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Best Start Inclusion Practitioner
We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage…
- A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
- Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
- Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
- Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
- Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
- Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
- Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
- Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
- An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes
Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.
About the roleWe are looking to appoint five Best Start Inclusion Practitioners to work in the Early Years SEND team and alongside colleagues in our Best Start Family Hubs supporting families and settings to meet the needs of children with SEND.
This is an exciting opportunity to develop this new role and be part of a small friendly team, working face to face in Family Hubs to support the inclusion of children with SEND. You will provide advice and support, working together with both families and professionals to achieve the best possible outcomes for both children with SEND and their families.
These opportunities are available across Ely, Cambridge North, Cambourne, Huntingdon and Wisbech. Please indicate your preferred location(s) within your application.
What will you be doing?You will provide in person advice to families to help them support their child and will work closely with colleagues in Family Hubs to run sessions such as Stay and Play, Sensory Support and Peer support networks, as well as supporting families with evidenced based interventions in groups and one-to-one, visiting families in their homes where needed. You will support and empower families to navigate and access appropriate services, including those services for children with complex needs, working alongside both EY SEND and Family Hub staff and signposting to trusted local organisations, peer networks and partner services.
The Early Years SEND team promotes high quality inclusive practice across the Early Year’s sector. The team provides a comprehensive SEND offer and supports childcare providers in Cambridgeshire to work with children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities. The Early Years SEND team manage the Early Support pathway which is a multi-disciplinary approach to meeting the individual needs of children who have a disability or significant and complex additional needs.
About youThe successful candidate will have significant experience, skills and a passion for working with children and their families in the early years with SEND. You will understand the Early Years Statutory framework and how the SEND Code of Practice relates to early years. You will have experience of supporting families and children resulting in improved outcomes for all. You will have excellent interpersonal skills combined with the ability to represent the Service in a positive and professional manner, including communicating with a wide range of internal and external customers. You must have strong problem-solving skills and the ability to take a hands-on role and work independently. You will ideally have good working knowledge of Windows & Microsoft packages (although training can be provided).
This role would suit someone who has extensive experience meeting the needs of children with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities who is working within or supporting the early years sector.
Cambridge County Council offer:
- Salary £31,537 pro rata
- Occupational pension scheme with employer contribution
- Employee Assistance Programme – access to free support 24 hours a day
- Employee Benefits scheme with lifestyle and shopping discounts
- Generous annual leave entitlement increasing with length of service and ability to buy more
- A supportive management team that will champion your learning and development
- Work life balance and flexible ways of working, including WFH (work from home) when the role allows
For more details, please see the job description and person specification. If you would like to discuss the role in more detail, please contact Chris Barton: chris.barton@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
The closing date for applications is 27 July 2026, and interviews will be scheduled shortly after.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we believe benefits our employees, the organisation and our communities.
About usCambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.
Salary range
- £31,537 per year