Job Description

The Early Years Senco provides guidance and structure to the care and education team and a reliable and trusted point of contact for parents of children who require more support than their peers to access the provision. Orchard Day nursery is not unique in seeing a rise in the number of young children who would benefit from a fully inclusive learning environment.

We are looking urgently for an experienced and committed special needs and disability coordinator to join our dedicated team and lead on inclusion. The right candidate will hold a full and relevant Level 3 Early Years qualification and have some experience of leading other practitioners. Confidence is key to successful coordination of inclusive interventions as the SENCO must liaise with the senior leadership team and other stakeholders such as educational psychologists and speech therapists and local authority advisors. Knowledge of the SEND Code of Practice is essential as this underpins and outlines the duties of providers to ensure children with SEND meet their goals.

Orchard is committed to finding the right person to be our new SENCO and will invest in the training and support required to ensure they are up to date with best practice and knowledgeable of local procedures and skills required to apply for EHCP's and secure specialist interventions for the children, their families and the early years educators.

At this time, Summer term 2025, Orchard is flexible on the hours that the right candidate may work and although we are an all year round setting we are open to term time only applicants who have extensive experience in the role already and can add immediate value to our worthy team. The role will require working in ratio as part of a care team and having a case load of key children. A working knowledge of the EYFS therefore will be essential in order to fulfil the wider role. The SENCO role can involve significant time spent reading, writing and preparing reports and applying for funding and in mentoring colleagues. This time will be protected to ensure high levels of success for the role and high quality provision for children with SEN and effective partnership with parents.

The Orchard is an outdoorsy nursery and children spend much of each day playing in the 1/2 acre landscaped gardens. Practitioners who are inspired by nature and outdoor learning will enjoy working here. Parents choose Orchard for its low tech, community oriented and free flow atmosphere and we believe that children with SEN can thrive here with the right support from skilled teachers and caregivers. Are you the one to help us enrich our inclusive provision and make a life changing to children with additional needs?

Please send a covering letter and your up to date and full CV in application for this role and we will read it with enthusiasm. It will be useful to have a clear description of your experience in leading on inclusion as part of your application letter describing how much time you have spent working in early years and your level of training in SEND.

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Permanent, Fixed term contract, Temp to perm

Pay: Up to 32,000.00 per year

Expected hours: 27 - 40 per week

Benefits:

Bereavement leave Company events Company pension Discounted or free food Employee discount Employee mentoring programme Health & wellbeing programme Sick pay
Schedule:

10 hour shift 8 hour shift Day shift Monday to Friday No weekends
Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 07/02/2025
Reference ID: Senco #2 Summer 2025