Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund (SENIF) Monitoring Officer

Role Responsibility

Term Time Only – 39 Weeks Per Year

Are you passionate about contributing to a process that makes a difference to early years children with Special Educational Needs lives in Kent? Do you want to help shape the future of Early Years Education? 

An opportunity has arisen for a Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund (SENIF) Monitoring Officer to monitor and evaluate the provision for individual children in receipt of SEN Inclusion Funding in Private, Voluntary, Independent, maintained nursery classes and childminding settings. 

You will be part of the Early Years Special Education Needs (SEN) Department working within a designated area. The role involves daily travel to Early Years settings located predominantly in the East Kent area (Canterbury, Thanet and Swale districts) and as a member of the Finance and Monitoring Team there will be the requirement to monitor Early Years settings located across Kent and attend Team meetings/training in central locations.

You will have excellent knowledge and understanding of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in the Early Years and will have the skills and expertise to work with Nursery Managers/SENCos to ensure they are meeting the needs of children within an inclusive environment supported by the SENIF Offer.

You will have had experience of working in a fully inclusive Early Years setting, implementing the SEN Code of Practice, Best Practice Guidance in the Early Years and differentiating the Early Years Curriculum for children with identified needs. You will also have experience of reviewing and/or monitoring provision for individual children in Early Years settings and measuring the impact of interventions.

You will be able to hold potentially difficult conversations sensitively and be able to challenge should the need arise in a diplomatic and professional manner. Effective report writing skills are necessary to capture the key points discussed at each Monitoring contact. The ability to collect, record and analyse data and information, presenting in a variety of methods would be an advantage.

This is an opportunity for you to work closely with Pre-School settings, maintained nurseries and childminders with the aim of raising standards of achievement and independence, as well as improving well-being and life chances of children with SEND.

You should be educated to NVQ level 3 or equivalent appropriate qualification (including at least GCSE English and Mathematics grade 4 to 9).

This job provides excellent opportunities working within a highly supportive, creative and friendly team environment. 

Within your application, please demonstrate how you meet the criteria within the Person Specification attached to the Job Description.

The interviews are scheduled for 17^th March 2025 and there will be a presentation, the title of which will be shared once candidates have been shortlisted  

This role is subject to holding a Full UK Driving Licence – The Council is committed to making reasonable adjustments so whilst this job requires the jobholder to drive your application will still be considered if you are unable to drive due to a disability.

Working for KCC you will have:

• An option to enrol in the Local Government Pension scheme with KCC contributions.
• Staff discounts on a range of leisure products and services through our Kent Rewards programme
• Access to a range of KCC staff groups providing support and development opportunities to staff across our diverse workforce

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

Contact Details

For more information on the role please contact:

Paula Freathy - 03000 414167

About the Company

Work that works for you and us - let’s talk flexibility!

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.