Project Co-ordinator for SEND & AP

This is an exciting time to be working in Portsmouth.As part of its commitment to inclusive education, Portsmouth City Council is leading the South East Partnership on the DfE’s SEND & AP Change Programme, working collaboratively with East Sussex, West Sussex, and Brighton & Hove.Now in its second phase, the programme includes the development and implementation of a new Local Inclusion Support Offer (LISO), which brings together partners across education, health, and social care to support inclusive practice in schools, colleges, and early years settings.

The Role

Reporting to the SEND & AP Programme Support Officer and working closely with the Change Programme Partnership (CPP) Manager and AP Commissioning Manager, you will play a vital and varied role in supporting the coordination, administration and implementation of our evolving SEND & AP offer.

Key tasks of the role will include:

Diary and Outlook management for relevant SEND Strategy, LISO or AP meetings. Monitoring inboxes and responding to emails. Handling correspondence, including confidential information.

Co-ordinating and administering meetings with internal and external attendees both on and off-site, including preparing papers and taking minutes. Keeping membership/contact lists for boards and meeting groups up to date.

Preparing and ensuring timely circulation of minutes and agendas (with embedded documents), action tracking/collation and forward planning for meetings. Producing information in a relevant format (e.g., Word, Excel, databases, diagrams and presentations) for reports to governance.

Tracking referrals and monitoring LISO activity, and alternative provision (AP) directory and quality assurance.Developing and creating bulletins to promote and inform stakeholders about the LISO & CP.Building and maintaining relationships with key partners Acting as an initial point of contact for the LISO and AP quality assurance.

The ideal candidate

No specific qualifications are required for this role, but you will be expected to have achieved a Level 3 qualification and have GCSE English and Maths (Grade C / Grade 4 or above).

You will need to have/be

• Able to engage and build relationships with senior leaders / staff from schools and partners across education, social care, and health.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate with a wide range of audiences, both orally and in writing. A good team player who collaborates well and keeps others informed.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills, with the ability to prioritise your workload and meet deadlines.Clear-thinking, logical and flexible in your approach, able to quickly get to grips with new issues and take a positive, problem-solving attitude. Able to use your initiative with minimum supervision, and work independently when required.
• Excellent IT skills, with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• A track record of stakeholder engagement and communicating with a variety of audiences, preferably in the education sector. An understanding of school culture, including alternative provision and the challenges faced by schools .

Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

We offer hybrid working with the expectation to attend the office a minimum of 2 days a week, these working arrangement will be in line with the needs of the business.

Contact Details for an Informal Discussion

If you have any questions, or would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Nikki Ledwidge on 023 9260 6182

Application process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person'points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills.This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal.We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under one of our commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, this is not always possible, and we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

About Portsmouth City Council

What we can offer you:

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our careers portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

DBS Disclosure at Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk. or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616800