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Overall purpose of role:
To provide an efficient and effective clerical and administration support to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Team.
Main responsibilities:
Provide clerical support within the assessment framework and procedures, prepare working papers for staff in the SEND Team. Provide word processing and IT support as required with regular maintenance of data stored on the SEN database. Service meetings as required, including taking and preparing accurate minutes and ensuring follow-up actions are referred to the appropriate officer as necessary. Minute taking will be of a confidential nature and may be complex. Check and certify receipt of pupil files sent by other Local Authorities and make arrangements to forward files to other Local Authorities as necessary. Respond to queries from members of the public and other agencies using own initiative in relation to SEND. Undertake clerical duties i.e. filing, photocopying, faxing, e mailing documents, mail sorting/delivery, document collating/distribution, routine mathematical work and making telephone calls to follow up queries. Maintenance of section filing system and ensure correct labelling/recording of files. Provide support to the SEND Team respect of maintenance of diaries, arranging meetings etc. Receive, file and record documentation related to the SEND process, indexing and recording as necessary, both manually and electronically, within set time scales. Ensure that SEN processes are completed within relevant timescales. Act as the first point of contact for members of the public in relation to the EHC needs assessment process, referring matters to senior staff as appropriate. Prepare funding notifications sheets for Senior Compliance and Performance Officer. Check and process requisitions, orders, invoices and payments; identify and report irregularities.
Knowledge, skill and experience:
- Experience in using IT and office technology
- Experience of Microsoft Office applications including Word and Excel spreadsheets
- Good interpersonal skills both written and verbal
- Experience of working in an office setting
- Ability to prioritise own workload and work to strict deadlines
- Good literacy and numeracy skills;
- Ability to work on own initiative and function effectively as a team member
- Understanding of SEN legislation, regulations and procedures
- Understanding of SEN in the schools context
- Ability to relate to children/young people and families in a sensitive and professional manner, maintaining confidentiality
- Ability to respond flexibly to the changing demands of the team
- Practical signposting to parents/professionals regarding issues and concerns. Creativity and innovation:
- Create and maintain appropriate data bases and files to provide information, developing creative ways to present data in meaningful ways
- Make recommendations for improvements in the SEN system and processes
- Identify ways to present information and correspondence to achieve maximum effect for SEN
- Contribute to the setting of good working practice in the team
Contacts and relationships:
- SEN Team daily in the provision of a clerical and administrative support service;
- Managers at all levels, daily providing information, answering queries, arranging meetings;
- Daily contact with parents/carers and parental representatives, providing information and answering queries, ensuring the support they receive is appropriate, meets their needs and is of good quality. Issues arising will frequently not be straightforward and will require a level of sensitivity and diplomacy.
- Schools and other educational providers, daily providing information and answering queries;
- CCG and NHS health professionals, frequently providing information and answering queries, exchange of information;
- People Service, frequently providing information and answering queries;
- External agencies, frequently providing information and answering queries;
- Act as first point of contact for the public daily regarding information about EHC needs assessment process, dealing with enquiries and signposting to other sources of information. Decision making:
- Make decisions on information provided by parent/carer/school/agencies in relation to the SEND framework;
- Make decision on diary availability for senior officers;
- Contribute to decisions on improvements to operational procedures/practice;
- Arrange appropriate venues for meetings as required;
- Make decisions regarding when to refer issues to senior officers as necessary;
- Prioritise workload and negotiate with colleagues/other service providers in order to manage time effectively.
Work demands:
- Collate and distribute assessment documentation within relevant timescales;
- Respond to demands of SEND procedures and timescales, dealing with conflicting priorities between urgent and non-routine tasks regarding assessment;
- To respond immediately to requests and issues raised by schools, parents and other agencies;
- Provision of information and clerical and administrative support over and above routine tasks, at short notice;
- Meet the workload demands within SEND procedures;
- Work is routinely interrupted by telephone calls.
Working conditions/Hours:
- Office based
- Expected to attend meetings at other venues to take minutes.
- 37 hours per week Mon-Fri
Please only apply if you are able to provide us with Right to work documents, 2 references when requested and have your own transport.
