Essex County Council has embarked upon a programme of change for provision and services with the ambition to profoundly improve the outcomes and life experience of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Our vision is for a SEND system which identifies and assesses need at an earlier stage and which provides appropriate and impactful support without such high dependence on Essex County Council's statutory services.

The SEND Operations Assistant provides administration and support to the statutory SEND processes such as the Annual Review Process, in particularly at phase transfer, as well as a triage service for all contacts received by the SEND Operations Team. Support will also be provided to the Inclusion Team in relation to health referrals.


Service/Functional Accountabilities

• Receive, log and co-ordinate responses to incoming Section 23 and 24 notifications from Health Colleagues regarding children with SEND. Liaise with Senior Inclusion Partners to ensure effective monitoring, provision development and signposting systems are in place.
• Receive, log and co-ordinate all incoming post 16 requests for assessment, liaising with schools, settings and other key stakeholders including the Preparing for Adulthood Team.
• Support the preparation of papers for and co-ordination of the Annual Review process, ensuring that schools and settings are informed of who Annual reviews should be held for during each academic term, and that appropriate people are invited to attend.
• Provide triage of all incoming contacts to the SEND Operations team, acting as the first contact for parents/carers, CYP, schools, settings and other partner agencies. Signposting service users to relevant teams where appropriate and responding to queries wherever possible.
• Provide administrative Support to SEND Operations Co-Ordinators by sending formal consultations to schools and settings as part of the EHC Assessment Process and co-ordinating responses.
• Receive, log and direct inward transfer notifications, liaising with SEND Operations Partners and SEND Operations Co-ordinators to ensure that statutory processes and timescales are fully complied with.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Educated to RQF level 2 or equivalent by experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area
• Thorough working knowledge of SEND Code of Practice 2015
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Effective time management and prioritisation skills with the ability to manage own workload and adapt quickly and effectively to changing circumstances/situations.