Early Years Senior Inclusion Consultant

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Early Years Team as we have recently reviewed our service because of changing national and local priorities. This means we now have greater capacity to be more resilient, connected and able to achieve our ambition to provide a high-quality service which responds to the unique needs of early years children and their families, ensuring the best start in life for all.

We are a highly experienced and committed team who constantly strive to improve outcomes for children, working with our partners to ensure that all children in Staffordshire can access their funded entitlements in high quality, inclusive settings.

As a result of our service review there are two newly created Early Years Senior Inclusion Consultant roles available. 

The positions will be based in either the north or south of the County:

Position 1:  in the north of the County (Newcastle, Moorlands, Stafford, East Staffordshire)

Position 2:   in the south of the County (South Staffs, Cannock, Lichfield, Tamworth)

Main Responsibilities

You will lead and support a motivated team, working actively with settings to

• Implement strategies and initiatives that promote inclusive practices to effectively meet the needs of all children
• Ensure that all children have high quality experiences that enable them to achieve the best possible outcomes
• Be adaptable and able to manage change to improve service effectiveness and delivery

You'll also be focussed on improving outcomes for children through:

• Working collaboratively and strengthening links between settings, parents, education and other partners to ensure children and families receive the right help at the right time and make effective transitions to statutory education

The Ideal Candidate

You will have:

• Significant experience in managing early years services and teams
• Excellent communication skills, capable of working with a range of stakeholders
• Proven experience as a SENCo supporting others to promote inclusive practices and positive outcomes across early years
• Proven experience of leading, projects or workstreams with a range of partners to improve outcomes for children and families, including children with SEND
• Significant knowledge of the SEND Code of Practice, Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023

For an informal chat, please contact the Early Years Inclusion and Improvement Leads; rosie.boardman@staffordshire.gov.uk or sarah.mcdowell1@staffordshire.gov.uk

Interviews scheduled for 6th and 7th February 2025. 

“We’re happy to talk flexible working” 

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.