SEN Planning Co-ordinator

About Us

The Special Educational Needs Assessment Team (SENAT) manages the decisions and processes concerned with statutory education health and care needs assessment process for learners with an education, health and care plan (EHCP), the placement of children in learning settings and the allocation of resources to settings. The team considers suitability of and where appropriate arranges the assessment and placement of children, young people and young adults with special educational needs in accordance with the provisions of the Children and Families Act 2014 (Pt 3, SEN) and associated regulations including the SEN Code of Practice to ensure that the statutory assessment procedures are followed and proposed EHCPs are issued and reviewed within the timescales laid down by the regulations. This will be achieved through direct work with parents, educational settings, young people, health, Social Care and other external customers and partnership organisations to establish the best ways to support learning for children and Young People (0-25).

About The Job

Grade: NJC 7

Salary: Grade 7 £25,409 to £27,852

Working pattern: Full - time

Contract type: Permanent

Locations: Chichester

As Planning Co-ordinator within the SEN Assessment team you will be involved with working closely with children and young people with complex SEN and their families, early years providers, schools, colleges and external agencies providing advice and guidance. Your principal responsibility will be to ensure that statutory processes and timescales are followed and that good quality consideration, assessment and review of the needs of learners with SEN and Disability can take place in line with the principles described in the SEN Code of Practice. You'll be the main point of contact in relation to a caseload of children, young people and young adults with SEN and Disability.

Experience and Skills

Key Skills:

• Excellent active listening skills in order to build rapport and a good understanding of customer requirements.
• Ability to work creatively and sensitively with young people and their families in a problem-solving and task orientated way.
• Analytical and judgemental skills in order to interpret complex information to make decisions on suitable plans and courses of action.
• Ability to communicate effectively in both spoken and written format to liaise with customers and partner organisations to encourage participation and engagement in identified courses of action and using negotiating techniques to achieve effective results.
• Ability to convene, co-ordinate and facilitate groups.
• Assessment skills in order to evaluate and review plans and performance of delivery.
• Ability to liaise effectively with other professionals and work both as a member of a team and independently within structured guidelines and policies.

Qualifications and/or experience:

• NVQ 3 or equivalent qualification with demonstrable experience of working within a SEN related area.
• Experience of report writing and maintaining accurate records.
• Experience of working with different stakeholders to achieve required results.
• An understanding of families and individuals in relation to disability and special educational needs.
• Theoretical, practical and procedural knowledge of SEN assessment practicesand implementation.
• Relevant technical knowledge of procedures and practices associated with working with internal and external partners and stakeholders.
• General knowledge of IT such as Word and Excel (or equivalent packages) (e.g. use of database systems to record information)

Key responsibilities:

To meet with and consult families and individuals in relation to special educational needs and enable the direct involvement of persons in the assessment and review of needs. To use personal and communication skills to engage families and individuals in a process of holistic assessment. To then use analytical and problem-solving skills to offer a range of options open to learners

To convene, facilitate and attend relevant meetings in order to support the principles of co-production and disagreement resolution for our families and partners. To construct, articulate and write EHC plans in conjunction with families, individuals and relevant services and stakeholders. To undertake effective partnership working and enact good working practices with relevant services and stakeholders.

To have knowledge of the range of universal, and specialist services and be able to advise families and individuals accordingly. Ensure that record-keeping systems are in place and provide the necessary data/reports as required.

Rewards and Benefits

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE04358 .

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Laura Murray at for issues or queries regarding your application please contact