SEN Specialist Teacher

Specialist SEN Teachers: Full-time or Part-time Permanent Posts

Are you keen to be part of an Inclusion Support Service that delivers high-quality advice, support and training to schools and is embedded in SEND Reform developments? Would you like a role where innovation is valued, and you can be part of service improvements? Do you like to work creatively with colleagues in a range of mainstream schools, colleges and Best Start: Family Hubs in a multi-disciplinary context?

We are looking for specialist teachers in one or more of these areas: language, autism, ADHD, to join our creative and experienced team, who are passionate about innovative service delivery. With a focus on universal, targeted and specialist work, we think that Brighton & Hove Inclusion Support Service is a service that can satisfy your professional needs.

Interview date: Week beginning 12th October. Portslade Hub, Mile Oak Road, BN41 2PG.

For an informal discussion, please contact:
Claire Edwards, Senior SEN Specialist Teacher
Claire.edwards@brighton-hove.uk
TEL: 07833480078

About the role

This role is part of Brighton & Hove Support Service (BHISS). As specialist teachers, we work collaboratively with all BHISS teams including EP, VI & deafness, literacy and SEMH. We also work with Speech and Language Therapists, Schools Mental Health Service Practitioners, Early Years SEN Service, Parent and Care Council and a wide range of services across B&H and the wider community. The role is largely peripatetic, with meetings and a resource base at Portslade Hub.

We like to innovate and have developed supportive tools for our practitioners and settings and have been partners in the development of key documents including Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice. We offer a ‘core’ and ‘traded’ offer to our schools and we are expanding this offer to include ‘experts at hand’ which will also include post 16 colleges. We support these settings to develop their inclusive practice for CYP experiencing language difficulties and communication differences. Skills and experience within any of these areas is highly valued: Makaton, Cued Articulation, Developmental Language Disorder, Autism, ADHD and co-occurring developmental conditions. There are opportunities to further develop skills and expertise in the above areas. Post-graduate qualifications in relevant areas of SEND are invaluable, but not essential.

We are part of the Experts at Hand initiative, having allocated time to support settings to develop their systemic policies and practice, working towards more inclusive teaching practices, environments, and pastoral approaches. We meet with SENCos at the start of every term to plan our support. As our role includes being Experts at Hand, working on a universal basis for systemic change, this may involve policy writing support, learning and environmental walks, audits, team around the school meetings and devising and delivering staff training. We also work at a targeted level, modelling interventions and teaching practices, supporting planning and problem solving around classes/groups. We also work at a specialist level, observing and informally assessing individuals, contributing to statutory assessments and annual reviews, advising on adapting the curriculum/teaching to engage a range of individuals who may have co-occurring difficulties/differences, attending TAFs etc.

We are expanding our autism and language team as a response to the Experts at Hand initiative within the SEND reforms. As Experts at Hand, there is also the opportunity to be part of a multi-disciplinary team supporting families in the community at the Family Hubs within B&H. This is a gateway offering support on early identification and problem solving for families who are concerned about their child’s special educational needs. This is a new initiative and offers the chance to develop the role using creative and innovative ideas around supporting positive changes for those with language difficulties and/or communication difficulties.

We have regular Team Meetings across the year at Portslade Hub, and our team plan is developed with the team. Everyone’s view is valued.

Benefits include:

Regular supervision with your line manager
Working together on service development
Opportunities to develop leadership roles and areas of interest
Flexible working arrangements and trust in professional autonomy
Comprehensive induction and CPD programme
Our team members tell us that supportive colleagues, team spirit, breadth of work, creativity, relationships with schools and opportunity to develop as a specialist teacher are all real strengths of the service. We nourish an inclusive culture.

All applicants must have QTS and extensive experience and skills in language and communication difficulties
Teachers’ terms and conditions apply. Enhanced DBS required.

Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.