SENCO

SENCo – Hedgeway 

Location: Pilning, South Gloucestershire, BS35 4JN  

Salary: £31,650 - £47,338 (M1 – UPS2) 

Hours: 40 hours per week 

Aurora Hedgeway is a dynamic and inspiring provision for children and young people aged 7-19 with a primary or secondary diagnosis of Autism and related social and communication needs.

The Aurora Group

The Aurora Group is an innovative provider of education and care for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. 

We are currently looking for an experienced Full Time SENCO for our Aurora Hedgeway School. The school supports young people aged 7 - 19 with a primary or secondary diagnosis of Autism and related social and communication needs.

We offer life skills and a wide range of GCSE/ Functional Skills/BTEC accreditations alongside a functional skills/entry level pathway.  Behaviours across the school are excellent.

The main purpose of the role: 

As our SENCo, you will act as a member of the SLT and support the Headteacher in managing the schools Special Education Needs (SEN) provision and oversight of the day-to-day operation of that policy with the aim of raising SEN pupil achievement. 

You will be responsible for the teaching and learning for SEN across the whole school. 

Key duties: 

• Identify and adopt the most effective teaching approaches for pupils ensuring dissemination throughout all staff. 
• Monitor teaching and learning activities to meet the needs of SEN pupils and track AFL data for the purposes of Annual Reviews, PEPs, LAC Reviews and general School Reporting. 
• Liaise with other schools to ensure continuity of support and learning when transferring SEN pupils. 

• Work alongside the transition team, therapy team and class team with new starters to ensure that any gaps in paperwork are addressed ahead of the student’s next annual review, with proposed amendments. 
• Set targets for raising achievement among all pupils. 
• Collate and present assessment and performance data and share with staff and other professionals where appropriate. 
• Ensure all members of staff are able to recognise and fulfil their statutory responsibilities to SEN pupils. 
• Provide training opportunities for learning support assistants and teachers to learn about SEN, including whole school Inset. 

Please see the attached job description for the full breakdown of duties: Job Description: SENDCo

Qualifications, Knowledge and Experience 

Qualifications: 

• SENCO qualifications 
• Qualified Teacher Status

Knowledge and Experience: 

• Relevant knowledge and experience of pupils with SEN and SEND Code of Practice including children and young people with highly complex needs 
• Understanding of the Safeguarding principles and Child Protection procedures 
• Understanding the role of therapists in meeting EHCP outcomes including how to measure progress 
• Experience of managing a range of approaches to behaviour, including managing behaviours that challenge 

What’s on offer?

• Training and Development

Within Aurora, we strongly believe that learning and development should not be limited to just the children and young people we support.  We offer wide range of programmes and opportunities to all our employees to improve your skills and further your career. 

• Save money on your bills!!

With the cost of living rising we have a fantastic benefit through Perkbox to help with cutting costs and help make your money go further.  Perkbox is a free app for you to use on the go wherever you are.  You can get deals and discounts to save money on things like your weekly food bill, phone plans, internet, eating out, gym memberships, insurance and more.  You can also use Perkbox for our cycle to work scheme and car scheme. 

• Competitive Pay and Reward

Every year we compare the market rates of pay and rewards to ensure they are comparable or better to other similar organisations.  We also offer Enhanced Annual Leave, Company Sick Pay, Pension and Life Assurance.

• UK Health Cash Plan

This plan can help cover your day to day healthcare expenditure such as optician and dental bills.  You and your children are covered on this plan and you can also choose to upgrade and add a partner to enjoy the benefits with you.

• Employee Assistance Programme

Your health and wellbeing is very important to us and we have support available on a wide variety of issues, helping you with online tools, information and via a freephone counselling service available 24/7. 

• Refer a friend for £1,000

We’ll reward you for recommending friends and family to come and join the company (*terms apply)

How to apply?

Please complete an online application form in full, remembering to include all employment and education details.  If you need any assistance or would like any more information please contact Adele in the Aurora Group Recruitment Team at  adele.richard@the-aurora-group.com. 

* Within Aurora we support teacher professional development by offering Upper Pay Scale both to teachers joining the company and through our internal professional development and performance management process.

To be offered a role on Upper Pay Scale we will expect you to:

• provide evidence that you are already receiving an Upper Pay Scale salary.
• Hold specific allocated responsibility, once you have completed your induction, that contributes to whole school improvement including the overall raising of standards in the school and demonstrate their ongoing commitment to their own CPD.

Details of the relevant area of responsibility will be discussed with you at interview and further when you join the company.

Successful applicants will be subject to pre-employment safeguarding checks including an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check.

The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Aurora Group is therefore permitted to ask job applicants to declare all convictions and cautions (including those which are "spent" unless they are "protected" under the DBS filtering rules) in order to assess their suitability to work with children.

The Aurora Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children and young adults in our care and is a disability confident and equal opportunities employer.

This advert could be taken down at any point in time without prior notice if the position is filled. 

Please note that candidates that are shortlisted might be subject to an online search.