetings at our central base, as well as attend events outside normal office hours. The contractual work base will be County Hall, Morpeth, with flexible working arrangements following Northumberland’s WorkSmart policy.
To find out more about this role or to arrange a discussion, please email claire.johnson02@northumberland.gov.uk (Claire Johnson – Early Years Consultant)
Why choose us?
We have some outstanding benefits to offer you, including
26 days annual leave plus public/bank holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years of service (pro rata for part-time employees)
Automatic enrolment into the Local Government Pension Scheme
Flexi scheme – up to 2 days flexible leave available per month (pro rata for part-time employees)
Local government discount schemes available to all employees with offers at local businesses along with various national brands
Commitment to work/life balance offering flexibility through various schemes including job sharing, home working, flexible working, term-time only, and compressed hours
Car leasing scheme
Please visit our website for more information regarding our benefits.
Further information
For guidance on completing your application and for information about our Equality and Diversity principles, please check the Northumberland Council website.
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. If you wish to notify us of your eligibility for this scheme, please email hrrecruitment@northumberland.gov.uk or ring 01670 623930 with your name and the job title you have applied for and one of the recruitment team will ensure this is factored into the shortlisting process and kept anonymous. If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format or would like us to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to attend an interview, please also let the team know. This information will be treated as confidential and will only be used to check that you meet the essential requirements of the post. Although we advertise on North East Jobs, and other websites, your application process will be directed to our Tribepad system. Please note that all communication regarding your application for this post will be sent to the email address that you have registered on Tribepad, including your invite to interview if you are shortlisted. Please check your emails regularly, including Spam/Junk, after the closing dates for notifications
